Make Me a Playlist: Students submit a collection of works that feature a targeted musical concept.

Timestamps: Students listen to a given recording and provide timestamps when a targeted musical concept occurs.

Pattern echoing: Perform a rhythmic/tonal pattern on a neutral syllable and have students echo on a neutral syllable.

Guided listening: Ask students to listen to a piece of music, and to perform some physical response when a desired event occurs (raise your hand when you hear a cadence / clap on the downbeats).

Pattern echoing: Perform a rhythmic/tonal pattern on functional syllables and have students echo on functional syllables.

Swiss cheese patterns: Perform a full pattern on functional syllables. Then perform it again, leaving some parts of the pattern out. Students must perform the “Swiss cheesed” pattern, and audiate the missing elements. Maybe have some students only sing the “cheese holes.”

Sound per syllable: Perform a rhythmic/tonal pattern on functional syllables, and have students map different syllables to different sounds. (Clap du and snap de, etc.)

Silent bouncing ball: Students follow a visual set of solfege syllables or rhythmic syllables and perform as they are pointed to. When the teacher calls for a switch (change the hand pointing at the syllables, say a buzz word, finger snap), switch to silent audiation. Switch back and forth with little warning, so students are always audiating.

Decode: Teacher performs pattern on neutral syllable, students decode pattern and perform on functional syllables.

Hand sign guess the song: Teacher signs a popular tune in Curwen hand signs, and students must guess the song. Alternatively, ask students to think of a popular song in hand signs, which the teacher must guess from their signing.

Two Lies and a Truth: Instructor sings the same melodic pattern on three different solfege patterns (sing the pitches C,D,E on DRM, DMS, and MFS, for example). Students hold up a finger representing which solfege “told the truth.” This builds to the real activity with two truths and one lie. Sing three different melodies using different solfege patterns. Students identify the pattern that “told the truth.” The “telling the truth” metaphor is handy if talking about modulating solfege, too. When a modulating passage fails to change solfege syllables, does singing Do feel like “the truth”?

Mixed Signals: Students perform a pattern on a neutral syllable, but must instantly switch to functional syllables when the teacher claps, and back to neutral syllables when they clap again, switching back and forth with little warning. (For extra fun, have students come up with their own lyrics for an exercise rather than neutral syllables, or maybe cycle between all three–neutral, lyrics, functional syllables).

Rapid Fire: Over a drone, play individual pitches on the piano (or other instrument). Students respond as quickly as possible, singing the functional syllable(s) as quickly as possible. Speed the game up as students develop competency. Consider advancing to patterns with multiple notes. Or, if it matches the unit, provide students a pitch which they must sing some static interval away from (students must sing back one diatonic step above the rapid fire note given, etc.)

“Not Quite” Echoes: Students must translate some pitch to some other pitch (ex. mi always becomes re). Then, perform patterns for students where they must echo, but also institute the changes you’ve made. Ex: Perform do do mi, and students must echo do do re. This works very well when the original pattern in given in neutral syllables and students must decode, and collegiate students can probably handle multiple, more complex mappings (switch all res and mis, as well as dos and sols).

Chunking: Give students a basic pattern with neutral syllables and call it “A.” Perform it enough that it’s memorized. Do this with a few other patterns, increasing the number of patterns based on student competency, and call each a subsequent letter (B, C, D…). Then, write a string of letters on the board (ACDDB), and invite students to perform each chunk in order, also decoding your neutral syllables. This is also an excellent way to introduce students to smaller phrase structures. ABAC might be a period, for example.

Sequencify: Provide a basic tonal pattern on a neutral syllable, which students decode, and then perform continuously a diatonic step higher or lower until returning back at the octave to the original pattern.

Crazy Canons: Teacher performs a simple melody on neutral syllables. Students enter one unit later, creating a canon, but must listen to the instructor’s melody to continue. They must also decode it as they sing the previous material.

Poison Pattern: Teacher performs a pattern with solfege or rhythmic syllables. Then, teacher runs through many similar examples on neutral syllables, which students must decode as an echo. However, if the teacher performs the original “poison pattern,” students must not echo it, or they are out.

Slowly changing patterns: One student begins with an original pattern on functional syllables. Each student goes in a circle, changing one element (one pitch of solfege, or one beat in rhythm) from the previous. If the group is small enough, or the patterns variable enough, you can add the extra challenge of not allowing a pattern that’s already been done, though keep in mind this poses a harder challenge for students near the end of the order.

Too many rules: Have students audiate a simple, original pattern. Then, slowly write rules that restrict the pattern one by one on the board (the pattern cannot begin with do, the pattern must end with du-ta-de, the pattern must contain fa on beat three). Students must constantly adjust their pattern to follow all rules. Call on students to perform their pattern shortly after introducing a new rule.

Buzzer beater: Teacher begins a metronome at a slow tempo. Students must improvise a rhythmic or tonal pattern on functional syllables with the beat, one by one in a line or circle. The metronome slowly increases in speed, and students who make a gaff are out. This gets very interesting when few students remain!

