It’s simple. It’s fun. It requires no supplies or preparation. It’s Musical 20 Questions! If you’re looking for an easy, but fun game that can be played with any size group of students, you should give this a try. At our final group class last week, we played a round of Musical 20 Questions followed by a handful of performances, then another round of the game, followed by performances, and a third round of the game followed by the final performances.
The way we played it was by having one student come to the front and think of a musical term or symbol. Then all the other students took turns asking a “yes” or “no” question until someone thought that they knew what the term or symbol was. Whoever correctly guessed the term or symbol first got to be the next one to come to the front. This was great for three reasons:
1. It involved everyone. Even if a student wasn’t the one selecting the term/symbol or asking the question, everyone had to listen closely to the other questions and answers so that they could eliminate certain ideas and eventually arrive at the right conclusion.
2. It helped the students think more deeply about musical terms and symbols. If someone selected 8va and students asked questions like, “Does it affect the pitch of the note?” or “Does it have to do with the dynamics?” the answering student had to think about what the term/symbol really means and what effect it has on the sound.
3. It required no supplies, set-up, clean-up, etc. Super easy and super fun! 🙂
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