We performed Canon in D this week in class and I thought it was absolutely fantastic. We produced such an incredible sound!
I think the main benefit of the canon is that it allows students to just learn a tiny little bit of music (we only had to learn a line each) but when the entire class comes together you have an entire piece, which can keep on varying endlessly (depending on when the teacher brings in different parts).
So, for this week's journal entry, I wanted to hunt down some other percussion canons that could be used within the classroom.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find any.
What I did find instead, however is Weepr.
Weepr is a program that lets you visually compose a repeating phrase, with five different parts overlaid. You can take a part in or out of the piece at any time. It seems to me that this program is ideal for making a canon. Here is a short repeating phrase I made.
(If this does not show, please try using a different browser. It may take some time to load. It should work in Chrome and IE).
Of course, if I wanted to use this in the class I'd need to find some way of notating it... perhaps I could use noteflight to notate each part individually.
Other than creating pieces for the class to perform, I also think Weepr would be a fantastic tool for students to use, to compose their own music and to get the feel of layering different parts.
Tonematrix is a similar, simpler online flash program. While it does not have the scope of Weepr (and it would not allow students to save their projects) it is also easier to create melodic-sounding tunes and so might be better for younger students.
