High Notes to the Clouds, Low Notes to the Roots
Children walk around the room and, depending on the sound, stretch up on tiptoe toward the clouds for a high note or crouch down like roots for a low one. They practice telling high from low pitch and linking it to up and down.
How to play
- Standing and spread out, the teacher plays a high note on the small bars of the xylophone and says, "This sound is thin, it lives up in the clouds"; then a drum beat: "This one is big and deep, it lives down in the roots" (1 min).
- Try it standing still: for the high sound, arms up and onto tiptoe; for the low sound, crouch down and touch the floor (1 min).
- Now walk around the room and, whenever a sound plays, stop and become a cloud or a root (1 min).
- The teacher hides the instruments behind their back: now children guess with their ears only (1 min).
- Switch from walking to a gentle jog while the sounds come closer together (1 min).
- Finish with three very slow high notes: rise little by little to the very top, then lower your arms as you breathe out (1 min).
Rules
- The thin sound takes us up to the clouds.
- The deep sound takes us down to the roots.
- When nothing plays, we keep walking without bumping.
Variations
Easier
Age 3: stay in place, and the teacher shows the up or down movement while playing.
Standard
Age 4: walk around the room with the instruments hidden behind the teacher's back.
Harder
Age 5: add a middle sound (the middle bars) that means "grass": kneel down.
Adaptations
- Limited mobility: from a chair, arms up for high sounds and hands on knees for low ones.
- Hearing impairment: the teacher pairs each sound with a visual cue (hand up or hand down) and lets the child touch the drum to feel the vibration.
- Autism: preview with pictures of a cloud and a root on the wall, and avoid sudden loud drum hits.
Learning goals
- Tell high sounds from low sounds.
- Connect high pitch with up and low pitch with down.
- Warm up the body by changing levels.
Equipment for a class of 25
- xilófono: 1
- tambor: 1
Teacher tip
Use the small-bar end of the xylophone for high notes; if you only have one instrument, a squeaky voice and a deep voice work too. The classic mix-up is high versus loud, so play both sounds at the same volume.
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