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"Silent Ball" in the Music Classroom: Another Way to Listen

"Silent Ball" is a game students in my school like to play during indoor recess. According to Wikipedia, it was originally created by an educator from Illinois for a forth grade classroom.

In our school, students sit on top of their desks, and silently throw the ball from player to player. The player is out if they:

  • talk
  • drop the ball after catching it
  • miss a reasonable trow
  • throw the ball too hard
Today, my students experienced a different way to play silent ball. As they were leaving, one of the third graders exclaimed: "This was the most intense silent ball game ever!" 

A little background. We were looking forward to celebrating our accomplishments by having extra recess outside, however the weather had different plans: half of the US turned into the frozen tundra, and outside was not an option. My students requested to play silent ball in the music room. Well, since we had access to speakers, I thought, why not play it while listening to the first movement of Beethoven's 5th Symphony? I introduced the composer and the composition, described the new rules, and a new activity was born: silent music ball! As the game progressed, we came up with difficulty levels, and by the end of the first movement, we had a winner. Playing silent ball to Beethoven was an exhilarating experience! 

Silent Music Ball

Materials: 
  • Enough space to move freely
  • Ball
  • Listening Selection (preferably 4-6 minutes long)
How to play:
  • Everyone should be standing in self space.
  • Teacher starts the music, and throws the ball to the first player
  • Players pass the ball
  • The music can stop at any moment
  • If a player trows the ball after the music stops, that player is out
  • If the player catches the ball after the music stops, he/she must wait for the music to restart to resume the game.
How to make it more challenging:
  • Get rid of the ball in under 3 seconds 
  • Do not throw it to the same person twice in a row
  • If three or less people remain, move around the room while throwing the ball

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