The neatest thing happened the other night! Steph was at the Winnipeg Folk Festival Main Stage watching Sheryl Crow and noticed that a large group of children were sitting in a circle playing Beatmaster! Organized all by themselves! To the beat of the music they were listening to! It seriously warmed her heart and she asked the kids if they learned the game from their Music teacher. The children explained that a few of them had, and then taught it to the rest of the group. They loved it and played it for almost the entire set! What a wonderful sight to see. It seriously left Steph warm and fuzzy for the rest of the night.
BEATMASTER - How to play
- Have students sit criss-cross in a circle facing the middle.
- Choose one student to be the "Detective". This person will leave the circle and must close their eyes. It may work better if the Detective momentarily leaves the room.
- Keeping it a secret from the Detective, choose a "Beatmaster" making sure that the rest of the students know who has been chosen.
- The circle of students will begin keeping a beat on their laps.
- The Detective will return and stand in the middle of the circle.
- The Beatmaster will change where the beat is (floor, lap, head, clap, etc.) and the other students will follow suit, still trying to keep the identity of the Beatmaster a secret.
- The Detective has to figure out who the Beatmaster is! They will have three guesses.
- Once the identity of the Beatmaster has been revealed, a new Detective and Beatmaster will be chosen.
- As an extension, the Beatmaster can choose a rhythmic ostinato rather than solely keeping the beat with ta.
- The game continues as long as you and your students wish!
RSS Feed
