{"id":15829,"date":"2023-10-22T12:30:32","date_gmt":"2023-10-22T16:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/?p=15829"},"modified":"2026-03-31T14:56:57","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T18:56:57","slug":"its-all-a-charade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/its-all-a-charade\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s All a Charade"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Classic Party Game as Music and Movement Portal for 3rd-5th Graders<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last week, I came across a passage in a book by Elizabeth Vanderspar that stopped me in my tracks. (The book was originally published as \u201cPrinciples and Guidelines for Teaching Eurhythmics\u201d and is now available as Dalcroze Handbook: Teaching Rhythmics<\/a>.) She suggested playing charades with older kids who are new to Dalcroze to give them an experience of communicating through movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second I read this I knew immediately I would try this with a 3rd<\/sup> \u2013 5th<\/sup> grade Dalcroze class I have this year. Most of the students have been studying an instrument for a while and most of them are new to Dalcroze this year. They are basically affable and game to try anything, but after our first month together I did not feel that many of them really understood the point of the class. It\u2019s a good question: just why are we moving again?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are many possible answers to this question, and my own answers have evolved (and multiplied) over the years. The one most often cited\u2013to learn music theory primarily through direct kinesthetic experience\u2013still holds up. But simply telling someone this, especially a 5th<\/sup> grader, is not very effective. \u201cI signed up to learn to play the piano. Why am I running around a room without my shoes?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vanderspar\u2019s suggestion seemed perfect for this age group. They love rules (they can be lawyer-like in their execution to the letter of every utterance from me); they are highly competitive; they love to problem solve; and most of all they love any excuse to laugh and get completely silly. What better way to experience communication through movement than with this classic game of, well, communicating through movement? Brilliant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we tried it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To save time I decided to bring in the words myself that they would guess rather than let them select. I used a random charades generator<\/a> (thank you internet) set on \u2018easy\u2019. I let them self-select their teams (predictably it was boys against girls). And I let them play one regular round: 3 minutes per team to guess as many words as they could, no talking, only gesture. They enjoyed themselves. The girls did much better than the boys (also predictable).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We played another round, and this time I accompanied the gesturer on the piano whenever I thought it might help. I tried to follow their lead and complement their movement, sometimes making verbal suggestions if they were stuck. If a team was having trouble guessing, I asked the mover to listen to the piano and reflect more closely what they heard. This often led to a more conscious use of weight, space or time, and it seemed to facilitate more accurate guessing. (The boys did slightly better on the second round.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In between rounds we talked a bit about what elements went into successful communication of a word or idea through movement. I was not able to elicit much in the way of thoughtful analysis: how, for example, a rhythmic slicing of an imaginary pizza made use of weight, space and time, and just why that facilitated quicker guessing than just drawing a triangle in the air over and over with an exasperated look on your face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we played a third round. This time, I intervened more often to give direct assistance. One boy was having trouble communicating \u2018snow\u2019. The music I played lightly in the upper register of the piano (actually a pale imitation of Debussy\u2019s \u201cLa Neige Dance<\/a>\u201d) gave him a bit of assistance, but then he began trying to mime the making of a snowman and ending up just confusing his team. He quickly drew a few circles in the air and was stymied when no one could figure out what he was trying to communicate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I understood so I butted in. I bent down to roll a heavy ball of snow. I made another, slightly smaller, and bent my legs with my back straight to slowly lift it and place it on top of the other. I did it a third time, with a smaller \u2018snowball\u2019. The students instantly guessed \u201csnowman\u201d and then it was a short trip to elicit the word \u2018snow\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was paydirt. The clear use of weight, time, shape, effort made for clear communication of an image. It was not hard for them after that to make the connection to music performance. When you are playing an instrument the sound you make is entirely dependent on your movement (unless you are programming a digital instrument). Loud and soft, fast and slow, short and long all depend on physical precision, and the connection between the imagination and this fine motor precision are what give music its expressive power. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of that took up the full 45 minutes. We discussed no music theory directly. There were no quarter notes or eighth notes on the board, no time signatures.  