Help me keep an orchestra amused

July 15, 2015 9:41 AM

I'm one of the tour managers for a university orchestra tour. We've got a symphony orchestra of 70 students mostly aged 19-21, and we're packing them into a coach and driving them to the Netherlands, which will take a fairly long time. How can I force them to have fun, ideally while they're on the coach?

I'm looking mainly for theatre or musical games - for instance, it's possible to sing Oh When the Saints Come Marching in, She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain and Swing Low Sweet Chariot to the same chords, which amused us for a while last year. We also played a few theatre warm-up games like Zip Zap Boing.

Points awarded for games that include loads of people, games that can be played while sat on a coach, and games that don't involve special supplies. Extra bonus points if it's somehow musical or involves singing. Thanks!

posted by spielzebub to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (7 answers total)

Not to be...whatever, but I think if you want them to have fun, the best way is to leave them alone. These are young adults, not children. I don't know that I'd be trying to run singing games with actual adults on a bus; if someone had tried to make me play games on a coach when I was a grownup old enough to vote or drink, I would not have appreciated it much, to put it kindly. The question you're asking seems to be more suited to much younger children, like around 8-11. Surely adults can entertain themselves by having conversations among themselves or using their mobile devices?
posted by holborne at 9:52 AM on July 15, 2015 [4 favorites]

Response by poster: I'm a tour manager this year but I was a member of the orchestra last year. I know it sounds dumb, but we genuinely had a lot of fun with a lot of games like these. I'm not being patronising, and I'm not going to use anything I don't think would suit the general temperament - honestly, stuff like this goes down well. I know my crowd. The general idea here is to foster a sense of community by doing stuff together in the downtime while we're travelling.
posted by spielzebub at 9:55 AM on July 15, 2015

Response by poster: ("force them to have fun" is not a serious statement of my intent here)
posted by spielzebub at 9:58 AM on July 15, 2015

Best answer: Zero Zero One One -- Everyone on the bus gets a number (in order of where they're sitting), starting with zero. Zero is the leader. Everyone stomps / claps the same rhythm (feet, feet, clap clap) continuously throughout. On the two stomps, Zero says, "zero zero", on the claps they say "four four" (or any other number twice). Four needs to then say, "Four, four, Twelve, Twelve" (or any other number) without missing a beat, and so on. The first person who misses the beat, says the wrong number, or names a number that isn't in the group becomes the new Zero. The old Zero can take their number, or you can renumber everyone based on seat order (more confusing, which can be more fun).

Counting Game Try to see how high a number everyone on the bus can count to. There are only two rules - 1) The same person can't say two numbers in a row, and 2) Two people can't say the same number (starting to say it counts as saying it). Break the rules and someone new has to restart at 1. This is much harder than it sounds (just getting past 1 can be difficult with enough people).
posted by Mchelly at 10:36 AM on July 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

Bingo with silly prizes, like shampoo or "write about today in the travel report". Let someone with dry humour announce the numbers as drawn by a machine. It sounds ridiculous, but I've been in an orchestra bus where this was repeated every few hours, and it was hilarious. The prizes can be something musical.
posted by willem at 2:57 PM on July 15, 2015

Best answer: If they like to sing, I would highly recommend Encore. The game gives you a word and each team has to come up with a song that includes that word. It goes back and forth until one team can't think of a song.
posted by kamikazegopher at 4:08 PM on July 15, 2015 [1 favorite]

I adore the Picnic Game for large bus trips, the thing that makes it fun for older groups is making the "rule" for each round super hard and creative.

One that completely stumped about 5 people in a group I played with was "you can bring it if it has five syllables"
posted by Sweetchrysanthemum at 9:25 PM on July 15, 2015