DIY Xylophone Visual

It all started out with the idea that I wanted a large xylophone visual to show students how to set up their barred percussion instruments for playing and singing in class.  I needed a quick and easy way to display what their own instrument should look like – something they could all see even from the back of the room.  It needed to be substantial in size but also durable since I knew it would probably be used a lot in my room.  So, I set on the quest of making my own xylophone visual.

You’ve probably seen a lot of displays like this one out on the internet, I have too.  Xylophone visual aids like this are a huge help in the classroom.  Instead of just telling kids which bars to take off and repeating your words over and over I can SHOW them which bars need to be removed and actually do it with them!  It’s especially helpful for English Language Learners who need a little more visual support and who benefit from putting a picture to a word.  The process of creating this xylophone visual was a little time-intensive because I didn’t really have a template or idea of how to start.  I thought I’d write a little about the visual and how I created it so that you can be even better informed when you decide to make YOUR OWN xylophone visual!

Xylophone Visual – The Process

Once the red paint was dry and I was ready to cut out the bars from the blue sheet I needed to trace the shape of the bars on the foam.  I projected a picture of a xylophone, using my digital projector, onto the foam core to get the proportions of the bars right.  This helped me to know where to trace and cut the foam core so that everything fit proportionally onto the page.  I cut out the bars using a rotary blade (you can find these at any craft store) and then got the bars ready for the next step.

Once I had cut out the bars I needed a way to attach them to the backing board.  I decided that I would use little velcro dots to secure the bars to the backing foam core.  That would give me an easy way to attach them to the backing and easily put them on or pull them off.  I thought the velcro would hold on a little better and have more durability than magnets or some other fastening.  The velcro was also a permanent fix and would be easy to use over and over again.  I bought these clear velcro dots.  I was sure there would be enough for this project and even some left over to use on other visuals and projects around the room.

When figuring out how to label the bars I decided to print out the letters on transparency paper and overlay the letter on the bar itself and tape it down.  Transparency sheets are AMAZING!  It gives you a way to print and cut and label without the annoying white halos that you get when you print on normal white paper and cut around.  If you do it right it looks like you’ve printed right on to the object that you label.  The other cool thing about transparency sheets is that if you work in a slightly older school or district you can sometimes get these sheets for free from your stockroom or if you ask around your building.  They’re not used nearly as often as they used to be and you can sometimes find a great stockpile that someone has hoarded in their supply closet but will never conceivably use again.  Put out a message on Facebook asking for them, talk to people in your building, mention it to folks at your church office.  Ask around.  It’s worth a try.

First I put the label of the letter of the bar (as you can see above) so that students know which bars is which and what order they go in.  Then I chose to put a label in the middle of the bar so that students know where you’re supposed to strike the mallet.  I looked and looked for a good picture to put in the middle of each bar and then I settled on borrowing a pretty famous image.  My school owns several Sonor brand instruments so the mallet picture I added on the visual matches the mallet image they see on their xylophone bars.   Making this visual connection helps students know where they should strike on each bar.

I made sure to also label the name of the bar UNDERNEATH (directly onto the white backing piece) so that when I removed a bar the students can see which bar has been taken off.  I always assumed that kids would figure out that bars progress alphabetically on the instrument but for some reason kid still try and put a B where an F goes.  The absent bar still has that letter placeholder which has made things pretty easy when kids have to figure out which bar needs to go back where.

Finally, I put a dot of velcro above each bar so that I could show kids which two bars were being used most often in each song.  Some kids have trouble remembering which bars to play for the bordun/drone and this little touch gives a chance for reinforcement.  I velcroed some old unused mallets on top of the bars to basically show kids “put your mallets here and here.” You could also add another visual element like a star or a dot or something on those velcro spots if you want kids to improvise using three selected notes or if you want them to know where the tonic of the key is.