 | Tony Bennett VH1 Storytellers for VH1 Save the Music
Lessons for Elementary School Music Classes With Special Guests
The Backstreet Boys
Lesson 2 of 4 |
Objectives Students will clap four-beat rhythm patterns containing whole, half, dotted half, quarter, and eighth notes and rests in a given tempo.
National Standards: Content Standard 5 - Reading and notating music: Students read whole, half, dotted half, quarter, and eighth notes and rests in 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4 meter signatures.
Materials
- Videotape of Storytellers for Kids starring Tony Bennett, featuring The Backstreet Boys.
- Familiar song that includes the rhythms students are learning.
- Several four-beat flash cards for each set of two students (rhythms on the flash cards include rhythms present in the familiar song selected for the lesson).
- Recording of "Latin Rock," from Music for Movement by James Froseth and Phyllis S. Weikart (GIA Publications MLR 187), or a similar commercial or teacher-generated sound track specifically designed for students to play or clap along with.
- Audio-playback equipment
Prior Knowledge and Experience
Students have performed echo clapping games, can distinguish between "beat" and "rhythm" and have had experience reading four-beat patterns containing whole, half, dotted half, quarter, and eighth notes and rests in 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4 meter signatures. Students can identify note names and note values using both standard notation and stem notation.
Procedures
- Play the third segment of the VH1 Storytellers videotape.
- Have students pay attention to the drummer Clayton Cameron as he talks about rhythm. Have students pay attention to his drum break.
- Ask students what they think Cameron means when he says "If youšve got math, youšve got rhythm."
- Tell students they are going to put math to work in some rhythm games.
- Lead students in echo clapping as a warm-up. Have them practice a rhythm round. Then have students work in pairs to practice the four-beat rhythm flash cards.
- Ask students to define rhythm and beat, and then have them describe the difference between the two using words, movement, or performance. Play the recording you have selected or the sound track you have generated and ask the students to tap the steady beat.
- Tell the students that they are going to read and clap the rhythm patterns they have practiced as they are accompanied by music that has a steady beat. Tell them that they will clap one pattern and then wait four beats, or rest, before clapping the next pattern.
- Start the recording. Hold the rhythm flash cars and ask the students to clap the rhythm written on the first card, rest for four beats, and then clap the rhythm written on the second card. Continue with the cards and the pattern of rhythms and rests.
- When the students are comfortable and confident performing the rhythms together, ask them to repeat the activity while working in pairs. One student holds the flash cards and moves them ahead during the rests while the other student claps the patterns. Then have the students switch roles.
- Look at the notation for a familiar song that includes the rhythms the students have just practiced. Have them clap and say the rhythm of the song. Then sing the song together, first tapping the beat, then the rhythm. Challenge students to tap the beat with their feet and the rhythm with their hands as they sing.
Indicators of Success
Students accurately identify and perform the rhythm on the flash cards with a steady beat and at the tempo of the recorded accompaniment track. Students accurately read and perform the rhythms in a familiar song. Follow-up Eliminate the four beats of rest between the flash card patterns and move directly from one pattern to the next. Hint: The person holding the cards will need to shift to the next card on the third beat of each pattern. Show students the rhythm of a song they have not yet learned, but which is composed entirely of rhythms with which they are familiar. Have them read and tap or clap the rhythm, and then teach them the melody by rote. Extension for Advanced Students Replay the third segment of the Storytellers video. Have students pay attention to Dave Brubeckšs "Take Five" performed by the young trumpet player. Ask students why they think the song is titled what it is. Obtain a copy of "Take Five" sheet music and with students, count the beats in the first line. Have students count the beats in the second line.
This lesson is derived from Strategies for Teaching: K-4 General Music (MENC, 1996)
VH1, in partnership with Cable in the Classroom, collaborated with
MENC: The National Association for Music Education to develop this series of lessons.
National Standards for Music Education
- Singing, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
- Performing on instruments, alone and with others, a varied repertoire of music.
- Improvising melodies, variations, and accompaniments.
- Composing and arranging music within specified guidelines.
- Reading and notating music.
- Listening to, analyzing, and describing music.
- Evaluating music and music performances.
- Understanding relationships between music, the other arts, and disciplines outside the arts.
- Understanding music in relation to history and culture.
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