Creating a Storm

Objective: Students will play and perform tone color and dynamics by using body percussion, sounds, and
instruments to create the sound of a storm.
Grade: Grade 3
National Core Standards for Music:

2. Organize and develop musical ideas and work.

5. Develop and refine musical techniques and work for presentation.
6. Covey meaning through the presentation of musical work.
10. Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make music.

Process:
1. Show them an example of the activity that they will be doing (Perpetuum Jazzile-Africa:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjbpwlqp5Qw only show the first few minutes)
2. Talk about the video with the students. Ask what they were doing to get the sounds. Explain the activity to the
students.
3. Separate the students into 2-3 groups, depending on how large the class is.
4. The students can use body percussion, sounds, and instruments but NO VOICES. The students need to make it
sound like a rain storm. It also needs to start soft, then get louder then softer again (crescendo, decrescendo).
5. You can set other requirements to be met but you can also choose not to for creativity. (EX: there needs to be
thunder, rain, wind, etc.)
6. After the students have finished, let them present their work. After each presentation, have a group discussion
about what the group used to make their sounds.
Connection: Science
Resources: Perpetuum Jazzile-Africa: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjbpwlqp5Qw , different types of
instruments.
Here is a different version: http://www.teachers.net/gazette/AUG03/storm.html