It Rained on the Desert Today

It Rained on the Desert Today was shared with Mrs. Malody-Singer's third grade class at Harold Steele Elementary School. We discussed the coming storm and the tension and building of anticipation, and the climax of the storm from its thunderous beginnings to its calms and serene ending.

 

The students were then asked to "make" a rainstorm, using a variety of rhythm and musical instruments. Several instruments were provided for the children, including resonator bells based on an Orff pentatonic scale, cymbals, a rainstick, sand blocks, shaker eggs, tom toms, a tambourine, a triangle, their own bodies and things they might find in the classroom (e.g. their desks, feet stomping on the floor, etc.). We outlined the life of the storm, starting with the low rumbling in the distance, the lightening claps, the slow start, then the deluge of rain characteristic of a monsoon. The rain continued with some thunder and veracity, eventually abating and slowing as the rain in the desert stopped. The students were very innovative, using cymbals and clapping, and pounding their desks to communicate the intense thunder. They used the sand blocks, shaker eggs, and scratching of the tom-tom and tambourine heads to convey the beginning rumblings of the storm. A triangle and a few resonator bells portrayed the beginning rains.

 

The deluge was seen by a huge dynamic increase in the number and intensity of the resonator bells and by the addition of the rain stick. As the storm abated, the volume did likewise, until a few solitary resonator bells showed the slow pitter-patter of the stopping rain.

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