Pitched Instruments
A number of these pitched instruments are likely to be found in schools
and in the home. They are described here, along with sug-gestions for their
use in developing children’s musical understanding and fundamental
performance skills.
Barred Instruments of the Orff Approach
1. are widely known for their exceptional tone quality.
2. The sounds are pleasing to the ears and attractive to children, who enjoy
playing with sound, developing their playing skills, and expressing
themselves through improvised and composed pieces they create. Whether
played alone, in ensemble, or as an accompaniment for singing, the Orff
instruments greatly enrich children’s musical experiences.
3. The main difference between a xylophone and the
glockenspiel/metallophone is the material used for the bars; the
xylophone uses wood whereas the glockenspiel and metallophone
use metal. Another common difference between a xylophone and
the glockenspiel/metallophone is the layout ... the xylophone is
usually on one sound board whilst the glockenspiel and
metallophone are usually laid out in the style of a piano.
4. The instruments can be played in combinations of different registers or
groups of metals and woods.
5. (Glockenspiels can be elevated on a stack of books for easier access,
eliminating the need to bend over.) There should be room for movement
of the arms and elbows while playing.
6. The bars are removable, so that only those pitches necessary for a par-
ticular melody or accompaniment may be played. For example, if a penta-
tonic melody is to be played, then two bars per octave are removed,
making it easier to play the melody. In the case of a repeated
accompaniment pat-tern, or ostinato, all bars not a part of the pattern are
removed, clearing the way for the ostinato.
7. Examples of techniques for accompaniment are ordered from simple to
more complex
8. These techniques require preparation before playing. Children should
pat the patterns on their laps that they will eventually play on the
instruments. The success with which these accompaniments are played
will depend on children’s motor develop-ment. Similarly, the extent to
which they can be used to accompany folk songs and children’s songs will
depend on the teacher’s musical ear and training and the extent to which
they can be used to accompany folk songs and children’s songs will
depend on the teacher’s musical ear and training.
9. “Little Sally Walker,” “Suogan,” “Hey, Betty Martin,” “Kookaburra,”
and “Scotland’s Burning” are excellent selections to challenge children to
play what they already know, while they also master the instrument.
10. Children can be led to learning styles and structures of these musical
experiences through transcriptions (and modified arrange-ments) of
recorded music from these cultures and through collections by
11. From imitation to expressive tasks, children can develop creative
musical thinking and improvisatory skills through playing these
instruments. For example, as children hear a rhythmic pattern of four or
eight beats clapped by the teacher, they can play it back on the
instruments, choosing pitches as they play.
12. They can experiment with playing the simple melody softer or louder.
They can also attempt to play it twice as fast or twice as slow.
13. “Whether played alone, in ensemble, or as an accompaniment for
singing, the Orff instruments greatly enrich children’s musical
experiences.”
Tones BELLS
14. Tone bells are kept in a large box and can be played as a xylophone, or
they can be distributed to a group of chil-dren to play a collaborative
melody in a manner similar to that of a handbell choir, with each child
contributing separate pitches to the melody. The tone quality is soft and
bell-like; thus, tone bells function well as harmonic accom-paniment to
children’s voices.
Recorder
15. It is also among the most common melody instruments played by
children in the elementary grades today.
16. Beginning at about the age of nine, children in the third, fourth, and
fifth grades are able and eager for the recorder, a pathway for furthering
their musical understanding.
17. The recorder is also an important means of understanding melody—its
highs, lows, contours, and intervallic pitch relationships.
18. Most beginners’ recorders come with a soft or plastic tubular case. The
mouthpieces can be sterilized with hot water or with aerosol spray
sanitizers. Instructional books are available for playing recorder, although
a chart of fingerings, musical exercises, and familiar songs are all that may
be needed to introduce children to the instrument.
19. Children must meet the challenges of (1) feeling the holes that they
cannot easily see; (2) balancing the recorder with the thumbs at the back,
the fingers at the front, and the mouth at the tip; (3) curving the fingers
and placing the fleshy finger pads on the appropriate holes; and (4)
blowing gen-tly while forming the sound “doo” with the mouth and
tongue.