But I think it was worth it. We talked about the value of using your imagination to translate ideas, feelings and experience from one medium to another: sound to movement; movement to sound; something heard to something visual; a feeling to a phrase of poetry\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think we opened some doors, and most importantly I got a clearer picture of how they conceive of both movement and music. It will be fun to see where we end up by the end of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ll keep you posted!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Classic Party Game as Music and Movement Portal for 3rd-5th Graders Last week, I came across a passage in a book by Elizabeth Vanderspar that stopped me in my tracks. (The book was originally published as \u201cPrinciples and Guidelines for Teaching Eurhythmics\u201d and is now available as Dalcroze Handbook: Teaching Rhythmics.) She suggested playing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[128],"tags":[103,113],"class_list":["post-15829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dalcroze-reference","tag-3rd-5th-grade","tag-children"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9ohMj-47j","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":17137,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/its-all-a-charade-part-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":15829,"position":0},"title":"It’s All a Charade (Part 2)","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"June 1, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Even revolutionary approaches can become rigid. Here\u2019s part 2 of the story of a 3rd-5th grade class which encouraged me to think outside of a box that was already outside of the box.","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/cpsess1042171136\/frontend\/paper_lantern\/filemanager\/2024\/06\/a4d7c02b-f91b-47be-b3d8-18a81da91bcd-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/cpsess1042171136\/frontend\/paper_lantern\/filemanager\/2024\/06\/a4d7c02b-f91b-47be-b3d8-18a81da91bcd-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/cpsess1042171136\/frontend\/paper_lantern\/filemanager\/2024\/06\/a4d7c02b-f91b-47be-b3d8-18a81da91bcd-1.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/cpsess1042171136\/frontend\/paper_lantern\/filemanager\/2024\/06\/a4d7c02b-f91b-47be-b3d8-18a81da91bcd-1.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/cpsess1042171136\/frontend\/paper_lantern\/filemanager\/2024\/06\/a4d7c02b-f91b-47be-b3d8-18a81da91bcd-1.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/cpsess1042171136\/frontend\/paper_lantern\/filemanager\/2024\/06\/a4d7c02b-f91b-47be-b3d8-18a81da91bcd-1.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":500,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/7-9-year-old-dalcroze-3617\/","url_meta":{"origin":15829,"position":1},"title":"7-9 Year-old Dalcroze: 3\/6\/17","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"March 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This was another very unusual class. The story from the previous week was very strong in their minds, and they desperately wanted to continue it. That kind of intense student engagement is very hard for me to resist, so I relented, not having the least idea about where it would\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10529,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/what-will-1st-2nd-graders-experience-in-a-dalcroze-class-part-1-of-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":15829,"position":2},"title":"Skills and experiences for 1st-2nd Grade Dalcroze: Movement (Part 1 of 4)","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"August 29, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The focus for this list is movement. In each Dalcroze class, I give a short warm-up at the beginning. The focus is usually on some kind of movement technique, and I often use the warm-up to provide an introduction to the musical subject of the day (for example beat and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":505,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/7-9-year-old-dalcroze-32817\/","url_meta":{"origin":15829,"position":3},"title":"7-9 year-old Dalcroze: 3\/28\/17","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"March 31, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Here's what we did: Tempo and dynamics Follow ( 2 dotted quarters, 3 eighths, 1 dotted quarter) In this classic Dalcroze exercise, the class moves a pattern through a variety of tempo and dynamics changes. The three eighths required us to develop some technique, as the students found it difficult\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":510,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/7-9-year-old-dalcroze-4417\/","url_meta":{"origin":15829,"position":4},"title":"7-9 Year-old Dalcroze, 4\/4\/17","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"April 24, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"This week\u2019s activities: We first reviewed the notation and language for some basic rhythms for compound (ternary) meter: dotted quarters, 3 eighth notes, quarter-eighth. I put the symbols on the board, and asked one student to stand in front of the one he\/she wanted to hear and see moved. After\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":455,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/7-9-year-olds-september\/","url_meta":{"origin":15829,"position":5},"title":"7-9 Year-Olds: September","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"September 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Welcome parents and family members of the new Dalcroze class for 7 to 9-year-olds at the Lucy Moses School. I am pleased we were able to expand our program to include older children this year! Because it is sometimes difficult \u2013 even for adult Dalcroze students \u2013 to be able\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15829"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19195,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15829\/revisions\/19195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}