Musical Improv Games - Rhyme Ball
Good for:
Rhyming, passing a line, reacting quickly in the moment, non-judgement
Method:
- Performers should stand in a complete circle.
- One person holds an imaginary ball that will then be thrown around the circle.
- On throwing the ball, the thrower says a word. It should be obvious who they are throwing the ball to by establishing eye contact and ‘throwing’ in their direction.
- When catching the ball, the catcher should say a word that rhymes with the word they were given.
- When this person then throws the ball again, they say a word that ‘associates’ with their rhyming word.
- Here is an example:
Person 1 <Throws ball to person 2>: ‘Door’
Person 2 <Catches ball>: ‘Floor’ (Rhyming)
<Throws ball>: ‘Rug’ (Associating)
Person 3 <Catches ball>: ‘Mug’ (Rhyming)
<Throws ball>: ‘Cup’ (Associating)
Person 4 <Catches ball>: ‘Pup’ (Rhyming)
<Throws ball>: ‘Dog’ (Associating)
Etc.
Tips:
- It is important to keep the throwing and catching gestures as obvious and real as possible, and also to time these to when you say your words. It should be as if you really are throwing a word to someone, and as they catch it, they rhyme with it.
- As with other associating games, the link between the two words does not have to be apparent to everyone. It might be that on catching the ball you rhyme ‘dog’ with ‘frog’, and when you throw it you suddenly think of ‘ferry’.
- It is the same with the rhyme, some words are virtually impossible to rhyme with so you can approximate, or even make up a word to keep the game going.