Auditory Sense: Pitch

The Bells
Materials 2 identical series of 13 bells ranging from middle C to high C: one
series has black and white stands and correspond to the black and
white keys of the piano. The other series have stands of natural,
varnished wood (brown bells)
2 green boards with black and white rectangles resembling a piano
keyboard. The black and white bells go on the green part behind the
corresponding black and white rectangles. The brown bells are placed
on the black and white rectangles
A special table with an interior shelf: 150 cm x 50 cm x 50 cm, with a
low rim around 3 sides at the top; the shelf is about 21 cm from the
floor. Alternatively, bring a child’s table nearby to give more work
space.
A wooden mallet
A Damper

Notes on set-up:
 The bells with the white stands are referred to as the “white” bells
and the ones with the black stands as “black bells” and the ones
with the varnished stands as the “brown” bells.

 The bells are placed on a board divided into 8 white and 5 grey
spaces corresponding to the black and white notes on a piano. The
bells with the white stands are placed on the white spaces, the ones
with the black stands on the grey spaces.

 The corresponding “brown” bells are on the white spaces in front

of the “white” bells. The 5 black bells and their corresponding
“brown” bells are kept on the lower shelf of the table on which the
board and the bells are arranged.

Purposes  Discrimination of sounds

 Pairing and grading of tones and semi-tones

Age 3.5 - 5

Presentation 1:
One Bell

Presentation 2:
Two Bells
 Auditory Sense: Pitch
The Bells

Presentation 3:
Pairing the
Diatonic Scale

Presentation 4: 1. Invite the child and say we are going to do something different
Grading the with the bells today
Diatonic Scale 2. Take all the 8 brown bells off the board and place them on the
right side of the table/stand
3. Mix them up
4. Play the scale on the white bells so the child has an image of
that
5. Then tell the child we are going to grade the bells
6. Take the first brown bell from the right and place it in front of
the first white bell (control) and play the bell, then play the
white bell. Ask child “is it the same?” if it is then thats the
control for the gradation and you tell the child we will now use
this brown bell to grade the bells.
7. If its not the match to the first white bell, keep playing the
bells till you find the match to the first white bell( C)
8. Once the first brown bell (now your control for grading) is
found, play the first bell and look for the next grade amongst
the bells on the right side
9. Keep playing the first brown bell and keep grading till the
whole gradation is done
10. Once the whole gradation is done, then place on the board
according to their placement
11. Now see if the brown bells are a pair to the corresponding
white bell (the control)
12. Once all the brown bells are paired, then play the grade by
going up the brown bells and going down the white bells
13. Invite the child to do the presentation
14. Later fade and observe
15. The child puts away own work

Presentation 5: Pairing the Chromatic Scale (The pentatonic scale and the
Pairing the Diatonic scale make this up. The thirteen half steps from the
Chromatic Scale middle C to the high C. Before inviting the child add the black
bells and the corresponding white bells to the board from the shelf
below. Remove all the unnecessary brown bells from the board as
it just creates more variables. When these are on the board is when
the children are writing music and to keep up the interest they
have we can then keep it there otherwise this scale is not there.
Afterwards the children can independently set up the chromatic
bells on their own.

Presentation 6: Take all the brown bells and mix them on the right side of board/or
 Auditory Sense: Pitch
The Bells

Grading the table. Play up the chromatic scale, this is the control for the time
Chromatic Scale being. The adult is going to match a few bells using the technique
in presentation 4 and then invite the child. Grade the bells, the first
bell becomes the control. Check each match before the bells are
placed on the board, then place on the board, then play up the scale
and then down the scale.

Control of Error Pairing: The last two bells don’t sound the same
Grading: Auditory disharmony

Following 1. Group Game

Exercises Prepare a tray with common everyday objects from the room that can
produce a sound. Gather a small group of children. With eyes open,
demonstrate the sound each object makes. For example, click a pen,
jingle keys, rustle paper, etc. In total you should have about 10
different things. Then invite the children to close their eyes, choose
an object and make its sound, and invite the child to identify which
object it is.

Language High, low, Superlative and Comparative

Sensorial Games 1,2,4

Pedagogical 1. The pitch of the bell may be distorted if the metal part of the bell is
Notes touched or grasped. Proper handling of the bells is important.
2. If you have the Nienhuis green boards, place them together with
the half black spaces matched in the center.
3. Wait a few weeks at the start of the year for the children to settle
until putting out the bells.
4. After the pairing and the grading of the diatonic scale, the order of
presentations is dependent on the interest of the child. They could
do language, memory games, pairing and grading chromatic scale,
or you could do the names of the pitches.