Activities:   
 

Major/Minor chords: This is fun way to teach kids to hear the difference between major and minor chords.  Major chords have a happy sound, so “Awesome” is sung with a major chord.  Minor chords tend to sound more sad, so “Bummer” is sung with a minor chord.  It can be fun to do a “thumbs up” for awesome and a “thumbs down” for bummer.  Listen to the song on the CD and point this out to your child as they listen.

Piano Play: If you have a piano or some type of keyboard at home, play a major interval, such as E down to C.  Then, play a minor interval, such as E flat down to C.  Point out that the major interval sounds happy and is sung with the word “awesome” on the CD and that the minor interval sounds sad and is “bummer” on the CD. For older children, see if they can play these two intervals on the keyboard and hear the difference.  You can also play the 3 notes of a major triad, C-E-G and a minor triad, C-Eb-G.

Story/ Skit: Have your child make up positive or negative verses to create his/her own story.  Show them the difference between the major and minor parts and have them repeat after you to practice.  Then, to start, you can pretend to play a bugle to announce the King. Tell them you’re going to sing “Awesome” after hearing something positive or good news and sing “Bummer” after hearing something negative or bad news.  Then ask for suggestions – “What happened next?”  or be more specific with questions like “What did he do with the sock?” or “Where did he go next?”, etc. – it’s best to ask questions that have a simple answer. Another idea for the story to go in a different direction is to say, “It’s raining outside (Bummer).” Then, “but we can do some fun activities indoors (Awesome)” or “but then the sun came out (Awesome)” or “there are puddles to splash in (Awesome)” or “a rainbow appeared in the sky (Awesome),” etc.

Tonal Patterns: Sing “Bom bom bom” in different melodic patterns in both major and minor keys and challenge your child to echo after you. This builds their abilities to hear and sing melodic patterns in pitch and hear the difference between major and minor-sounding intervals.