Students are challenged to consider what they can use to make music. They use water and ice as an inspiration for experimenting to create various timbres. Water is a familiar and ubiquitous subject for children. In this lesson, children are exposed to using water unconventionally as a musical instrument and challenged to listen closely in order to create various types of sound. 

• Listen critically and respond to unconventional music

• Experiment with timbres, create sounds, and invent instruments

• Learn about world music.

This lesson has a critical thinking and creativity focus:

• Question assumptions about instruments and music

• ·Consider different perspectives on music

• Play with unusual, radical ideas about how to create music

• Analyse the expressive qualities of sounds from water 

Web and print 

• Videos of water drumming by Vanuatu or Baka (find by searching YouTube; they are readily available; if nudity is a concern, be sure to preview the video before showing students, as these are sometimes filmed without clothing) 

Other 

• Tubs of water (kiddie pools work well, but any container will work) 

• Water tools/instruments (anything that can interact with water and make different sounds will work. Good items include sponges, wooden spoons, rags, small plastic containers for pouring, strainers, water guns, and old condiment bottles with a pour top) 

• Paper and pen and clipboards for students. 

Opportunities to adapt, extend, and enrich

•  This activity could be expanded to create a more substantial project—an entire composition, for example. However, this can be difficult due to space, behavior, and logistical reasons. The point of this activity is to experience listening closely to everyday things (such as water pouring), rather than necessarily the creation of a musical work.

• Could be expanded and linked to science and/or maths by using a subsequent lesson to experiment with the use of water in jars for making music and discussing volume/measurements and vibrations/the science of sound as appropriate. It can be helpful to use food colouring when doing this so that the amount of water in each jar can be seen more easily.

English Version

• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TICvlkPBu70KHYHxDYPJpvxalAgdjYcDaMRmVZmV2t0/edit?usp=sharing

Hindi Version

• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1fgvzzNkBaEClzy-TlDqvNa-DuwzypFsXol54lirBErc/edit?usp=sharing

Gujarati Version

• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hpGeRpXs0uJjze7ep6UbPCMLzD7TtWQQUNQOg3XKXdk/edit?usp=sharing 

Kannada Version

• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1onxGUp38UgDzVxJ1pkYJGGbLp2UVDutd0SdKRKBUSGc/edit?usp=drive_link