We held our first group class of the fall semester this week and it was a ton of fun! With our practice incentive theme of The Aquarium Caper this year, we’re specifically focusing on rhythm skills, so I wanted to be sure to incorporate some fun music rhythm games into the lesson plan.
We started with performances because our out-of-state student joined us virtually. for the first part of the group class so that he could perform one of his songs for us.
After that, we played an old favorite rhythm game that I hadn’t used in a while that I call “The Rhythm Name Game.” It doesn’t require any supplies or prep and involves everyone! Have the entire group sit in a circle and do the following rhythms together: tap lap twice; clap twice; snap one hand; snap the other hand. The group leader sets the tempo and begins the pattern. After a couple of repetitions, they should begin the name game by chanting their name on the first snap and then another person’s name on the second snap. Everyone continues the pattern in sync and the person whose name was called continues by chanting their name on the first snap, then another person’s on the second snap. The goal is to keep the beat going steadily as the names get passed around the group. This is a fabulous rhythm game for building continuity, steady beat, coordination…and learning everyone’s names if you play with people who’ve just met!
Next up was another long-time favorite game in our studio: Team Rhythmic Dictation. Each team of two was given several sets of these laminated single note flashcards and a couple of black strips cut from foam board. The students took turns rolling a die to determine the time signature (either 3/4 or 4/4), then I played a 2-measure melody on the piano and then the students had to work with their teammate to lay out the note values correctly. I was impressed that they immediately started vocalizing the pattern I played and then using that to complete their dictation. It was especially cool to see my new student (who has only had one lesson so far and doesn’t know any note values yet!) watch a few times and then start to pick up on which sounds were represented by which notes. This underscores the nature of music as a language and the effectiveness of introducing new concepts by sound first, something I understand and agree with theoretically, but have a harder time consistently implementing in practice. Observing this student pick up note values intuitively was fascinating and inspires me to delve into more possibilities of how to incorporate activities like this into my regular lessons. I’m excited to explore ideas and see what we can come up with!
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