Lesson 11: Beat vs. Rhythm

Grade: 3

Musical Concept: Rhythm vs. Beat

Time: 30 minutes

Element: Rhythm

Materials: Different colored markers for the beat and the rhythm.

National Music Standard:

Performing: Analyze the structure and context of varied musical works and their implications for performance.

Specific National Standards:

MU: Pr4.2.3 b. When analyzing selected music, read and perform rhythmic patterns and melodic phrases using iconic and standard notation.

Objectives:  SWBAT show through body percussion their understanding of the difference between beat and rhythm.

Procedure:

1. Hello Song
2. Today we're going to learn about the difference between beat and rhythm. Rhythm is the way the words go.
3. I'm going to sing a song, and I'd like you to find the beat!
1. Sing Scotland's Burning. Students find beat.
2. Sing it again. Watch closely to what I’m going to do! Teacher do Kodaly hand signs. Students keep beat.
3. Invite students to join with hand signs and sing one more time.
4. Invite students to sing if they are not already.  Can they sing it without the teachers help? Challenge them!
5. Now I have an extra challenge for you!  Can you clap the rhythm? Rhythm is the way the words go.
6. Divide the class in two - half keep the beat, and half clap the rhythm.
7. Opt. Divide the class in three - third keep the beat, third clap rhythm,  third do Kodaly syllables.
8. Do it as a round! Everyone clap the rhythm you're singing!
4. Have students sing Scotland's burning while you mark the beats as straight lines on the board.
1. Beats can have more than one syllable inside of them.
2. I'm going to sing just the first part in Scotland's Burning, can you listen closely to how many syllables are in the very first beat? Two!  Write two straight lines underneath the associated beat.
3. Repeat for the rest of the song.
4. Sing the whole song, pointing to the rhythm marks as you go.  Ask, Does this look like the rhythm? The Rhythm is the way the words go.
5. Does it look different from the beat? How so? Because sometimes there's more of them, there are more inside one beat.
5. Let's sing Scotland's Burning one more time as a round!
6. Goodbye!  Group picture!

Reflection: The students were able to pick up the difference between beat and rhythm very quickly.  I was impressed that they were able to tell how many sounds were in each beat.  After completing steps 1-4, I asked if they had every done rhythms with Ta and Ti-ti in their music class, and they had!  We were able to clap the rhythm of Scotland's Burning while saying the rhythm syllables.  I'd glad I was able to reinforce those rhythmic patterns for them, as well as introduce the difference between rhythm and beat by using the phrase Rhythm is the way the words go.