It's time to add a sprinkle of leprechaun magic to our music lessons. With the shimmering promise of a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, we embark on a journey of rhythmic exploration through the enchanting world of Leprechaun Games. While our compass remains true to our curricular goals, we'll weave in the spirit of a beloved cultural holiday, celebrating St. Patrick's Day with themed rhythm practice. So, grab your shamrocks, and let's dive into a treasure trove of musical fun where learning meets leprechaun lore!

Working in small groups offers numerous benefits for students in a music classroom. It fosters collaboration, encourages active participation, and provides opportunities for peer learning and support. Small group activities also allow for personalized instruction and differentiated learning experiences tailored to individual student needs. In this blog post, we'll explore four engaging triple meter center games designed to facilitate the review and exploration of rhythm concepts in elementary music education. These activities are fun for students and offer valuable opportunities for reinforcement and application of musical skills.

If you're interested in learning more about managing music centers effectively, be sure to check out our detailed guide titled "Navigating Elementary Music Centers: Teacher Strategies, Procedures, And Success Tips."

Game Instructions:

Center Game #1: Write the Rhythm Room

At this center, students will find four rhythm cards and a corresponding Write the Room worksheet. The Write the Room Worksheets can accommodate either Level 1 or Level 2 rhythm cards. Students' task is to copy the rhythm patterns from the cards into the boxes with matching pictures. They should then chant each pattern using rhythm syllables. For an extra challenge, students may write their own pattern in the space provided.

Center Game #2: Triple Meter Composing Corner

For this activity, set up the center with a selection of rhythm cards chosen by the teacher and the Triple Meter Rhythm Composing sheet. In small groups, students will collaboratively choose four rhythm patterns to create their composition. They should copy these patterns onto the composing sheet and then practice chanting the composition using rhythm syllables.

Center Game #3: 3/4 & 6/8 Meter Sorting Station

In this center, provide one set of 3/4 meter and one set of 6/8 meter rhythm pattern cards, along with 3/4 & 6/8 meter label cards. Depending on time constraints and student proficiency levels, you can include four or eight rhythm patterns. Students should shuffle the cards and turn them face down. As each student in turn draws a card, they chant the pattern on each card, and then place it on the correct meter label card. Chanting the pattern is an important part of this station!

Enrhythmic Patterns

Are your students ready to take their rhythmic skills to the next level? Enrhythmic patterns offer a thrilling challenge for young musicians, as they navigate rhythms that sound alike but are notated differently. This activity is an excellent way to deepen understanding and hone listening skills in a fun and engaging manner.

Before diving into the enrhythmic challenge, it's essential to prepare your students adequately. Begin by guiding them through listening, chanting, and moving to triple meter patterns and music. This foundational step sets the stage for grasping the nuances of enrhythmic patterns.

Next, introduce the concept of reading either 3/4 or 6/8 meter rhythms, utilizing your preferred learning sequence. You can incorporate Leprechaun Rhythm Pattern Cards into listening games or center activities to reinforce this concept effectively.

Once your students are comfortable with these rhythms, introduce the "other" triple meter and present the Leprechaun Rhythm Pattern Cards in this unfamiliar meter. This step expands their rhythmic repertoire and prepares them for the enrhythmic challenge ahead.

Enrhythmic Challenge

Now, it's time for the main event: the enrhythmic challenge. Provide your students with two sets of cards representing 3/4 and 6/8 meter rhythms. Guide them through comparing these rhythms and identifying patterns that sound alike. After some guided practice with the whole class, you can transition to playing the "match the patterns" center game (see below). Alternatively, you can utilize the Write the Room worksheet for further individual practice in recognizing enrhythmic patterns.


Remember, this learning sequence is a journey that unfolds over months, not days. As the teacher, you'll be the best judge of when your students are ready to tackle this exhilarating challenge. So, keep an eye on their progress and readiness, and when the time is right, dive into the world of enrhythmic patterns together!

