You could even ask the pupils to create rhythms which only use set amount of each beat. If you wanted to look at the mathematical aspect of this ‘experiment’ you could look at how many of each beat you’ve used, then transfer this to fractions. They will find this really challenging at first, but in time will help develop a greater sense of pulse and ability to perform different parts alongside classmates. They might even only want to use one shape! Once they have created their images, introduce them to Kandisky. Kandinsky is a beautifully simple ‘experiment’, because all the children have to do is draw! Ask the class to copy their original pictures into Kandinsky, then hit play. The shapes can be as big, small or as numerous as they like. Lines, Circles, Squares/Rectangles (quadrilaterals) or Triangles.

To begin with, ask the children to draw any of the following shapes on either a sheet of paper, in their books or on a personal whiteboard: This activity is great for younger classes, but it can be developed for older children too. You may even like to write a short story using the words the class composed, and play the words in time with the story too! If you wanted to bring this work into the physical world, the colours of the notes match colour systems for classroom musical instruments, so you could have some digital music playing in Melody Maker or Song Maker, whilst the class play other words using their own acoustic instruments. You could even get the class to input several different words in layers and begin creating some interesting harmonies and counter melodies! Once the class are confident using this method of note input, you could transfer the skill over to Song Maker, and create longer compositions using different words.

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