rhythm and counting

[Bob]

How do you go about teaching these with your students?

How do you introduce each new note value?  (esp if they don't keep a steady beat.  I've got a few transfer students that don't have this down yet)


And how do you teach them to count?  It works for one line, but even simple rhythms in another hand complicate things -- Do you teach them to count one line (the melody), or do you teach them to count the composite rhythm (the rhythm of both lines put together), or do you just have them play without using a counting system?

I fing the counting system very helpful, but when I play I just play and don't worry about counting.

[abell88]

If they can't keep a steady beat we walk and clap, or walk and sing their piece. If they still can't play it steadily, I will sit there and say the beat, or tap it on the piano, or (worst case scenario) tap it on their shoulders. Sometimes it's just a matter of their learning the parts a  little better (or coordinating the hands), but if they generally have trouble with the beat then I think it's best to do it with gross motor (walking and clapping), then move it to fine motor. I think it's a good idea to have them clap or play rhythm instruments while I play the piano, too.

Using time names or other syllables to say the rhythm can help. Instead of trying to coordinate what beat of the bar they're in, they just say the names rhythmically. (Example: if the rhythm is quarter half quarter, it may be tricky to keep track of having to clap or play on beats 1, 2 and 4, but it's easy to say ta-half-note-ta...or even 1, 1-2, 1 or 1&, 1&2&, 1&).

For HT I make them clap the lines separately, then tap the composite rhythm. A fun way (although tricky!) is to give them a drum and some jingle bells; put the instruments down on the piano lid, one for each hand, and tap the rhythm on the two instruments.  In a group situation I will also use contrasting rhythm instruments and have half the group play the RH and the other half the LH, so they can hear the different rhythms clearly.

[bernhard]

In the beginning (I am referring mostly to reading music here) I separate rhythm and melody, that is they learn to read the pitches by themselves, and they learn to tap/play rhythm alone.

Once they get the idea we join both.

The greatest mistakes one can do at this stage is to regard note values as absolute. That is, you tell the student that a crochet is one beat, a minim is 2 beats and a whole note is four beats. This will create all sorts of confusion later on when you introduce the other note values.

So from the beginning, I teach relative values, so we may play the same rhythm giving one, two or four beats to the crochet. With children that already know about fractions, this is not such a big deal. With the little ones however, this can be very frustrating and one may be tempted to teach absolute note values “for the moment” and teach them the real thing later on. This is a mistake that most teachers live to regret.



My own take on relative note values is to use chocolate bars of the same brand but of different sizes. (e.g. Toblerone has several different sizes that divided in the same number of chunks). That point, is no matter how big or small the chocolate bat is, the whole chocolate bar is always a whole note, and the several chunks you can break it into are the several note values. If they get it right they get to eat the chocolate.

I rarely use counting (perhaps because I myself never felt the need for it). Rather I use the metronome in conjunction with the French system (Taaaa – ta – te – ti) – and later one drops the metronme -  which seems to me more natural. That is not to say – of course – that counting is not effective.

Best wishes,
Bernhard