Center Game #4: Enrhythmic Pattern Challenge

At this center, students will find sets of 3/4 meter and 6/8 meter rhythm pattern cards, along with 3/4 and 6/8 meter label cards. Their task is to chant each pattern and match the cards that sound alike.

Triple Meter Fun

Don't forget, triple meter is the hallmark rhythm of Irish jigs, making it the perfect addition to your St. Patrick's Day musical festivities! To enhance your Leprechaun Games, teachers can create their own triple meter rhythm cards using simple materials like index cards or green construction paper. However, for a hassle-free option, consider using the Leprechaun Rhythm Pattern Cards available in Sally's Sea of Songs shop on TPT. These ready-made, print-and-go cards will add a touch of magic to your rhythmic adventures, allowing you to focus on engaging your students in the joy of musical exploration.

In closing, as we bid adieu to our Leprechaun Games rhythmic adventure, let's remember that the ultimate goal of teaching rhythmic notation transcends mere symbol recognition. Just as leprechauns hide their gold at the end of the rainbow, we aim to empower students to audiate the rhythmic treasures concealed within notation, allowing them to hear and understand the sound of the rhythm in their minds. Therefore, as we engage in activities centered around rhythmic notation, let's not forget the importance of ample practice in listening to and chanting rhythms, followed by labeling the sounds with rhythm solfege.

Through these enchanted learning experiences, students develop their ability to decipher rhythmic notation and nurture a deeper appreciation and understanding of rhythm in music. So, as you continue your rhythmic journey with your students, may the mischievous spirit of the leprechauns guide you toward rhythmic fluency and musical expression.

Musically yours,

 

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From Nothing to Something

In my last post, I shared about finding and using the Free Banjo & Spoons Project lessons from The National Museum of African American Music and QuaverEd.  

In this post, I will share how I incorporated writing list poems and performance into the project. As I said, I used the Spoons Project with my 4th & 5th grade classes who I saw on a rotation.  Each rotation was 5 days long, so I needed 5 lessons.  Lesson 1 & 2 focused on a bit of history and learning some playing techniques.  Lessons 3 & 4 include the writing activities along with more spoons playing.  Lesson 5 will be the culminating performance.

Lesson 3-4:  Screens from Spoons Project Lesson 1 & 2- List Poems

• Lesson 1 Screen 2 Find the List Poem Performance example by clicking the green arrow, then the bottom button.  I kept losing this video because it is buried on a secondary screen!
• Lesson 1 Screen 9 Listen to Mr. Talley introduce List Poems.  Click on the examples and read them.
• Lesson 1 Screen 10 Listen to Mr. Talley introduce this project.  Uncover the steps as you discuss the expectations.  
• For most of my classes, I asked each individual student to write a list poem that included at least 5-7 things that they had learned about spoons as an instrument.  This work could be done as partners, small groups, or even write a class poem.  I did the class poem for that group that had to finish the project in only 4 lessons. I allowed this part to take about 20 minutes during Lesson 3, then another 10-15 minutes during Lesson 4 to finish up.
• Lesson 2 Screen 9 was a great intro for my Lesson 4 because Spoonman Talley encourages students to look over the poems that they already started.
• During each of these lessons, we included spoons practice. We did echo patterns, then improvisation patterns.  I asked each student to begin to work on one pattern that they could memorize and play over and over as the accompaniment to their poems.  Watch Mr. Talley's performance example again if students need a refresher on what this performance might look like.
• During the 4th lesson, students should begin to practice their performance.  I asked my students to play a pattern on their spoons, read their poem, then play the same pattern again on their spoons. Lesson 3 Screen 9 has nice "Preparing to Perform" steps (click the green STEPS button at the bottom of the page) that can guide this practice.

Lesson 5: Performance Day

• We began our lesson with a little improvisation practice, just to get students in the mood, ready to play and perform.
• Lesson 3 Screen 3 and Screen 5 have short videos with more playing techniques and improvisation. Screen 12 has the audio playlist.  I used these as we had time and left this part out if we were rushed.
• Lesson 3 Screen 9 Watch Spoonman Talley's list poem performance.
• Lesson 3 Screen 10 My List Poem Performance gives 3 choices for accompaniment music and some evaluation questions.
• Allow students to perform their list poems and their spoon pattern. 

