Happy Top 10 Tuesday everyone! It’s time for another music activity, and today we will be learning all about the musical scale. We’ve learned about the musical scale before in the Top 10 Tuesday lessons, but today, I am giving you all another activity for some variety to the lesson. First though, here are a couple of other Tucson Songstress musical activities from the past:
(1) Gobble Gobble Turkey Scale (http://tucsonsongstress.com/2012/11/20/gobble-gobble-turkey-scale/)
(2) Mortimer’s Musical Scale (http://tucsonsongstress.com/2012/10/09/mortimers-musical-scale/)
For today’s activity, you will need a xylophone or glockenspiel:
If you do not already have a glockenspiel, click HERE to see my favorite one on Amazon.com. I like this one so much, because the lid is a musical staff. The glockenspiel comes with magnets to show what corresponding notes look like.
The Activity
If you have the above glockenspiel, place the magnets on the lid to represent the C major scale. If you have a different glockenspiel, show your child a picture of a C major scale. Here’s one (Right hand only…only the first 8 notes):
Now play the corresponding notes on the glockenspiel so your child can hear what a C major scale sounds like. Play it again…only this time, sing the C major scale encouraging your child to join you. Make sure you are singing the actual name of each note: C-D-E-F-G-A-B-C.
Now the fun begins.
Turn away from your child holding the glockenspiel. Play one random note within the C-Major scale and have your child guess the note. If this is too tricky for your child, tell your child to sing the entire C major scale as you had done together and see if they can find the note that way. The more you repeat the activity, the better your child will be at guessing the notes.
Trade roles. Have your child play the random notes on the glockenspiel, and now it’s the parent’s turn to name the notes! I am certain your child will get a kick out of watching you!
I hope you all have enjoyed this week’s Top 10 Tuesday music activity. For a complete list of the Top 10 Tuesday music instruments under $40 that will help promote music education in the home, click HERE. For an archive of all previous Top 10 Tuesday music activities, click HERE. Please don’t forget to check back every Tuesday for some more musical fun, and until next week, play on!
