A fun rhythm activity

Here's one to get choristers concentrating in the first week back.

Equipment:
Whiteboard or similar, plus something to write with.
Small pieces of paper.

Write up a series of one-bar rhythms on the board, and draw a box around each one.  Number them consecutively -- depending on the number of choristers, you may need anything between three and five sets of rhythms.

Clap each rhythm through a couple of times -- make sure it's absolutely correct before moving on! -- and then treat the sequence of boxes as one complete exercise.  It is vital that everyone is able to recognize each rhythm accurately.

Now, before the rehearsal you will have cut out your little pieces of paper, and on each one you write a telephone number" -- so, if you've got five boxes with rhythms, you can create the following set of numbers:

54321
15432
21543
32154
43215

....and so on.

Now, one person claps an arbitrary sequence making up a complete "telephone number." The person with the matching number then claps a different sequence, prompting someone else to "answer" by clapping yet another rhythm set.  This carries on until all the possibilities have been exhausted.

Everyone has to listen closely in order to recognize when their number is being dialed; equally, those clapping have to pay close attention to rhythmic accuracy.