Six Community-Building Activities for Choir That Support Music Literacy

It’s a month or so into the school or rehearsal year, and you’re likely noticing some dynamics emerge between your choir members. Singers are probably starting to feel more comfortable with each other, but you still probably find that there could be more trust in the room. Unity and cohesion among members are crucial for creating choral music that changes lives. In this blog post, we’ll explore some quick and effective choir games that build music literacy.

Harmony Hunt

Objective: Strengthening communication and collaboration

Divide the choir into small groups and provide them with a list of musical terms or concepts (e.g., crescendo, key signature). Have each group find examples of these terms within their chosen piece. This activity encourages active listening and teamwork.

Lyric Line-Up

Objective: Building trust and coordination

Have choir members stand in a circle. Select a segment from a piece and assign each member a line or phrase from that segment. Ask students to arrange themselves in the correct order without verbal communication (or singing!) This activity not only reinforces teamwork but also enhances familiarity with the music.

Choir Charades

Objective: Enhancing expressiveness and communication

Compile a list of musical terms, genres, or emotions. One member silently acts out the term while the rest of the choir tries to guess what it is. This activity encourages creativity and expressiveness in interpreting music.

Conductor’s Challenge

Objective: Encouraging leadership and teamwork

Allow different members to take turns being the conductor, guiding the choir through a section of a piece using gestures, dynamics, and cues. If your students would get a kick out of it, you may even have them use a silly item for a baton or wear a special robe or jacket to look the part. This activity fosters leadership skills and a deeper understanding of musical interpretation.

Name That Tune

Objective: Strengthening musical memory and teamwork

Prepare short segments from different choral rehearsal tracks. Play a segment, and the first team to correctly identify the piece scores a point. This fast-paced game encourages quick thinking and reinforces musical repertoire.

The Human Note

Objective: Reinforcing pitch accuracy and teamwork

Assign each member or small group a specific pitch from a piece, such that all pitches in the scale are assigned to someone. Have students look at their music and identify where their notes are. Then, play a choral rehearsal track. When the track plays, members must sing all of their designated pitches. This exercise sharpens pitch recognition and requires precise timing.

Musical Mad Libs

Objective: Encouraging creativity and adaptability

Create Mad Libs with missing musical terms, dynamics, or emotions. Choir members take turns filling in the blanks, then sing the resulting modified piece. This activity sparks creativity and adaptability in musical interpretation–and who doesn’t love a game of Mad Libs?!

Strengthening Bonds, Elevating Harmonies

Who says that team-building activities like these have to be confined to the first few weeks of the rehearsal year? Why not build some games like this into each week (or month, if you have weekly rehearsals!) Team building activities not only create stronger bonds among choir members but also enhance the musical experience as a whole. Isn’t that what we’re going for? Give these choir games that build music literacy a go–and let us know what you think. The world needs your voice!