Recycled Percussion Project

In lieu of our usual concert, teachers used their general music class lesson plans for the choral concert grade: a recycled percussion project! For this project, students put together an eight-measure composition with four beats per measure to play on a home-made instrument. These instruments ranged from Tupperware drums to water bottle maracas; one student went as far as making a xylophone from a wooden frame and metal pipes! Students observed how different pitches and tones could be created by using different materials and experimented accordingly. For example, coffee beans have a deeper sound than rice. It was also interesting to hear how distinctive each instrument sounded with the use of different materials as students played their instruments on each Teams meeting. Although it wasn’t the same as an actual concert, it stood in for one as a fun, creative alternative. From a hybrid student’s point of view, this project filled its purpose in a fun and educational way!