Hello! Most of you probably do not know, but currently I am doing lots of community work, especially with children and especially with the local Chinese community.

Anyway, the reason I started this thread is that I have this music workshop coming up for children aged 11-19 and I just found out I'm in charge for one of the days. I've done one before in October last year but I don't want to repeat what I've already done.

So.. any ideas on what I could do with these children?? :heh:

Here's more info:


I'm in charge of one day from 10.30am to 2.30pm with breaks
The children are aged 11-19, but more likely to be in the lower part of that range. There will probably be about 20 of them.
It has to be related to "world music". The other days have samba, gamelan and African drumming. I'm doing a general fun day.
I have lots of small percussion instruments as well as a handful of traditional Chinese instruments. I also have access to a CD player.
Some art/drawing parts are okay but the focus should be on practical experience.


Okay, Ichigo-ers. I know you're all really clever and creative and stuff. Mind giving me some ideas?? :sweat:

Play Sai Ma (Horse Racing) and get them to play along with the beat. very fun.

It has to be related to "world music". The other days have samba, gamelan and African drumming. I'm doing a general fun day.


Dang, I would have suggested a drum circle. Those were really fun back in the day.

One thing you could do is pattern dictation. What you do is have a track playing a neat/funky rhythm that loops itself for a long time. The instructor claps a pattern to this rhythm and then the participants are to clap it back. You start out easy with like quarter and half notes and then move to more complicated patterns. This could even be made into a little game where if you make a mistake, you are out. The winner is the last one standing.

Another thing you could do is a showcase of various instruments from different cultures around the world. The more obscure and bizarre they are, the more fun the activity will be. You could let them play the instruments if you feel comfortable with that.

Also, you could let them sleep. :heh: What you do is you pick a piece that showcases something musical like a whole tone scale (Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun) or a deceptive cadence (Beethoven's Piano Concerto No.5 in E Flat Major Op.73 -"Emperor": 2. Adagio Un Poco Mosso). Have a little lesson on what it is, then have them close their eyes and put their heads down and listen to a piece with that element in it and have them listen for examples of what you talked about.