Parents Column v11 n2

Have you tried the Echo Game?

A very useful game for practising that stubborn part of a new piece or for improving an existing piece. Use with individuals or groups.

Give the group a good story about caves and what can be found in them. Then set off on a big adventure to a very special cave. Bring torches if necessary. Travel by bus – it always rains when we go by bus so you’ll need the windscreen wipers on the way.

Carefully walk in single file into the cave. Pick up your caving gear (violins up) and listen very quietly to see if there are any echoes around. Leader plays a short piece and one at a time or all together repeat exactly to “echo” the sound. Look for small caves with small echoes, big caves with big echoes and you might even find a cave which can echo a whole line. Very rare caves are big enough to echo a whole piece.

Infinite variations are possible – half the group play, the other half echo, bounce the echo from one cave to the next etc.

Great fun! Good caving and remember to watch out for slippery floors, don’t bump your heads and leave the bats and wetas alone.

Aidan Nelson