Skip to main content

Movement Patterns to Help Teach Music

Several movement patterns help teach concepts in music that deal with rhythmic aspects of music, such as finding the beat, conducting, using body percussion and playing rhythms in tempo. With music, you often must learn to do the same thing in several different ways. Learning how to keep track of rhythm and patterns will greatly improve your rhythmic skills.

Beat


One of the most difficult concepts to teach is the concept of the beat, or pulse, in music. An effective activity is to have students stand and march around the room in time. The teacher can march with the students, making it possible for students to find the beat of the music through physical action. For the best results, practice this with several different pieces of music that have different tempos.

Rhythm


Teach basic drum rudiments by using the right and left hands to play bongos or some other two-headed drum such as congas. A basic rhythm pattern that involves movement is a paradiddle in which you alternate with the following hand strikes: R-L-R-R, L-R-L-L. The "R" indicates a right-hand strike while the "L" indicates a left-hand strike. There are 40 basic drum rudiments that can help increase skills and teach several different movement patterns.

Body Percussion


Body percussion is used in Orff-Schulwerk, a method of teaching music and movement, to teach children how to play fast rhythms. Have the student hit his left shoulder with his right hand, then alternate with the other hand. Then add to the sequence. Have the child tap the right thigh with the right hand, and then the left thigh with the left hand. After that, the right-hand hits the outside of the right thigh, the left-hand hits the outside of the left thigh, followed by stomping with the right and left foot. Start over again at the top and attempt to keep the rhythm steady. Each body part will produce a different sound. Have students start at different times to create complex rhythms.

Conducting


Demonstrate conducting patterns and teach them to students to help them learn how music ebbs and flows between measures. Since you have already taught the beat, have the students start with a 4/4 pattern. This pattern starts with a hand just below the nose. Bring the hand straight down to indicate the first beat, move to the right in a bouncing motion to indicate the second beat, bounce the hand across the chest to indicate the third beat and then bounce up to the fourth beat right below the nose. Teach all the major conducting patterns.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Similarities of Classical and Baroque Music

Music has evolved through the centuries and undergone drastic changes. One of the most significant transitions was from the Baroque to the Classical period of music. In this paragraph, I will compare and contrast some of the main features of these two styles, such as ensembles, instrumentation, and counterpoint study. The Baroque and Classical periods of music have many similarities. While the style of music changed drastically, certain key elements remained the same between the two styles. Composers in the Classical period sought to simplify music and create clearly audible musical lines. In contrast, composers from the Baroque period were interested in creating complex and highly ornamented musical lines. The Baroque period occurs from approximately 1600 to 1750, and the Classical period extends from 1750 to 1820. Ensembles Ensembles are groups of musicians that perform together. Both the Baroque and the Classical period had similar types of ensembles, such as operas, orchestras, str...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sunday Stories: The Power of Audiation in Music Composition

Happy Sunday! Today, let’s explore the transformative power of audiation in music composition and share an inspiring story about a composer who mastered this skill. Audiation, the ability to hear and understand music in your mind, is a crucial tool for composers, enabling them to bring their musical ideas to life with greater detail and precision. What is Audiation? Audiation is the process of hearing and comprehending music in your mind without any external sound. It is similar to thinking in a language, where you can understand and manipulate words and sentences internally.  For composers, audiation is an essential skill that allows them to imagine, develop, and refine their musical ideas before they are played or written down 1 . The Benefits of Audiation for Composers 1. Enhanced Musical Understanding Audiation helps composers develop a deeper understanding of music. By hearing and analyzing music internally, they can grasp the relationships between different musical elements, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

List of Musical Techniques and Their Meanings

Musical techniques are the building blocks of any basic music training. These techniques allow performers to improve their coordination and develop accuracy through repetitive daily exercises. Musical techniques progressively build upon previously learned techniques. Scales Scales form the basis for other musical techniques. Student may study major and minor scales as well as modern scales, such as the whole-tone and octatonic scales. A scale consists of patterns of half steps and whole steps. These whole steps and half-step arrangements will be different for each scale. Scales are musical techniques that can help a performer to play faster and more accurately, and make learning new pieces easier. Chords Chords require knowledge of major and minor scales. Chords come in several different forms that affect the sound. Triads consist of three notes spaced a third apart and classified as major, minor, augmented and diminished chords. Seventh chords build on triads and have an additional no...
Post a Comment
Read more