One of my favorite projects to teach with junior high or high school choirs is Choir Olympics. I love it for two main reasons:
1. It is fun and engaging.
2. It can be incredibly versatile.
Each year, I use the same format to structure the games but I pick and choose from over 20 different games in order to meet the needs of the students I have from year to year. I generally end up choosing 6-8 games (I call them "Events"). Scroll down to the bottom of the post for a list of games I have used.
Basic Format of Choir Olympics:
Students are divided into teams. It's good to have at least 4 teams, so if you have a small choir, divide them up as best you can to have at least 3-4 members on every team. I have 65 kids this year, so I split them into 8 teams with about 8 people on each team. Let the kids pick their teams or you can choose them.
Select your games. Communicate the games to the teams and let them sign up for individual events, if necessary. Click here to download a PDF of the student handout for Choir Olympics 2018.
Create a schedule of events and brackets for each game so the teams have a chance to face off against different groups.
These sample brackets are for team-oriented games.
As the games progress, keep track of the results. Award teams gold, silver, and bronze medals in each event and keep track of who wins medals overall. I choose to give out medals (made from chocolate candy coins) to the teams who have the highest number of gold, silver, and bronze medals at the end of the Olympics.
Stay tuned for specific updates on the Events and to receive tips on making your Olympics run smoothly. I will also continue to post resources and documents that I use so that you can adapt your own games.
For starters, here are some of my all-time favorite games to use during Choir Olympics, complete with links to resources that are already made (if available):
Music Racer- great for band students too! I have my choir kids use "mallets" or "flute" on the note name setting
Sing It Charades- Just like charades, but I put names of singers or musicians on the cards and the kids have to either act it out or sing/him a song by that person.
Rhythmic Village- the first few levels are too easy, but the fire dance is basically an exercise in sight-reading rhythm!
Kahoot- I will create kahoot trivia based on songs we are currently studying or have studied. Its a fun way to test their music reading skills.
Busted!- another easy rhythm game.
Rhythm Wars- I honestly haven't tried this one yet, but it looks awesome!
Sofege Wars- works best as an individual event, but could easily be adapted to a team sight-singing challenge.
Quizzes- I choose one each year that I think my kids need a refresher on. This year, I'm using the quiz about vocal anatomy and health. Click here for a bundle of quizzes from previous years.
Timeline Music & Cinema- this is an actual table top board game. You can read about it here.
The Human Knot
Paper Airplanes- we craft airplanes out of recycled sheet music (rather than throw it away) and see who can fly the farthest. Great to team up with the science/math teacher on this to get really technical!