My students did much better with the “Rhythm Runs” than I expected. A few of them struggled, but most of them caught on pretty quickly. It proved to be a very effective way of getting them to really feel the pulse, too, which is great! This week will be our final week focusing on Feeling the Pulse. For this week’s Fresh and Fun! idea, I’ve decided to do a little combination of the Call and Response improv activity and last week’s idea. Using the same rhythm worksheets that the students used last week, I’ll have them set a beat and start by playing and keys or combination of keys on the piano for the first measure. Then, I’ll pick up with the second measure. And we’ll go back and forth through the entire sheet, with the goal being (of course!) to keep a perfect pulse from start to end.

Hopefully this will train them to look ahead and prepare for the rhythm that is to come, while keeping track of the pulse. I am just so excited at how much improvement I’ve seen in my students in this area throughout this month! It has been a fun and very worthwhile endeavor. Next month, thanks to a suggestion from Steve, we’ll be focusing on identifying key signatures. I’m really excited about this, and hope you all will contribute some Fresh and Fun! ideas. I would love to see my students really master the concept of key signatures and become experts at quickly identifying them!