Klarinet Archive - Posting 000209.txt from 2004/10

From: Robert Wood <instruments@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Flutophones
Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2004 00:17:17 -0400

Wayne - you might have fun with some basic stuff I used to do - get
some soft transparent plastic hose - the size that will fit into a
recorder mouthpiece. Make three or four of these - as long as you can
to get almost a low tone. With at least two kids in front to blow them,
and another kid standing next to each one- with a felt marker and a tin
snips - they start blowing, and then the snipper person marks a finger
width from the bottom end and snips that much off. Blow it - mark it and
snip it - and you'll get your own scenario easily enough.

A variant which I found very young kids like - I used to do it once in
a while in the weekly music assemblies **. Several long necked wine or
apple cider bottles and a basin of water, on a table. You get kids to
blow across the top of the bottles- and fill them slowly in between each
blast - (an alcohol swab is used for switching kids when they run ut of
breath). Keep it messy enough so the kids enjoy it - with a mop handy
afterward.

If you go very light on teaching - the kids will get hold of the
concepts at once. and discipline is a snap: they always get quiet to
hear what every blast or blow will sound like- if they do the whole thing.

If you're interested I'll send you details on a marimba project I took
all over this country and abroad -with Natl Endowment money.

Bob Wood

**(I insisted on singing for the whole school .( We did a lot of other
stuff- but there was singing for everyone once a week - and it helped
unify the school as a family.)

Elgenubi@-----.com wrote:

>Flutophones.
>We've talked about them before, I know. They're great little things. In the
>United States they are available from any of the usual music store
>distributors. Their list price is under $4, so cost is almost no issue. Made by Trophy
>(or Hohner, there must not be any patent anymore), they come in black with
>white trim or white with red trim. (The black ones do not have a darker
>sound!!) :) They look like toys and kids like them. Their fingering is more
>straightforward than recorders, and they are easier to hold. Tonettes are also
>available, made by Gibson (!). I think the Flutophones (made by Trophy,
>anyway) sound clearer and are more in tune. I bet Song Flutes are out there
>somewhere, too.
>
>Question: one of you, a year or so ago, talked about using them in your
>teaching and you had a lot of ideas, which I want to reread. I can't find the
>reference. Was it you, Annie? Can someone point me to this?
>
>I've taught before, but never music until last year. I visited a friend's
>second grade once a week and taught flutophone. It was wonderful. We've also
>talked here about music education for young kids. I think flutophone is just
>right for that age (about 7 years). Some kids can handle the tongue and finger
>coordination; some can't. But they learn that music is within their reach,
>and the principals of these little toys lead directly to the 'real' woodwinds.
>My class pretty much got Jingle Bells, Row, Row Your Boat, and a slightly
>edited Frere Jaques (all doable with left hand only). (I did struggle to get the
>kids to remember that the left hand went on top!)
>
>Wayne Thompson
>
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