20. One way to teach the recorder involves singing a familiar song, then
singing it with letters, numbers, or solfège syllables while fingering it on
the recorder, and finally playing it. Because children know many songs,
they may be able to play them quickly, as they have already mentally
processed the rise and fall of the melody and the repeated patterns. Songs
such as “Hot Cross Buns,” “Mos’ Mos’,” “Polly Wolly Doodle,” and
“Hey, Betty Martin” feature limited ranges and repeated patterns that
children may find more easily transferable to their recorders.
21. Children can continue to play songs they know on recorder, as well as
to invent their own.
Harmony Instruments
22. While the guitar has long been an important part of the American pop
and rock music scene, it still remains, along with the Autoharp, an
important means of producing chords for any folk, popular, or personal
music that children may wish to sing and play.
23. It became useful to teachers who wanted a portable instrument to
provide harmony to songs sung by children in the classroom or outdoors,
one that could be easily learned by teachers and children alike. Its sound is
soft enough to support children’s singing voices without overwhelming
them. By following chord markings in songbooks and music series texts,
the Autoharp functions as a bona fide musical instrument almost
immediately.
24. The Autoharp player reads the chord names found above the melody
line of notated songs and presses the corresponding chord bars with one
hand while strumming the strings with the other. Different strumming
patterns can be used to enhance rhythmic characteristics of a variety of
songs.
25. While the Autoharp is generally easy to play, there are two challenges
to consider.
26. By pressing one chord button (for example, G major) and then slowly
brushing across each G, B, and D
string from highest to lowest, flat and sharp pitches can be heard and
adjusted with the tuning key. At the very least, all pitches in chords of the
song(s) to be played should be tuned. If the Autoharp is not in good
tuning, it should not be played, or it may lead to out-of-tune singing.
27. For children in the primary grades, the teacher may wish to press the
chord buttons while a child strums the strings. Just as children in the
intermediate grades are beginning to hear harmonic changes, they can also
play the instrument by themselves.
28. There are many types of guitars, but the nylon-strung folk or classical
guitars are easier on the fingers than the steel strings found on larger
acoustic instruments. Nonamplified electric guitars can also be played by
children because, despite the steel strings, their necks are narrow and thus
easier on the hand and finger expanse.
29. While there are many manuals for playing guitar, children often learn
to play through observation and experimen-tation. Time spent in practice
pays off; therefore children who play at home or who come to the music
room before or after school can become proficient. The use of a capo, a
plastic-covered bar that is clipped across the strings, extends the
possibility to play song accompaniments in practically any key.
30. When they are played correctly, the left-hand fingers are curved, their
tips pressing the designated strings to the fingerboard. Chil-dren should be
checked and reminded to avoid touching other strings that are not a part of
the chord configuration. Once the fingers of the right hand are comfortable
in their chord posi-tions and in changing chords, children can begin to
learn strumming pat-terns.
31. Down refers to the downward brushing of the
thumb from the lowest string to the highest; up is the
thumb’s upward brush across the higher to lower
strings and toward the player’s face. Strumming
patterns add distinctive fla-vors to songs and soon
separate beginners from more proficient players.
32. Most schools are likely to have available at least one classic grand or
upright acoustic piano. The music room, auditorium, and assembly space
are the most likely locations for the piano. When in tune and played well,
the piano can bring unity to group singing of patriotic and traditional
songs as well as add to the artistic quality of a choral performance. Yet it
is far more than an accompaniment instrument. It can stimulate
eurhythmic movement to music through its percussive quality and its
broad spectrum of expressive capacities. It can illustrate musical features,
from pitch to duration to dynamic intensity. It can add color and interest to
stories and poems. The piano can also under-score and reinforce musical
learning for children of every age.
33. Children enjoy experiment-ing with the piano’s potential as both a
melodic and a harmonic instrument. For those who develop basic facility
at the piano (or any keyboard), it will become an important channel for
personal expression in the original music that they create.
34. Music teachers may be an important link to children’s further training
and development as pianists and as musicians. Because they have
presented children with musical problems and have observed the nature of
each child’s capacity to solve them, music teachers are in a position to
evaluate and rec-ommend further instruction.
