You, like many general music teachers, may have a set of handchimes in the instrument cabinet of your classroom that have been sitting for years. Now’s the time to open them up and get them into the hands of your students and begin reaping the benefits of using handchimes in the classroom.
Why?
Using handchimes in the classroom offers bountiful benefits in teaching music skills that will bring excitement to you and your students. Handchimes create a beautiful tone – they have been said to create the purest tone known to mankind. Children do not have to master the instrument to create this beauty – they hold the instrument and snap their wrist – no worries about embouchure, fingerings and being in tune – the beauty is instantaneous using the wrist to create the sound and the arm to sustain it.
The music skills that can be taught by ringing are many. Students can learn about note duration, rhythm, harmony and melodic line though the mental and physical aspects of ringing. Through ringing, students will increase their independent thinking, listening skills, attention span, physical coordination, self-discipline and personal expression. They also gain positive social and emotional skills through collaboration and the development of self-esteem. Working with a group of ringers teaches tolerance, patience, support and cooperation to name a few.
How?
Using handchimes in the classroom does not require all the equipment that goes along with a handchime ensemble – tables, foam and music. Distribute one handchime to each student and allow them to sit at their desks, sit in a circle on the floor or stand. With a chime in hand, the students can learn to ring and damp, ring note durations, scales, chords and melodies all by rote.
If you desire to start slowly, use your handchimes along with your Orff instruments allowing students to double ostinati on handchimes. If Kodaly is your method, use the handchimes to intone a song by ringing a chord, accompany a modal melody by choosing the pitches of the mode on handchimes and have them ring randomly throughout the piece. If you have students who are not successful in playing the recorder, have them ring chords on the handchimes to accompany the melody that the students on recorders are playing. The incorporation of handchimes into your existing lesson plans is easy and will embellish your teaching!
Once you have experienced the positive benefits of using handchimes with your existing lesson plans, expand your curriculum by engaging your students with more ringing! Through the ChimeWorks® Online Resource Community at www.chimeworks.com, you have access to over a hundred lesson plans using icons, chords and ostinati. Use these lessons to accompany singing or to teach music literacy. Add in non-pitched percussion for students to improvise rhythms along with the singing and handchime parts. All your students will have hands on experience!
When?
Begin or finish the school year with ringing success – it’s never too late in the academic year to introduce handchimes. Because of the instant success in creating beauty of tone by ringing a handchime, your students will have the opportunity to jump right into the music!