A Strategy To Teach Ta Ti-Ti

1. The students will learn a repertoire of songs and rhymes from the above list and for revision* will demonstrate they are able to sing them:

• in tune, without the aid of the teacher
• while keeping a steady beat in a variety of ways
• while keeping  the rhythm (i.e. keeping the “words of the song”.)

* Students should have already  been taught beat and rhythm and have done a significant amount of practise of these elements. 

(a) Behavioural Objective: The students will learn the song Starlight Starbright.

Review:  

The teacher begins to chant the words to Bye-lo Baby-o the children join in.
"Was I using my singing voice or my speaking voice?" (Speaking)
"Let's use our singing voices this time." The teacher starts singing Rain Rain and the children join in.

Point:

"Listen to this new song." The teacher sings Starlight Starbright
"Sing after me." The teacher sings the first four beats and the students echo.
The teacher sings the next four beats and the students echo. Etc. until the students have echoed the teacher for the whole song.
"Sing after me as I sing longer sections of the song." The teacher sings the first eight beats and the students echo. The teacher repeats this process for the next 8 beats.
"Let's all sing the whole song."

Reinforcement: 

"Let's sing the song again and keep the beat on our shoulders."
"This time sing without me!"
"Let's sing the song again with our beautiful singing voices."

1. The students will learn a repertoire of songs and rhymes from the above list and for revision* will demonstrate they are able to sing them:

• in tune, without the aid of the teacher
• while keeping a steady beat in a variety of ways
• while keeping  the rhythm (i.e. keeping the “words of the song”.)

* Students should have already been taught beat and rhythm and have done a significant amount of practise with these elements. 

(b) Behavioural Objective: The students will use a wood block to show the beat in the song See Saw.

Review:

The teacher begins to sing the song See Saw and taps the beat on his/her knees.
The students join in with the singing and the tapping.
(1st student) What part of the music were we putting on our knees? (The beat)
(2nd student) Suggest another way to show the beat. (E.g. clapping)
(3rd student) What do we know about the beat? (It is always the same.)

Point:

Watch while I show another way to show the beat.
The teacher takes a wood block and he/she sings See Saw while softly tapping the beat on the wood block.

Reinforce:

Help me sing the song while I keep the beat on the wood block.
(4th student) Could you please keep the beat on the wood block while we sing the song.
(4th student) Choose another person to keep the beat on the wood block.             
The woodblock is passed to a number of students to play.
Let’s just sing See Saw with beautiful singing voices.

1. The students will learn a repertoire of songs and rhymes from the above list and for revision* will demonstrate they are able to sing them:

• in tune, without the aid of the teacher
• while keeping a steady beat in a variety of ways
• while keeping  the rhythm (i.e. keeping the "words of the song".)

* Students should have already been taught beat and rhythm and have done a significant amount of practise of these elements. 

(c) Behavioural Objective: The students will perform Rain Rain with either beat or rhythm as directed by the teacher.

Review:

"Please sing Rain Rain with the beat.  
"(1st student) show us a way to perform the beat today." 
1st student starts clapping. The teacher begins singing and everyone joins in singing and clapping the rhythm.

Point:

"I have two cards. One has a heart on it and one has books on it. The heart stands for the beat – the books for the rhythm."
"When you see the heart, you should sing Rain Rain and tap the beat on your knees. When you see the books, you should sing Rain Rain and clap the rhythm on your hands."
The class sings Rain Rain with beat or rhythm according to the card they see.

Reinforce:

"(2nd student) What part of the music do you show when you see the heart?" (Beat)
(3rd student) What part of the music do you show when you see the books? (Rhythm)
Let's sing Rain Rain again with our beautiful singing voices.

2. The students will discover that there may be 1 or 2 sounds on a beat:

(a) Behavioural Objective: The children will discover that sometimes there is more than one sound on a beat while watching the teacher perform beat and rhythm in the song Bounce High.

