Youth create a group project with a visual representation of music.
This can also be a music or visual arts experience as youth listen for different rhythms and use various art supplies to represent what they are hearing.
- Say, “Music has rhythm that you can hear with your ears. Today we’re going to create a group art piece that will let us see with our eyes the sounds we hear.”
- Say, “There are art supplies set up around the table. Find a spot around the table and select a color you will start with.”
- Give youth a moment to do this.
- Say, “I’m going to play some music and as you listen, pick out a rhythm you hear in the song. It might be the beat of a drum, the guitar riff or a vocalist. As you listen, draw what you hear. For example, if you are listening to a steady drumbeat, you might draw dots or lines together. Maybe you hear a vocalist and draw big curly squiggles. There is no right or wrong way to do this! As we listen, we will keep moving around the table and our job is to cover all the paper with color for our visual rhythm.”
- Play the first song.
- Encourage youth to continue moving around the table clockwise and cover as much of the table with color as possible.
- Allow youth to switch colors as often as they’d like.
- You can play different songs using the same paper until it is covered with color.
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