Practical, Easy to Use, Heaps of ideas and information

Music and Drama Games

Two very popular books. Play It Again, Ham and Drama Skits 'n Tips. They compliment one another. Ham is a 36 page A5 book crammed with fifty plus music games. Most games have an extension or second game so there's nearly 100 activities for you to explore. The games are divided into three sections - Easy, Not-So-Easy and Difficult. The Easy games can be played by anyone but the Difficult games will really test your skills and knowledge.

You need some simple items. An audio tape with brief musical selections although live music is obviously ideal. Some flash cards and blindfolds will come in handy. And that's it. Just add enthusiasm and you're away. The games are fun, great for school camps and allow you to introduce all sorts of musical skills and concepts. You can use the games in your classroom at any time.

Drama Skits 'n Tips is a 20 page A5 gold mine. It's full of drama activities for your class or rehearsal room. There are warm-up activities for the body and voice and many fun and challenging drama games to develop memory, language, expression and a passion for drama. And there are three, free short plays - a radio play, a puppet play and a pennyweight play. As with Play It Again, Ham you need few props for Skits. The activities are terrific for school camps.  Drama Skits 'n Tips and Play It Again, Ham are a perfect double act!

Play It Again, Ham is A$8.50 [US$6.75], Drama Skits 'n Tips is A$8.50 [US$6.75]
Buy both for A$15 [US$12]

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Tips on Staging Shows
Are you involved with staging concerts, plays and/or musicals? Well Staging Successful Shows is the book for you. 108 A4 pages crammed with ideas, tips, templates and timetables to help make your job easier and more successful. For the beginner there are tips on getting started and practical activities to build your confidence. There's even a free mini musical and a free pennyweight play.

Chapter headings and contents include selecting a show, choosing/recruiting helpers, administrative bloopers [and how to avoid them], a rehearsal schedule, running rehearsals, rehearsal camps, safety and warming up, auditions, understudies, technical stuff [lighting, special effects, scenery, make-up], the duties of the director, musical director and choreographer, advertising, ticket and programme design, promotion, front-of-house and more.

Chapter 14 is entitled "Why Didn't I Think Of That?" and contains 88 tips, ideas and solutions for the theatre director and concert impresario. Here are four of those 88 tips.

Seamless connections. Here's the scene. The actor says the line. The music starts. Eight or maybe sixteen bars later the singer sings. This might be boring. If the script says something like MUSIC BEGINS then start the music there. If it means dialogue over the music, fine. The show should flow. Go from dialogue to music and back to dialogue without a break. A seamless connection.

Care for the taker. Fall in love with your caretaker, janitor, cleaner and office staff.

Video early. Video the show 4 to 6 weeks before you open. Use this to find ways to improve your directing. Use it to show the performers how they can improve.

Crossword. I like to devise a crossword puzzle and give it to the cast once the show has begun. All the answers are connected to the show - the lyrics, characters, performers, etc. In the dressing rooms, the actors are madly trying to solve the puzzle. Make some clues fairly difficult. After all, the answers are the things they should know backwards. Maybe a prize for the first correct answer. First prize, a tour of the orchestra pit. Second prize, two tours!

Staging Successful Shows is full of practical, sensible, helpful advice. It's the book you'll refer to over and over. There's even a show biz  dictionary to help you learn a bit of theatrical jargon.  If you want to make your life easier and more enjoyable, Staging Successful Shows is for you.

Staging Successful Shows is A$45 [US$35]

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Music and Language Puzzles
Students love puzzles and Code Cracker is a  64 A4 page book of codes to crack. There are mystery codes, language codes, easy codes, international codes and brain-teaser codes to really test your skills. All the answers are provided. There are special notes for both the teacher and the student and there are tips on creating your own codes.

Code Cracker can involve students working alone or in groups. It's a perfect for wet afternoons. The Spooner Code introduces spoonerisms where a well oiled bicycle becomes a well boiled icicle. The Morse, Semaphore and Braille Codes engage students in these international and famous means of communicating.

There are Homonym and Antonym codes, the Phoenetic-Alphabet Code as well codes involving syllables, mirrors, vowels, consonants and music. There's even a swearing code - all very respectable of course! Gosh!!

Music Puzzles is a collection of  48 ranging from easy as pie to a real challenge. The puzzles can be played by a group of students or as solo activities - even as a reward. The puzzles cover notation, harmony, melody,  instruments, pitch, composers, musical signs and language and transposition. Most are fun to solve or play. There are notes for the teacher on getting started and both you and your students are encouraged to invent your own puzzles. All the answers are provided.

You can play Join the Notes or Musical Mystery and Scales and Ladders is hugely popular. Great for notation skills. Music Crossword is just that and Metronome Markings is fun and helps build tempi skills. Groups of Musicians and Sol-fa Sol-Good allow your students to tackle musical areas in a new way.

Musical Boo-Boos and Jumbled Bars make your students think about notation in an unusual way whilst Name The Tune and Enharmonic Notes are clever ways of tackling listening and notation. All good fun and a challenge for your brain! There's very little time needed in preparing the puzzles which can be used over and over again.

 Code Cracker and Music Puzzles give you hours and hours of fun and educational activities.

Music Puzzles is A$25 [US$17.50], Code Cracker is A$12.50 [US$8.75]
Buy both for A$27.50 [US$19.50]

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Poetry in Motion

Poetry can be fun. Poetry can be performed. Poetry In Motion is a 36 A4 page book of poems which involve drama. Lots of comedy too. There are helpful notes on getting started and on using each poem.  There are poems on such themes as singing frogs, Halloween, dentists, accents, siblings, queues, limericks, tongue twisters and rock bands.

There are many different ways each poem can be performed. They introduce a terrific range of words and give your performers a simple way to participate in mime. You can add music to many of the poems. They make great concert items - short 'n sweet and are ideal for classroom activities. Here are some short samples of part of some of the poems.

Singing Frogs

I once found a frog living close by a creek
His swimming was graceful, his body was sleek
He fancied himself, this frog wasn't meek
And boy could he sing.
(Frog sings)

My Brother

Elegant, Attractive, Resplendent
Charming, Refined, Sophisticated
Cultured, Educated
Statuesque, Fashionable, Dapper
Discriminating, Sensitive
Bon Vivant
Posh, Dainty and Civilized.

None of these remotely describe my brother

[Brother appears. He is a slob, badly dressed, overweight, ill mannered and oafish ....]

Limericks

There was a weight-lifter called Nero
With muscles like that, he's a hero.
Big biceps, this star
Tried to bench press a car
No wonder his I.Q, is zero.

Each poem is followed by a section called What Might You Do? Here you find all sorts of ideas on discussing the poem and on the all-important performance. This is user-friendly material. You can present a poem in a short time and get almost instant results. These performance poems make great warm-up activities before rehearsals for your play or musical.

Poetry In Motion is $A35 [US$27.50]

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