There are many ways to go about facilitating beat processing with students. In my class, we do Body Percussion, bounce Racquetballs along with the beat to musical selections, and for the last two classes, we've been Walking to the Beat of a drum. The goal of each of these activities is to pay special attention to the beat. Each activity helps the children develop focus and coordination, process beat and rhythm in music, and become aware of themselves, each other, and their surroundings. During Body Percussion, one leader at a time uses stamping, patting, clapping, and snapping to make a (usually) 4-beat rhythm pattern, which the rest of the class listens to and then echoes back. |
In the Racquetball activity, I play a pre-recorded song, usually with a strong beat, and the children each have a racquetball which they bounce to the beat of the song. I sometimes call out instructions, like "bounce the ball only on beat 1 (or 2 or 3 or 4) of each measure" or if the meter (how many beats per measure) is unusual, I will ask them to figure out what it is.
For Walking to the Beat, the goal is simple: you just have to get your feet to walk to the beat. As with the Racquetball activity, I may ask what the meter is. But because I am playing the drum, and it's not prerecorded, I have the freedom to change the meter, or the tempo (the speed) of what I'm playing. This allows me to take their beat processing to the next level.
The Walking to the Beat activity also allows me to let students take turns leading the drumming, similar to how they get to take turns leading Body Percussion. It is my goal for all students to grow up to consider themselves "musical beings," and as such, feeling comfortable at the helm is important.
For Walking to the Beat, the goal is simple: you just have to get your feet to walk to the beat. As with the Racquetball activity, I may ask what the meter is. But because I am playing the drum, and it's not prerecorded, I have the freedom to change the meter, or the tempo (the speed) of what I'm playing. This allows me to take their beat processing to the next level.
The Walking to the Beat activity also allows me to let students take turns leading the drumming, similar to how they get to take turns leading Body Percussion. It is my goal for all students to grow up to consider themselves "musical beings," and as such, feeling comfortable at the helm is important.
Last week being the first week, I was the drummer, but this week I gave a couple of students a chance to play the beat. Each time we do the activity, 2-3 more students will get the chance to lead. Here's a video, and I hope you enjoy! | (Note: because the goal was to play a steady beat, I was not correcting the drummers' playing technique) |