So you want to join our zoom music session and play along with me on the xylophone. You may wondering: "How am I going to play Xylophone parts at home without a xylophone?" Here are three different solutions for you:
1. If you have a piano or keyboard, you can play the same notes as the xylophone. The advantage is being able to both hold sustained (longer notes) like a metallophone or play shorter notes like a xylophone. The disadvantage here is that you are not practicing your xylophone sticking but you are still playing along.
If you have access to a touch screen device, search for "xylophone" in your app store. There are several options. Choose something simple like Easy Xylophone or Rainbow Music Toy. Garage band has a nice glockenspiel (small metal xylophone) sound under the keyboard options. The advantage here is getting xylophone sounds but you still don't get to practice your sticking technique.
Want to practice your sticking technique? Don’t have a touch screen, piano or keyboard at home? Or, want to remember the way we set up xylophones in class? I've made some xylophone templates that you can print out. You'll find C pentatonic (1st and 2nd grade), G pentatonic (3rd grade) and diatonic (all the bars, 4th grade). You can use pencils or a pair of chopsticks to tap along with me during our zoom classes. Remember: use pinchers, not pointers and to play in the center of the bar. Click Here for xylophone templates to print out.
Obviously you can't hear the pitches on a print out. Hopefully you'll be able to have a print out to practice sticking and a resource for practicing the sounds. You can mix and match during class or just tap along.
Do you like to make things? Try making your own xylophone at home! All you need is paper, scissors, glue, string, tape, a ruler, a pencil and paper towel tube.
Click here to learn how!
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