Singing Practice with Music-Go-Rounds

Recently I met with Mary Ann Stewart of Music in Motion and was delighted to learn about one of their new products, Music-Go-Rounds.    I must admit they caught my eye from a distance and up close?  Well I just couldn't stop touching them!  They are kind of squishy and incredibly satisfying to touch!  I knew that if I loved them, my students would too!

Mary Ann offered a few sets of these beautiful manipulatives to me and I couldn't wait to try them out!  In this article, I'm going to talk about using them for singing practice.  In future posts I'm going to talk about using them for rhythm, differentiating assessment and creative movement.

The Music-Go-Rounds are made from silicone and they are completely washable and stick like a magnet to your dry erase board.  I also have tried them on cabinets, my SmartBoard and even the floor.  Fun!

First, I set up the hand signs set and the numbers (which are conveniently color coded).  My middle school choral teacher prefers that students sight read using numbers and since my elementary person nor I teach one cohesive system, I've decided to teach numbers and use the Kurwen hand signs with them.  Students totally connect with this idea and will hopefully transition well to her middle school choral program.

After using these for a few weeks I set up a singing center during one of our center days.  I added some blank dots to the set up.  Students can use a dry erase marker on them.  I used a baby wipe to clean them after.

For the workstation I just wrote the instructions next to the display.  I know it is a little tricky to see in the picture.  Here's what I wrote:
1. Use a dry erase marker to write the syllable names on the dots.

2.  Sing the scale using the numbers and hand signs.

3.  Sing the scale using the syllables and the hand signs.

4.  Mix them up and then sing.  Hint:  Keep them in order from low to high.  Just mix numbers and syllables.

Here's one of the examples.  In this example students would sing "do re 3 fa 5 la 7 do" and then "1 2 mi 4 sol 6 ti 8".  They weren't really supposed to move the hand signs, but they were doing a fabulous job so I didn't fuss too much!

This was a fun workstation and using the Music-Go-Rounds kept students engaged.  They were amused that they stuck to the dry erase board and most groups tried sticking them on the walls, chairs, etc... to experiment with them.  I can't blame them.  I did the same thing!

You can take a look at all of the Music-Go-Rounds available at Music in Motion.  This is not an affiliate link.

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