Canon circle: Students stand in a circle, and each improvise one element of a tonal pattern. Then, have students begin switching places at your request, to change the overall pattern. When they’ve got it down, have two (or more) students across the circle each begin at the same time, creating a canon, but still keep having students switch positions when they can.

Don’t echo me: Students stand in a circle with some throwable object (bean bag). The student holding the bag improvises a pattern, then throws it to another student who must create a pattern different than what was just heard.

The straw that broke the camel’s back: Students are arranged in a circle, with one (the camel) in the center. One student in the circle improvises a short (two beat) pattern, which the camel must repeat. The next student in the circle improvises their own pattern, and the camel must now perform both. This continues, making a longer and longer pattern for the camel, until they cannot remember the full pattern and a new camel is chosen. (This can also be done with no “camel,” and instead have students in a circle, where one student creates a very small pattern–one or two beats only–and the next student repeats the pattern but adds on, continuously in the circle).

Too many composers: Have students arranged in a circle, and have one improvise a pattern which then is passed around the circle one by one. Then, as the original pattern is going, call upon another student to improvise a new pattern, which is then simultaneously sent around the circle (in the same direction). Continue increasing the number of patterns until each student is performing a pattern and listening to the one they’re about to perform. (This one is especially fun if tonal and rhythmic patterns are mixed or alternated).

Retrograde patterns: The teacher provides a tonal pattern, which students must sing back in reverse order.

Read patterns: The teacher reads tonal or rhythmic patterns aloud from notation, and students echo them. (It’s hard to gamify this one!)

Error detection: The teacher reads tonal or rhythmic patterns aloud from notation, but makes mistakes. Students identify the error, and perform the notation on functional syllables as it is written.

Rapid Identification: Teacher shows multiple notated examples on the board, and performs only one. Students must identify which was performed, and perform it back. You can also have it be a silent activity, and provide less time for identification with each question.

Telephone: Students each receive a card with two written patterns on it (A & B). For each card, an A pattern should be another card’s B pattern. One student performs their B pattern, and the student with the corresponding A pattern repeats it, and then performs their own B pattern. For older students, consider giving each student two or three cards to keep track of.

Omit by type: Students perform a passage written in notation, but must stay silent on some element and audiate instead. (Audiate all fas, audiate all dis followed by a da). Consider giving different students different silent elements to increase independency.

Canon Clapping: Students read a rhythmic exercise and perform it with functional syllables, but must also clap the pattern two beats behind their voices. You can scaffold this by dividing each job into different groups at first. Or, you can make it harder by increasing the space between the vocalized and clapped rhythm.

Two-Part Rhythms: Students vocalize and clap two different written rhythms concurrently. (You might notate these to be canons, as a way to prepare the canon clapping activity above. The Hall/Urban text, Studying Rhythm contains many of these).

Read Ahead: Students perform a tonal or rhythmic exercise, but the instructor blocks out the notation some amount of time ahead, to force students to look ahead while reading. Instructor can block out more in advance to increase difficulty.

Guess the tune: Students are divided into groups and teacher writes down two notes of a familiar tune. Each group may guess the name of the tune, just from the notation. If no group guesses correctly, add another note.

Rising Tide: Students read a tonal passage in notation. Then, on each subsequent performance, “raise the water:” whatever the lowest notated tone is gets removed each time, and is audiated instead. You can also “lower the curtains” to do this activity in reverse.

Human piano: Assign each student (or group) specific pitches (on solfege) and then introduce a written melody. Students must sing through it, each only responsible for one solfege tone. This is great to have students really focus on internalizing specific, targeted solfege tones. Consider with more advanced students, increasing their responsibilities to two or three tones, but perhaps choosing some that provide more awkward intervals if what falls between isn’t audiated–as opposed to a do re mi group, and a sol la group.

Copy notation: Teacher shows notation on the board, which students copy by hand. (Also hard to gamify!)

Error detection: As before–teacher performs pattern incorrectly from notation–but now students provide the corrections through notating the revisions, rather than performing them (though they should still perform it after notating it!!)

Written poison pattern: Students perform melodic or rhythmic dictation, but are given a specific pattern to leave out of the notation.

Question & Answer: Students receive a worksheet with many phrases half completed. Their job is to write the second half. Then, the class reads the “questions” while individuals take turns performing their “answers.”

Create a Pattern that Includes: Have students write a pattern after writing some restrictions on the board, (“it must begin on fa, it must have a rest on beat 4, etc.). Make sure to have students perform their patterns after writing them!

Exquisite Corpses: Have each student provide some unit of a pattern in notation, and then pass it on to the next student to continue. This might be used alongside specific parameters (the third person’s harmony must be x, or the first and fifth units should be almost identical, etc.). Have whichever student is holding a notation pattern at the end perform the entire example.

Set text: Students are given text/poetry and must create a melody (or just rhythm) to set the text to. You can give them text from a familiar song and have them design a new melody (Happy Birthday might be a great choice!)