Review:

The class sings the song Bounce High while keeping a steady beat.
The class sings the song Bounce High while tapping the rhythmic pattern.
Half the class performs the beat and the other the rhythm as they sing Bounce High.

Point:

"Boys and girls, watch while I sing Bounce High and place a beat picture (icon) on the floor for each beat."
"How many beats do you see in this song?" (Eight)
"Watch while I step the beat on each icon and clap the rhythm of the song in my hands. Are there any places where there is more than one sound on a beat picture?" 
"(1st student) were there any places where there was more than one sound on a beat picture?" (yes)

Reinforce:

"Watch while I sing the song, step the beat and clap the rhythm again."
"(2nd student) Can you turn a beat picture sideways which has more than one sound?"
"(3rd student) Can you turn another beat picture sideways which has more than one sound?"
"Are there any other beats which have more than one sound?"
 The class identifies another beat. And the teacher turns the beat picture sideways.
"Let's sing Bounce High with beautiful singing voices."

2. The students will discover that there may be 1 or 2 sounds on a beat:

 (b) Behavioural Objective: The students discover aurally that sometimes there is one sound on a beat and sometimes there are two.

Review:

"Sing the song Snail Snail clapping your first fingers to the beat."
"Sing the song Snail Snail while tapping the rhythm on your heads."
"(1st student) Can you show the beat while (2nd student) shows the rhythm?"
We will all sing the song.
"Boys and girls, do you remember what we learned about the rhythm?" (Sometime the beats have more than one sound).

Point:

"Watch while I sing the song, walk the beat on the beat pictures  icons) and clap the rhythm. Can you hear how many sounds there are in the places where there are more than one sound?"
The students derive that there are two sounds.
"So in music there can be one sound on a beat or there can be two sounds."

Reinforce:

"Watch as I do this again. When you hear one sound, hold up one finger.
When you hear two sounds, hold up two fingers."
"(1st student) How many sounds do some beats have?" (One)
"(2nd student) How many sounds do other beats have?" (Two)
"Let's all sing Snail Snail with the words."

2. The students will discover that there may be 1 or 2 sounds on a beat:

(c) Behavioural Objective: The students will kinaesthetically reinforce that there can be one or two sounds on a beat in the rhyme Engine Engine.

Review:

The rhyme is said while students move their arms in a circular motion beside their bodies like a train to the beat.
The rhyme is said while students clap the rhythm (the pattern of the words).
"Boys and girls, what did we learn recently about rhythm?" (Sometimes there is one sound on a beat and sometimes there are two.)

Point:

"Boys and girls, please say Engine, Engine and clap the beat. Each time I hear a beat I will put a beat picture beat picture (icon) on the floor.
The teacher makes four rows of four with the beat pictures.
"How many beats do you see in this rhyme?" (Sixteen)
"Watch while I step the beat on each icon and clap the rhythm of the song in my hands. Work out which beat pictures have one sound and which have two sounds."
"(1st student) can you turn over any beat pictures where there was more than one sound on a beat picture in the first row?”
Teacher demonstrates line by line and chooses different students to turn over any beat pictures with more than one sound on a beat until all lines are done.
"Watch how I stamp the rhythm as we all say the rhyme again" The teacher stamps the rhythm on (or beside) each beat picture in turn.

Reinforcement:

"(5th Student) can you please stamp the rhythm on (or beside) our beat pictures?"
"(6th student) can you please stamp the rhythm on (or beside) our beat pictures?"
"Let's all stand and stamp the rhythm while (6th student) picks up our beat pictures.
Let's all sit and say this rhyme in our lovely clear speaking voices.

2. The students will discover that there may be 1 or 2 sounds on a beat:

(d) Behavioural Objective: The students will visually reinforce that there can be one or two sounds on a beat in the song See Saw.

Review:

The song is sung while keeping the beat.
The song is sung while keeping the rhythm.
The song is sung with beat and rhythm simultaneously.  E.g. half the students keep the beat and half the students keep the rhythm.
"Boys and girls, what do you remember about the rhythm in the song?" (Sometimes there is one sound on a beat and sometimes there are two.)

