For a group of at least 3 and no more than 20 young people aged 4-6

Get Started

• Begin to clap
• The first person should clap once
• The second person should clap twice
• The third person should clap three times
• And so on…the next person should clap the number of times that corresponds to their place in the circle.
• Try and keep the claps going in one full round individually. Hopefully at this point there will be as much laughter as hand clapping as everyone tries to hold their attentive concentration.
• Now try it with everyone doing their own number of claps at the same time.
• Is everyone in sync?

Make a Song Together

• Now for the same group, ask participants to come up with a melodic (or not) sound. It might be La-La-La! or ¡Boop-Bidi-Boop! or Kri-Krü-Kri! Encourage people to come up with original sounds.
• The first person should begin their melodic sound clip and keep repeating it…
• The second person should come in on the next round and keep repeating it…
• The third person should come in on the next round and keep repeating it…
• And so on and so forth…there should be a song organically emerging from the participants repetition of their chosen melodic hook.
• Try and keep the song going long enough for every participant to contribute their sound.
• Is everyone in sync?

Questions for participants

• How did that feel? Did you like composing a song together?
• This song was composed with our sounds. Do sounds have feelings?
• What’s the difference between lyrics and song? How do you know?
• What were some of the melodies that stuck out to you?
• What did the musical composition remind you of? A person? A place? Another time?
• You used your voices but did your voices remind you of certain instruments? Which ones?
• Where might you hear a song like this?
• What does a song like this look like?

Encourage participants to draw their responses to any and all of these questions!