Craft With Us: Clay Edition
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We are firm believers in using interdisciplinary collaboration as a medium for more engaging and rewarding art for those who make it and those who consume it. This same sentiment translates to our education model – learning music should incorporate art, movement/dance, crafts, film, and more. For this reason, almost all of our lesson plans include hands-on projects, movement activities, team games, or watching stories unfold on screen.
Some of these hands-on projects include the most fluffy, colorful, moldable clay, which tends to cause a craze whenever students see it come out during the class. It air dries solid and isn’t oily, making it the perfect material to sculpt with wherever you are, no matter your age or skill level.
Why don’t we sit down together and craft? Here’s what you’ll need:
Tinfoil
Clay
Pipe cleaners
Googly eyes
Any other craft materials (googly eyes, feathers, recyclable materials, popsicle sticks, etc.)
Time for music inspiration!
Let’s listen to Teddy Abrams’ Piano Concerto, played by Yuja Wang and think about a story the music is telling.
Maybe someone is frantically looking for a lost object while making their house a disaster in the process? Perhaps a busy day takes a turn when the main character leaves the office to take a walk and get some fresh air? I even hear an entire cityscape with noisy traffic and crowded subway cars, soon transforming to a serene community park where turning one corner gives way to the joyous energy of a live band playing in the square. What do you hear?
Now that you have a story in mind, bring your imagined visuals to life by sculpting your own creation or follow along to make a finger puppet:
#1
Wrap a piece of tin foil around one of your fingers until the entire finger is covered.
#2
Remove the tin foil from your finger. Grab some modeling clay and wrap it around the tin foil mold.
#3
Use other craft materials like googly eyes, feathers, pipe cleaners and more to add more details to your character like eyes, hair, a mouth and arms.
Add a backdrop to your story, some props, or even another character. Keep your story going and continue crafting until you feel like you’ve found that serene corner of the park. Let us know what you came up with by emailing your musical story and a photo of your project to us! Send them to hello@artbeyondtheink.org or click the button below.
Quick Links:
Learn more about some tips on how to practice musical storytelling.
Interested in expressing your musical story through another medium? Check out more ideas here.
Check out our children’s workbook, which teaches general music theory and musical storytelling using a story-filled approach.
Buy some clay for your project!
Listen for more musical stories with our curated Spotify playlist.