For my classes, the performances were informal, just for the class.  Set this up in whatever way would work best for you.  Perhaps your students will perform with a partner or a small group.  Perhaps you will video the performances and post on FlipGrid or in your learning management system for families to enjoy.  

Encourage students to give positive feedback to their classmates following their performance.  In my experience, students excel at finding the mistakes.  My strategy is this:  Audience members (classmates) give positive feedback, performers get to say one thing they might do to improve the performance.  We are always our own worst critics, so it is easy for the performers to find fault with themselves. I ask the class to find something GOOD about the performances. This builds the performers up!

Where to Find Spoons

Spoonman Talley demonstrates many different types of spoons, so it seems we can be open to many possibilities.  There are several options for acquiring spoons for these lessons.  

• Plastic spoons can be purchased at Dollar Tree or party supply stores.  These are a good size, but there is always the possibility they will break. The good news is they are very inexpensive, so you can purchase extras.
• Metal spoons can be purchased in bulk at Walmart and on Amazon. These spoons can be cleaned in the dishwasher between uses.  I purchased enough for two class sets so that I could teach a full day with no sharing of spoons, then wash at the end of the day to prepare for the next day.
• Thrift Stores can be a source of inexpensive metal spoons.  This may take some time and patience to gather enough for a class set.
• Ask for donations from your school community.  Many families may be happy to part with a couple of spoons!

I purchased these metal spoons for my classes.  The plastic spoons would also work for this project. Click on the images to shop on Amazon. (*affiliate links)

 

Highly Recommended

The slides, musical examples, list poem writing, and Mr. Talley's videos are well done and easy to use.  It was important to me that we have time during every class to play the spoons, so I decided to skip over some of the material.  This is working out great because I can revisit this lesson this year with the same students and there is more to learn! You may decide that you have time for an 8-lesson series, or you might have a longer class period and get through more of the material.  

I hope you will look these lessons over! I highly recommend!  

 

 

*As an Amazon Affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

 

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From Nothing to Something 

I can't wait for an opportunity to travel!  This museum looks so interesting!

The National Museum of African American Music is now open in Music City - Nashville, Tennessee.  The mission of the museum is to educate the world, preserve the legacy, and celebrate the central role African Americans play in creating the American soundtrack.

The museum includes galleries showcasing the evolution of African American music traditions, religious experience, the Great Migration and the blues, the Harlem Renaissance, the Civil Rights Movement, and Urban Renewal.  The Museum Without Walls features in-person and online programs with artists and music industry insiders.

As a Quaver teacher for many years, I learned of the partnership between QuaverEd (also located in Nashville) and the NMAAM when the Spoons Project and the Banjo Project were added to my account. My students LOVED the Spoons Project and Lucius "Spoonman" Talley last spring!  I was thrilled to see that these lessons are freely available to all via the education page on the NMAAM website.  

The lesson series is titled From Nothing To Something (FN2S).  

The QuaverEd lessons can be found here: http://www.quavermusic.com/fn2s

How I Used the Spoons Project

My teaching schedule had me seeing the same class for an entire week, then rotating on to the next class on a 5-week rotation.  This project was the perfect fit for my 5 lesson schedule, and I was even able to complete most of the activities in only 4 days when we had a short week. Because of time, I was not able to complete every one of the activities.  There is a lot of material for us to choose from!  Here is what I did.

Lesson 1: Spoons Project Lesson 1-Overview

• Screen 2: I displayed and we read the project objectives. Click on that green arrow and check out the Listen to the Spoons link.  This is an audio example with discussion or writing prompts. We watched the performance example on that page. 
• Screen 3: Listen to animated Spoonman Talley talk about the Essential Question.  Allow the students to answer his question. 
• I went on to Screen 5 and we met Mr. Talley, then skipped to Screen 7 and watched How to Play Spoons video.  At this point, my students were so ready to get to playing!  
• I passed out the spoons and allowed them some time to experiment.  We did some echo patterns using some of Spoonman Talley's examples.  Then, I asked them to play a different pattern from me, to improvise.  
• Finally, we skipped over to Screen 12 and we played our spoons to several of the tracks.

