Melody Maker

Create a melody as a class with nothing but a white board (or chalkboard) and your imagination.

One by one, students can choose which note should come next in the melody. It is easiest to just stick with quarter notes.
Once you have filled up the number of bars of music you chose for them to compose, perform the melody back for them.

Let students determine the tempo and create dynamic markings. Hear how the pieces changes depending on how it’s performed.
Give the piece a title.
Let a student with a little more musical education lead the process (writing the notes on the staff and performing the melody).
Instead of choosing just quarter notes, let students choose any note values that take up one beat of music .