This article written by Bill Nave of Briargrove Elementary
Briargrove Elementary wants to thank Area 9 for the use of the set of choir chimes for this past school year. Briargrove is a school in the Galleria area of Houston with about 860 students kindergarten through 5th grade. The chimes were played by the students in 1st through 5th grades.
We spent some time talking about caring for the instrument, how it made its sound, and what instrument family it belonged to. Then we worked on the correct way to play the chime and damping. (They loved playing using the vibrato technique!)
We started with some chord clusters (low, middle and high ranges – they had to watch when to play). We played chords with folk songs they knew. The most fun was adding the chime sound to our class set of xylophones (they played with the glockenspiels and metallophones) and with hand drums and tubanos.
We also used them with movement activities. I played a beat pattern on the bass xylophone or keyboard while the students moved around the room to the tempo and style I was playing as they randomly played notes in a pentatonic scale.
We loved using the chimes! They added so much to our music classes this past year. Our PTO is considering purchasing us a 3-octave set. The kids and I hope it’s soon!
