During music this month, all students have been participating in Mallet Madness. This is an exciting collection of activities for mallet percussion instruments and drums. Students have been developing their mallet percussion skills and working on concepts such as beat, rhythm, melody, pitch, form, expression, and following a director. Another big focus during this time is working on playing with respect (you’ll have to see if your student remembers our “tricks” for how to hold their mallets and how big they should be playing).
Part of the fun of Mallet Madness is the unique rotation system utilized which allows students to play all of the various instruments, switching between woods (xylophones, temple blocks), metals (metallophones, glockenspiels), and drums (tubanos, floor toms, bongos). Activities that are incorporated during Mallet Madness include songs, poems, children’s literature, and games. A definite favorite this past week was students getting the opportunity to lead our Body Director game!
