Below the jump you'll find another group activity focussing on rhythm elements.
There's one aspect of the activity that may need some explanation! The flashcards mentioned have two parts.
The first is just a postcard-sized set of three, with the time signatures for 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4 written nice and large. This is to test the understanding of a complete time signature, and the questions that go along with it are: what does to the lower number mean? (It means we're counting in quarter notes / crotchets.) What does the upper number mean? (It means we're counting 2, 3 or 4 quarter notes per bar.)
The second set has four rhythm drills of three to four bars each. There is one number missing from the time signature, and the task here is to supply the missing information. It'll probably be chaos, but something should get through in the end!
Flash cards are easy to make -- all you need is some nice thick paper cut to the right size, a good permanent marker and loads of patience and ingenuity.
Group Activity: Simple Rhythm 3
Aims:
- To reinforce knowledge of different metres.
- To develop awareness of how rhythm is constructed using regular patterns, in this case by the use of bar lines in simple metres.
- To develop awareness of metre through a short composition exercise.
- Sufficient A5 sheets for all participants
- Pencils
- Hymnbooks
- Piano
- Whiteboard and markers (if available) or flash cards.
- Time signatures: 2/4, 4/4, and 3/4.
- Bars, bar lines, double bar lines.
- 2-metre and 3-metre (use these terms by preference instead of duple and triple)
Recap previous session by playing the melodies (in suboctaves) of Fecundity (77) and Was Lebet (160).- Do not give instructions about the pulse: choristers are to work out the pulse using body percussion while the tunes are being played.
At the end of each tune, ask:- Is this tune in 2-metre or 3-metre?
- What is special about the metre? Why would you say A and not B?
Open the hymnbooks to these tunes. Look at the very beginning of the tune, and there are two things that tell you something about how the tune will sound. What can we identify already?- The treble clef, which fixes the pitch on the stave. Another word for clef is key.
There is a set of numbers next to the clef. This is the time signature. The bottom number in this sign shows us what unit we are counting in (eg: quarter notes, half notes): the top number shows how many beats make a complete group (a bar).- You may need to revisit the pie diagram to reinforce what the lower number means (4 = quarter notes, 2 = half notes, 8 = eighth notes etc).
- Emphasize the idea of arithmetical completeness as the controlling idea behind the upper number: this signifies how many beats a bar must contain in order to be complete before the bar line can be drawn.
- We use bar lines to divide up complete groups. Double bar lines are used to show the end of a piece, or the end of a section of a piece.
Activity 1 (5 minutes maximum):- Use flashcards provided.
- Use Set 1 to test knowledge of what the upper and lower numbers mean.
- Set 2 contains rhythm drills where the time signature is incomplete. Choristers to provide the missing information.
Activity 2 (5-10 minutes):- Distribute paper and pencils.
- Each chorister is assigned a time signature.
- Choristers are to compose a rhythm drill of 4 bars duration in their allotted time signature.
- At the end of this part of the session, write the drills on the whiteboard or divide the choristers into teams and share the compositions. Clap the drills.
Additional activity:- Choose further hymn tunes from this list: 134, 140, 159, 167, 169, 172, 173, 174, 245.
- Play the melody in suboctaves, and have a chorister guess the metre. Ask the question sequence outlined in 1i, 1ii above. Check the answer by turning to the hymn.
- Allow a small team or an individual to take a phrase to clap before having the whole group clap the rhythm.
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