The West African Rock Game is a great way to teach patterns. Originating from Ghana, this game takes a pattern and repeats it over and over. It also teaches students to:
Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music
Understanding music in relation to history and culture
Demonstrate knowledge of the basic principles of meter and rhythm
How To Do It: To adapt this game for preschool, have students sit in a circle. Give each student two rocks. After going over the: “No Throwing” rules, let the students pound them together and make noise. Call it a "rock concert!" Then try a pattern.
Try doing this first 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x
Then try passing to the right with this pattern: “pick-up, click, pass, clap”
Have student try this one time, passing to the right.
Try several times…
Once the cycle is working, you can say “change” where the “clap” happens on beat 4 and students have to change direction.
REMINDERS:
1. After each cycle, ask a couple of questions regarding what worked and what did not.
2. Try and avoid the blame, and point out things that could help them work together as a group: (i.e. students shouldn’t start with the rocks in their hand and they should be conscious about placing the rocks in front of the person next to them; they can say the pattern as they do it to help coordinate, etc.)
3. The goal is to show that if one person is out of “sync” with the group the whole group falls apart. This is a metaphor for community and musical collaboration.
Below is Dr. Nicola Mason teaching beginning teachers the Rock Passing Game. Notice how she emphasizing steady beat, syllabication, and procedures of the game.
OPTIONAL:
Try doing this activity and sing the ABC’s
Try pounding the rock on the ground or click them to specific letters or words
Paint the rocks with letters
Teach the Ghanaian chant “Obwisanna”
How else can you use this activity?
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