Activities for Teaching Melody
There are many activities for teaching melody to preschool and elementary students that can help them grow a music appreciation, visualize a relatively abstract and technical definition, and have fun, too! The possibilities for creativity are endless. Here are some of the activities that have worked in my classroom.
What is Melody?
A “Melody” is a series of pitches and rhythms that our brain recognizes as one unit. Melodies often have the tendency to get higher at more emotional points and lower at points of reflection and rest. Sometimes melodies with lyrics follow our normal speech inflection. Melodies can step, stay the same, or leap. Melodies can repeat certain rhythmic and interval patterns. A catchy melody is one that gets stuck in your head. A good way to offer a simple definition of melody is simply to say, “Melody is the part of the song we can sing.”
Make Learning Melody Fun
Here are some fun activities that teach melody to young students in preschool and elementary music.
- The Contour of Melody – Let children use ribbon or string on the ground or at their desks to make different kinds of lines and then take turns singing the melody. My students had so much fun when I changed the pitch of my voice to match their ribbons. They would shout “Do mine! Do Mine” It sounds silly and is a great way to teach that melodies have contour.
- Melody Contour Detectives – Listen to a classical song with a really bendy melodic contour like Chopin’s Fantaisie Impromptu of Flight of the Bumble Bee by Rimsky-Korsakov. Give students a piece of paper with a few colors and let them draw the melody contours. Let them choose colors according to the emotions of the song. Students can then share their findings with the class and discuss why they chose those colors.
Analyzing Emotional Melodies – Listen to a song or music composition as a class and analyze the emotional points of the song. Then discuss if the melody went up in pitch during more exciting times and lower in pitch during less emotional times. I love the song “Never Enough” from the Greatest Showman for older elementary. For younger kids “Tomorrow” from Annie is a good choice or even “How Far I’ll Go” from Moana.
- Expressing Melody Through Movement – Give students ribbons or scarves and let them move the ribbon or scarf to the ups and downs of the melody. Set some rules beforehand so everyone is safe. I always lead by example. I find that students will lose their inhibitions when they see you doing the activity along with them.
- Solfege Melodies – Take a simple melody from a common children’s song or folk song and let students guess the solfege for it or try to match the sound of bells placed in order (do-re-mi-fa-sol) to the melody. This is a good ear-training activity. You can read more about ear-training activities in this article. Also, you can click on this link for an article about activities that teach steps, leaps, and skips.
There are many fun music activities you can do to teach melody to your elementary and preschool students. I hope this gives you a good starting point and inspires you to think of many other things to do with your class. Leave a comment below and tell us what activities you’ve used in your classroom.