Rhythm Ideas for the Music Room

Looking for fun ideas to practice rhythm in the music room? Are you tired of the same ol', same ol'? Below are four ideas from four of our bloggers!

From Linda:

I don’t know about you but I love creating form using word chains! I especially love using manipulatives that the students can rearrange to create their own composition. So go ahead and grab that stack of beanie babies you use for tone matching and steady beat activities and Let’s Make Music!

Set out 4 beanie babies in a row and have the students echo you. Each beanie baby will receive 2 beats. Rearrange the 4 and have the students echo you again. Continue the process substituting different beanies and changing the order.

Eventually, start speaking the A section “Let’s Make Music” while you are arranging four beanie babies.

Creative Ways to Use Instruments Every Day!

Ask any student what their favorite lesson in your class is and I bet you that 90% of them will tell you that they love any time they get to use the instruments!   Instruments are fun and exciting and make any lesson sparkle!  Sadly, I think that many of us leave our classroom instruments in their plastic tubs, cabinets, or closets far too much of the time.  Here are a few ideas about how to pull out and use any instruments you might have in fun and exciting ways!

Rhythm Echo/Reading – The Next Level
I’m sure that many of you spend time teaching rhythm patterns by having students echo your example or read notation along with flashcards.  It’s great practice for kids to echo patterns and helps them work on listening even as it improves coordination, steady beat, and rhythmic understanding.  It so easy to add in body percussion in the form of a clap, pat, snap, or stomp.  I love saying something like “I’m going to give you a rhythm and you need to take my words and turn them into claps.”  Students hear “ti-ti, ta, ti-ti, ta” and then they pat the rhythm they hear. You can have them turn your words into pats, claps, snaps, or anything else you want.  Kiddos can click their tongue, pat their tummy, nod their head, blink their eyes, and so much more.  You can easily do this with rhythm cards as well.  Ask students to read the cards and along with saying the words out loud, ask them to clap the rhythm at the same time.

The next step is to take your words and put them onto an instrument.  Give your students rhythm sticks and then have then click the patterns that you speak to them.  Start with easy patterns and increase the difficulty slowly as they speak and click along.  To take this even further, ask them to find a new way to use the instrument.  Maybe they play on the floor, maybe they click the ends of the rhythm stick together, maybe they play behind their back… the possibilities are endless!  In the next lesson you can spend 5 minutes doing the exact same thing with tambourines, drums, wood blocks, etc.