Lesson 2: Spoons Project Lesson 2-How to Play Spoons

• Screen 2: Review the Essential Question
• Screen 3: Watch the How To Play Spoons Part 2 video (3 min)
• Screen 4:  Spoonman Talley describes how spoons, bones, and drums developed as instruments. Click on the Compare button to compare the three.
• Pass out the spoons and practice similar to lesson 1.  Try some different patterns or tapping on different body parts to get different sounds.  
• Screen 11: Improvise to some of the audio tracks as a group, then allow solo opportunities.

Stay Tuned!

The next part in this series where I share more lessons and the best places to get spoons! 

More on Teaching Spoons

  

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When I first moved to South Carolina, I began searching for songs from my new home state.  Right away, I fell in love with "I Got a Letter This Morning," from the sea islands of South Carolina.

Lyrics & Notation:  http://kodaly.hnu.edu/song.cfm?id=502

There are many possibilities for inclusion in the elementary music curriculum across several grade levels.  "I Got a Letter This Morning" is in minor tonality and duple meter.  It has a limited pitch set, la-ti-do-re-mi.  The form is call and response, and each phrase begins with a syncopated rhythm.

I chose to focus on duple meter macrobeat/microbeat rhythms and have a little fun with my kindergarten and first grade classes. We would be reading and chanting 4-beat rhythm patterns using the mail as our notation!  To prepare, I gathered some regular business sized envelopes, and some larger greeting card envelopes.  On the business envelopes, I wrote the word BILL, and on the greeting card envelopes, LETTER.  I drew the matching rhythm notation on the back of each envelope, either a quarter note or paired eighth notes.  Then, I laminated them for more durability.

That was all I needed for kindergarten and first grade.  Older grades might need to use additional mail items to expand their rhythm vocabulary.  Possibilities include invitation, magazine, and sale flyer.

How to play:

Version 1
Students should be seated in a circle so they can see everyone.  Choose one student to be the mail carrier.  Teacher or students sing the song as the mail carrier "delivers" one piece of mail to the first four children in the circle.  Depending on the speed of the mail carrier, you might have to sing the song twice.  Children hold the mail up for everyone to see, and the class "reads" the four beat rhythm pattern using the mail words printed on the envelopes.  If your students are ready for notation, flip the mail over to reveal the notation, and read it using whatever rhythm syllables that you use in your classroom.  Repeat the sing & deliver process, stopping every four students to read, until everyone has a piece of mail.  As a final challenge, read all of the mail from the beginning!

Version 2
Rather than deliver the mail to individual students, have the mail carrier set out a row of four pieces of mail on a designated spot in the center of the circle, or on a pocket chart row.  Choose another student to be the pointer, and lead the children in reading the 4-beat rhythm pattern using the mail words printed on each envelope.  Flip the envelopes over to read the pattern from notation.  As an added challenge, allow the student pointer to remove one envelope from each row, creating a silent beat.

Version 3
Try creating a center with letters and bills and allow students to create their own rhythms.  For accountability, place some index cards at the center so students can turn the mail over and copy their favorite rhythm on the card.

Everybody loves to get mail, and the theme of this game may fit right in with your kindergartener's unit on community helpers!

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Summer's gone, here comes the bus!  The first lessons of the school year are often heavily loaded with class rules and procedures.  I know our students need structure, but a full class of rules is boring and this is MUSIC class!  My preference is to be sure there is some active music making right from lesson #1.  Reading and chanting rhythm patterns is a part of each music lesson, so I include the Back-To-School theme to rhythm reading during my first few lessons.  

