firstly, compare the sizes of violins and violas with other objects of different sizes Show or speak pairs of objects, and have the students indicate the relative size relationships with the words “violin” (for small) and “viola” (for large). For example, “elephant, mouse” would be “viola, violin” and “bicycle, airplane” would be “violin, viola” This will help students remember the relative dimensions of the instruments, which may be a little tricky to remember.

You can make a home made diddly bow (a basic blues instrument with one string) by stretching some kind of instrument string or wire on a wooden plank. Insert objects beneath the string at either end to elevate the string and increase its tension. Use the diddly bow to explore the effects of string tension and string length (press down on the string with a finger to effectively shorten the string. Higher sounds are created by greater string tension and shorter strings

The music lesson plans from the fun music company contain many more ideas for teaching about these instruments

Collect objects of different sizes, or gather pictures of such objects, or simply make a list of such objects (e.g., elephant, mouse, airplane, bicycle, etc.). Demonstrate the differences between the pairs of objects and ask the students to recognise the relative size of the instruments with the terms “viola” for large and “violin” for small. For example, “elephant, mouse” would be “viola, violin” and “bicycle, airplane” would be “violin, viola” This will help students remember the relative dimensions of the instruments, which students often struggle to remember.

Make a diddly bow (a rudimentary single-stringed blues instrument) by stretching some kind of instrument string or wire on a wooden plank. Insert objects beneath the string at either end to elevate the string and increase its tension. The diddly bow is an excellent tool as a teacher to demonstrate the effect of string length and string tension (press down on the string with a finger to effectively shorten the string. Higher sounds are created by greater string tension and shorter strings

Gather objects of different sizes, or collect pictures of such objects, or simply make a list of such objects (e.g., elephant, mouse, airplane, bicycle, etc.). Show or speak pairs of objects, and have the students indicate the relative size relationships with the words ‚”violin” (for small) and “viola” (for large). For example, “elephant, mouse” would be “viola, violin” and “bicycle, airplane” would be “violin, viola”. This will help students remember the relative dimensions of the instruments, which may be a little tricky to remember.

Make a diddly bow (a rudimentary single-stringed blues instrument) by stretching a wire or string along a wooden plank. Insert objects beneath the string at either end to elevate the string and increase its tension. Use the diddly bow to explore the effects of string tension and string length (press down on the string with a finger to effectively shorten the string. Higher sounds are created by greater string tension and shorter strings

firstly, compare the sizes of violins and violas with other objects of different sizes Demonstrate the differences between the pairs of objects and ask the students to recognize the relative size of the instruments with the terms “viola” for large and “violin” for small. For example, “elephant, mouse” would be “viola, violin” and ‚”bicycle, airplane” would be “violin, viola”  This will help students remember the relative dimensions of the instruments, which may be a little tricky to remember.

These ideas are just a few that are contained in our printable music lesson plan product.

You can make a home made diddly bow (a basic blues instrument with one string) by stretching a wire or string along a wooden plank.  You can place objects underneath the string at one of the ends to life the string up and alter its tension, and thus its pitch.  The diddly bow is an excellent tool as a teacher to demonstrate the effect of string length and string tension (press down on the string with a finger to effectively shorten the string.  Higher sounds are created by greater string tension and shorter strings

firstly, compare the sizes of violins and violas with other objects of different sizes Demonstrate the differences between the pairs of objects and ask the students to recognise the relative size of the instruments with the terms “viola” for large and “violin” for small. For example, “elephant, mouse” would be “viola, violin” and “bicycle, airplane” would be “violin, viola” This will reinforce the relative sizes of these instruments, which students often struggle to remember.

Make a diddly bow (a rudimentary single-stringed blues instrument) by stretching a wire or string along a wooden plank. You can place objects underneath the string at one of the ends to life the string up and alter its tension, and thus its pitch. The diddly bow is an excellent tool as a teacher to demonstrate the effect of string length and string tension (press down on the string with a finger to effectively shorten the string. Greater string tension and shorter strings lead to faster vibrations, which in turn produce higher sounds.

Gather objects of different sizes, or collect pictures of such objects, or simply make a list of such objects (e.g., elephant, mouse, airplane, bicycle, etc.). Show or speak pairs of objects, and have the students indicate the relative size relationships with the words “violin‚” (for small) and ‚”viola” (for large). e.g. ‚”mouse, elephant‚” would be ‚”violin, viola” and “train, feather” would be ‚”viola, violin” This will help students remember the relative dimensions of the instruments, which may be a little tricky to remember.

Make a diddly bow (a rudimentary single-stringed blues instrument) by stretching a wire or string along a wooden plank. You can place objects underneath the string at one of the ends to life the string up and alter its tension, and thus its pitch. The diddly bow is an excellent tool as a teacher to demonstrate the effect of string length and string tension (press down on the string with a finger to effectively shorten the string. Greater string tension and shorter strings lead to faster vibrations, which in turn produce higher sounds.