Successfully Having A Lightsaber Duel to the Beat with Preschoolers

The preschoolers I teach music to have been learning musical concepts with the Imperial March from Star Wars.  We have been discussing which characters theme the music is for (Darth Vader), experiencing dynamics, and keeping a steady beat.

The Imperial March is great for studying dynamic contrast.  The popular theme is loud and strong, contrasted by a gentle quiet part.  You can hear the theme come back quietly, then louder.  We began by listening for the theme and patting or stomping to the beat when we heard it.

I came across some great lesson plan ideas to use pool noodles or boomwhackers as lightsabers  and have the kids keep the beat with them in a duel while listening to the music.  I love boomwhackers so I decided to try the activity.

First we reviewed listening to the music and identifying the theme and dynamic contrasts.  For preschoolers I don't go into a big explanation of all of that, we just experience it.  The music is playing as they come into class.  They know to sit down in their spot, listen, watch what I am doing (patting, moving, stomping, etc), and mimic what I am doing.  During the theme I would stomp to the beat, when the music was quiet I would pretend to be small and hide.

The next task was to set us up for success for the duel!  I told the kids we were going to be part of a Jedi training and each time they could complete a task they would get a new, more exciting one.  The more you get into this, the more they will buy into it, and that makes it fun!

First we kept the beat with our hands.  We would pat the floor and raise them up.  I said out loud "down, up" to the beat I wanted them keeping as well.

After accomplishing that task they each received a boomwhacker and kept the beat on the floor with it the same way, down up.  I kept guiding them and let them play with this while I was passing all of the boomwhackers out.

Now it was time to get us all keeping the beat together.  I showed them the ready position (holding the boomwhacker in front of them but not playing it).  When they heard Darth Vader's theme they kept the beat.  But when the music was quiet and smooth they put their lightsabers back into the ready position.  Again, really add a lot of drama when presenting this and it makes it fun.

Lastly, we were ready for a duel to the beat!  I stood face to face with one of the students, and instead of keeping the beat on the floor we had the boomwhackers meet in the middle and hit on the beat.  I verbally cued this with, "in, out" as we played.  The student who played with me had then completed her training and could train another student, while I also trained a new one.  (I trained students who were strong with the force, beat, first and had them train students who were just learning).  Soon we were all keeping the beat with a lightsaber duel to the Imperial March theme, and freezing in our ready positions when the music was quiet to look for danger before dueling again!