Improvisation and creation are some of the highest forms of music making.  Students are either planning out or spontaneously creating new music.  This week our 1st graders and Kindergarteners explored our Orff instruments via creative activities.  First graders played a copy cat game where one leader improvised patterns on the teacher xylophone and the class had to follow them.

Kindergarten used hula hoops in a similar manner.  Each type of instrument was assigned a different color hula hoop.  When the leader stepped into the hoop that group played, when the stepped out the group of instruments stopped.  This allows two levels of improvisation:  First, the leader is improvising the organization of the instruments that play and second, the students are improvising at the instruments by themselves when it is their turn to play.