Rhythm Reading

By collecting a group of common back to school sayings and "translating" them into rhythmic notation that my students are familiar with, I can get my students reading & reviewing familiar rhythm patterns right from the start.  I like to project these patterns on the SmartBoard for easy group viewing and chanting.  Younger students will echo my own chanting of the pattern, older students will read the pattern for themselves. Then chant the pattern with neutral syllables or the rhythm syllables of your choice.  This second step helps children to realize that words can create rhythms.

In the following example, the words are chanted with a steady beat in duple meter:

Teacher: Summer, summer, summer's gone.
Students Summer, summer, summer's gone.
Teacher: ba-ba, ba-ba, ba-ba, bah
Students: ba-ba, ba-ba, ba-ba, bah
Teacher: du-de, du-de, du-de, du
Students:du-de, du-de, du-de, du

Music Arranging

There are several ways to turn this simple reading practice into a composition activity.  This first example will focus on arranging the teacher's ideas.  Print the sayings on cards, laminate for durability, then display at the front of your classroom on the chalk tray or music stands.  Ask students to arrange the cards in the way they sound the best.  Each class may have a different arrangement.  This gives the students some creative control, allows for discussion of the difference between a composer and an arranger, both music careers. Chant the phrases, then chant with rhythm syllables.  Finish by playing the arrangement on rhythm instruments.  

Musical Form

Choose four back to school phrases and work as a class to create a rondo form.  Of course the class will have to decide which pattern will be the "A" section that repeats.  Perhaps the class could create a movement for this phrase together, then small groups of students could be assigned one of the remaining patterns to create movement.  Put all of this together for a class performance.  This can all be accomplished during one music class and demonstrated for the classroom teacher at the end.  Extend this idea by adding rhythm instruments.  

Complementary Rhythms

Define complementary rhythms and determine which pairs of cards may be complementary.  Rhythms may be considered complementary when one pattern is moving while another pattern is keeping steady.  The first two patterns in the photo below could be considered complementary:

Create a group performance by layering in your favorite complementary patterns.  With younger students, this might mean choosing only two patterns.  Older students may be able to maintain 3, 4 or 6 patterns at the same time.  Add a conducting component to this activity!  Select a student to bring groups in or out of the performance, then discuss thick and thin texture, and which patterns sounded the best together and why.  (Analyze and explain:  higher order thinking in the music room!)

Melodic Composition

If you have access to Orff instruments, tone bells, or other melody instruments, combine them with the back to school phrases and procedures for small group work to create a melodic composition.  I am blessed to have a large number of Orff xylophones, so that is my instrument of choice.  Divide the class into groups of four students.  Give each group one phrase worksheet and one melodic instrument.  I chose C pentatonic when setting up my Orff instruments.

Students should work together to create a melody for their phrase and record it in the grid. Because I wanted students to be able to sing the melodies, I asked students to experiment playing and singing what they played to find a pattern that they liked, then write it down.  Use whatever symbols your students are ready for in their compositions.  Because reading and writing melodic notation was not one of my objectives, I chose to ask students to record the letter names taken from the Orff instrument bars in each box.

Giving each student in the group a job can facilitate smoother group interactions.  For example, one student plays, one student sings what was played, one student notices the letter names of the melody and calls them out to the fourth student who writes them down.  Switch jobs and write another version, etc.  When the group has created four versions of the phrase, they should sing them again and decide which one they would like to select for their group performance.  Of course, editing and combining versions would be allowed!  Create a group performance by sequencing the small groups.  

Additional hints on using a grid for music composition may be found here.

To Make or Purchase?

That is the question.  You do not need to purchase anything to do this activity!  A sharpie and some card stock will get you through that first day quite nicely.  I can say this from personal experience.  An IWB file with the phrases pre-typed on a page could lead to a short lesson on decoding the rhythm patterns by listening.  Write the rhythms by hand on your IWB, then on to any of the other choices listed above.

If you do not have time for even this (no judging - we have LOTS to get ready for the first day of school!!!!),  you can purchase my set of slides, printable cards and worksheets in my TpT store here:  

Back to School Rhythms & Composition

Here's to making back to school MUSICAL!

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