Jeff and Dan have been hosting these get togethers that they call Plebian Fiasco.  At the last one we played Floor Head Hum, then Hey, then both at once so that people were playing a rhythm with their hands and feet and singing at the same time.  Then we slowly faded into silence, until people were singing nearly silently together.

I said very quietly, “everyone sing a random note, just go start!”  It sounded great so we made a new rule for the evening.  Whenever anyone says, ‘Just go Start!’, everyone sings a random note until that person releases us with a gesture [waved hand].  Almost as soon as I had said that to this clever group, someone instantly said, “Just go Start,” and everyone simultaneously jumped into voice again.

Someone says brightly, “sing a random note … just go start,” and everyone sings a random note.  Or someone says, “beats… just go start” and everyone begins beat-boxing and clapping rhythms.

You can play “Just go start La!”, or “Just go start Laugh!”, “Just go start Scream!” or “Just go start Sigh!”, “Just go start Sing a Melody”, “Just go start Clap Hands”, or “Just Go Start” anything else.

Also. Just Go Start, Hey! is especially neat.  Everyone joins in more or less simultaneously with a note, rhythm, melody, etc. until it settles into a groove.  When you hear that everyone has completely settled in and locked in with everyone else, you say “Hey.”  Since you are all listening to one another, everyone should say “Hey” at the same moment.  If someone says “Hey” when you are still searching, they are basically telling you, “I’m not listening to you.”  So this game encourages you to always be listening to everyone other than yourself.

Just Go Start!

Everyone taking over the role of  “random note conductor” gave me an idea, so I showed everyone how to play Slide Away/ Slide Home.

Later in the evening, after the musical games were seemingly over, and everyone was milling about talking to one another, occasionally someone would reprise the “Just Go Start,” and the ensuing crazy chord would lift all of the individual groups out of their conversations and bring them together for a few moments again.