Recorder Karate Idea Bank

• You will also need posters/flash cards of individual notes on a staff (such as Recorder Fingering Posters by Norm Sands).
• Hang three Recorder Dudes on the wall, and split your class into three lines, one for each Recorder Dude.
• Hold up a random note from a Flash Card/Poster. The first student in each line walks up to the respective Recorder Dude and manipulates the Recorder Dude into the correct fingering.
• As soon as there is a correct fingering, hit a bell or make a sound so the other students know to stop. Then, give the winning team a point. The student moves to the back of the line, and then you repeat the process using a different note.

Activity extensions:

a) You can also do the activity using note sequences (like A to B). (The first student who fingers the note sequence correctly gets a point for his/her team.)

b) You can also incorporate a rhythm into the sequence. And if you’d like to get really fancy, when having the students finger the note sequence in rhythm, have the students sing/say the rhythm (for example, ta ti-ti ta). By doing this, you will accomplish these three National Standards:

• Singing alone or with others,
• Reading music, and
• Evaluating music (because you would explain why the winning student was correct).