Strategy
Echo Singing
Use a flexible tube for children to hear themselves and promote listening skills!
This activity has been revised and was originally created by Judith E. Bevans and published in the Perkins Activity and Resource Guide (1st edition, Volume 2, 1992). The second edition is available for purchase.
Music has long been used as a teaching tool. This activity teaches students to follow directions while improving their listening skills, sense of pitch, auditory processing and short-term memory. Lessons include Concept Development and English Language Arts.
Flexible plastic tubes can be used to focus the sound. The teacher sings softly into the tube while holding it up to the student’s ear. Then the student sings into the tube. (Holding one end of the tube to the student’s ear as she sings into the other end can help the student hear her own voice better.)
Students take turns. The teacher sings “Yoo Hoo” in descending minor third notes and asks one student to repeat it.
The student can go into the hallway outside the classroom. This motivates better listening and often provides good feedback if the hallway is resonant.
Hint: Be sure to sing softly when using the tube. When listening, the teacher should hold the tube away from her ear in case the student sings loudly.
