Howard Kim

MUED 206

Jesse Rathgeber

9/21/2017

Peer Taught Mini-Game Experience Design

Rationale

Students will swap instruments with another student and attempt to play Spanish

Dancer with the new instrument after just one minute of coaching from the original player. The

past two weeks have been a strings unit for the class, but each person has only spent time on one

instrument. As the purpose of the class is to be familiarized with as many different instruments

as possible, I believe this game will allow the participants to become acquainted, even if it may

be for a brief while, with another instrument. As students gain playing experience on a second

instrument, they will also hone the necessary adaptation skills to accomplish similar

achievements in other instrument families and gain experience on a wide range of different

instruments.

Understanding Statements

Although each instrument in the string family is distinct from each other, several skills

and techniques learned from one instrument can be crossed over into the other instruments.

Students will apply the skills and techniques learned in one string instrument to another through

verbal coaching.
Standards

Students will be able to identify and demonstrate half-step and whole-step patterns

Students will be able to demonstrate proper bow hold and placement

Students will be able to demonstrate proper finger placement

Materials

Violins

Violas

Cellos

String Basses

Detailed Process

Each person in the class will be asked to pair up with another student that plays a

different instrument than their own. Violins and violas will be encouraged to pair up with a cello

or bass, and vice versa. High strings players will first coach the low strings players for one

minute to play Spanish Dance on the violin/viola. Coaches must only use verbal

communication and must not physically demonstrate any fingerings, bow holds, or other

techniques. After one minute, the new high strings players will play through Spanish Dancer

once. After they finish playing, the entire process will repeat, but with low strings players

coaching the high strings players instead. After both teams have finished playing, I will lead a

brief discussion on how the players felt on a new instrument, how coaches felt by the restrictions

placed on them, and suggestions to improve the activity.

Assessment

As I will be interacting with the participants face-to-face, I can directly see the

participants playing the notes as they play them. I will be able to see the participants successfully

play the correct notes on their new instruments by the end of the experience.

Adaptations

This game can be adapted to be done with any instrument family, and with any song or

melody. I could also place different restrictions on the participants to adjust the difficulty level.

For example, I could do the opposite of this version of the game and not allow the coach to speak

at all, instead teaching only through physical motion. Although this game would not be useful in

a performance-based ensemble, teachers could play with numerous different versions of this

game in a unique classroom situation like this class where students are attempting to learn as

many different instruments as possible quickly.

Extension

If more than two different instruments are involved, I could extend the activity so

students must swap instruments a second time with yet another different instrument, and this

could repeat for as many different instruments are available. If the students clearly seem to be

struggling with just one minute of coaching, I could also extend the coaching time by 30 seconds

to another minute.