Call and Echo - Share Your Story

About:

People have a need to know and be known and to share what is happening with them. In many tribal societies people would share the story the hunt, the hard winter, the bouniful harvest, the tragedies of loss and hardship. They told their stories not just iwth words, but with song, poem, movements and drum beats.
Sometimes people don't know how to respond to others stories; they feel an obligation to fix it or they feel uncomfortable with the honest emotion that can be displayed.
This games also student to share the stoires of events that they have lived through and uses the group drumming for the teller and the listeners to honor and move the energyovoked by the sharing.

Purpose of this Lesson:

Students can more deeply share their experience and honor each others experience.

Prerequisite:

Ready

Call and Echo

Directions:

It helps groups to first do 'Call and Echo' or 'Shadowing' so that they get the sense of how to express their part and echo what others have played.
Now that we have played call and echo- we can extend this game to include more or our stories.
Is it important to know generally why this particular group is together and what is the appropriate level of sharing for the the group.
With school group this is a great way to address, "What did you do on your winter vacation?"
This can work well at adventure camps for share the story of very members particular challenges.
I have a group of middle school aged kids, sharing "this weekend I was at the hospital with my aunt who is dying of cancer".

It is often easiest to break the story in to pieces.Example- "THis weekend I went walking in the woods."
(teller plays a gentle steady walking beat)
Group can either join in and shadow the beat or echo it.
"Then I heard and strange noise in the trees"
(teller plays and ominous rumble)
Group shadows or echos the rumble
"Then I saw it was just a plastic bag, rustling in the wind, and I laughed"
(teller plays a beat while laughing out loud.) Group shadows or echos this beat and laugher.

Glitches:

Student(s) continuing to play while group has stopped.

Acknowledge and energize student(s) who did stop on time. "Wow its really cool how you were able to stop when I caught the ball even when some students were not able to. How did you do that?"
Other students will usually clamor in and say, "Hey I stopped too."
"Great! if you stopped on time raise your hand. Give your self a pat on the back." Let's do it again.
Take Over the Problem Have Dragon puppet keep playing after a stop signal. Play devil advocate, "So what if he keeps playing. Its a free country."
If a student fails to stop this time- do a loose your instrument reset.

Instead of playing the assigned pattern, students play something else.

x
If after discussion of this behavior a student still does it, give them a Reset.

Level 2- play our own part, the group then echoes it.

Glitches

Student(s) continuing to play while group has stopped.

Acknowledge and Energize a student who did stop on time. "Wow its really cool how you were able to stop when I caught the ball even when some students were not able to. How did you do that?" Other students will usually clamor in and say, "Hey I stopped too." "Great! if you stopped on time raise your hand. Give your self a pat on the back." Let's do it again. If a student fails to stop this time- do a loose your instrument reset.
Take Over the Problem Have Dragon make the mistakes and ask the class members to comment on his actions.

If after discussion of this behavior a student still does it, they may need a Reset.

Needs Met:

Safety- the rules of the game are clear.

Connection - Doing a beat together. This rhythm particularly helps students entrain with the whole group.

Significance- Playing ones own beat and having it played back by the group.

Neuroscience and Psycho-physiology Basis:

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Metaphor to Explore:

Who hears you? How do you know?
Who do you hear? Who do you let them know?

Extensions:

Call and Echo over a Groove
Call and Echo with a Poison Beat
Performance This game can be used part of a performance.