Notice,
Describe &
Ask: Music

Rima Fand explains the Notice Describe and Ask practice as she used it to construct a “Play How You Feel” warmup for her second grade beginner violin students.

Use the same process with any prompt for improvising that interests young children.

• Notice: While students are playing, listen carefully to remember the sequence of choices. If a lot is going on at once, focus on the most impactful elements.
• Notice if you are having any reactions or judgments about their choices.  Let go of them.
• Refocus to the areas of musical choice on the left side of the describing tool.

Use specific language from your describing tool to describe the choices you noticed. Example: I heard…

• three soft thigh slaps followed fast clapping
• your voice getting louder and louder, and going from low to high
• low rumbling sounds followed by a sudden loud squeaky sound.

Let kids choose how they want to talk about their work and what they want to process.  Do not pressure them to speak. Use open questions. Examples:

• Do you want to tell me about it?
• Tell me about the part where you (describe)
• What were you thinking about when you made those (describe musical choices) sounds?

• When students answer, mirror back their words, ideas and tone.
• Do not insist on particular ways of speaking or specific types of information. Accept the full variety of responses.
• Be playful and flexible. If students are communicating with their bodies or sound, you can mirror them with body as well as words.

Identify the musical choices children can explore in your activity. Prepare a vocabulary Describing Tool to help you use specific describing words reflect a wide variety of choices.

Use one of our Describing Tools or make your own with our template.

Will you project it, hang it, hold it in your hand?

For more information about how this protocol builds language and a child’s confidence in their own artistic practice visit the main