Point:

"Please sing Bye-lo Baby-O and clap the beat.  Each time I hear a beat I will write a beat circle on the board."
The teacher writes up the beat circles (2 rows of 4 beat circles) and the children derive that there are eight beats in the song.
"Watch while I tap the rhythm in each beat circle.  Work out which circles have one sound and which have two sounds."

Reinforce: 

"Sing the song again while I point to the sounds in the beat circles."
"(1st student), come to the board and show us all the beats with two sounds."
"(2nd student), come to the board and show us all the beats with one sound."
"(3rd student), come to the board and point to the sounds while we sing the song."
"Let's sing the song with beautiful singing voices."

7. The students will practise the new rhythms "ta" and "ti-ti" in a creative context by either improvisation or composition:

(b) Behavioural Objective: Students will compose their own four beat rhythm using "ta" and "ti-ti" by filling in the missing beats.

3. Behavioural Objective: The students will learn the symbol for one sound on a beat and the symbol for two sounds on a beat. They will learn that the name given to one sound is "ta" and the name for two sounds is "ti-ti" by deriving the rhythm of Bye-lo Baby-o.

Review:

Sing Bye-lo Baby-o with half the class keeping the beat and half the class keeping the rhythm.
Students clap the beat while the teacher writes beat circles on the board.
The teacher taps the rhythm in the beat circles as the children sing the song.
The students tell the teacher whether to write one or two sounds in each beat.

Point:

"Boys and girls, when there is one sound on a beat it looks like the symbol in the first beat circle and is called 'ta'. When there are two sounds on a beat, the symbol is changed to  and it is called 'ti-ti'".
The teacher changes each ti-ti symbol.
"Listen while I sing the song Bye-lo Baby-o using these new rhythm names". The teacher demonstrates and the children listen.

Reinforce:

Everyone sing Bye-lo Baby-o with these new rhythm names.
Let's have just the boys sing with rhythm names.
Let's have just the girls sing with rhythm names.
(1st student) What do we call the rhythm when there is only one sound on a beat? (ta).
(2nd student) What do we call the rhythm when there are two sounds on a beat? (ti-ti).
Let's all sing the song again using the rhythm names.
Let's all sing this song beautifully with the words.

4. The students will aurally practise the new rhythms "ta" and "ti-ti" in known song material:

(a) Behavioural Objective: The students will listen to the teacher clap the rhythm of Clap Your Hands and will figure out the rhythm names and say them back as they echo clap the rhythm.

Review:

"Please stand and sing Clap Your Hands while walking on the beat and clapping the rhythm."
"(1st student) were there any beats that had more than one sound per beat?" (yes) 
"(1st student) how many sounds did you hear when there was more than one?" (two) 
"(3rd student) what do we call it when there are two sounds per beat?" (ti-ti)
"(4th student) what do we call it when there is one sound per beat?" (ta)

Point:

"Sing the song as you clap the rhythm and try to think which beats have one sound and which have two sounds."
"Listen while I clap the first four beats. Can you sing them back, singing in rhythm names?" (ta, ta, ti-ti, ta)
"Listen while I clap the last four beats. Can you sing them back, singing in rhythm names?" (ti-ti, ti-ti, ta, ta)
"Listen while I clap the whole song. Please sing it back using rhythm names."

Reinforcement: 

"Let's have (1st student) and (2nd student) sing the rhythm names together."
"Who else thinks they could do it?" Another 2 students are chosen to sing together.
"Let's sing Clap Your Hands with our beautiful singing voices."

4. The students will aurally practise the new rhythms "ta" and "ti-ti" in known song material:

(b) Behavioural Objective: The students will sing Bobby Shafto and put all the "tas" on their heads and all the "ti-tis" on their shoulders.

Review:

Students will sing Bobby Shafto while keeping the beat on their knees.
Students will sing Bobby Shafto with the words while keeping the rhythm on their shoulders.

Point:

"Listen carefully while we sing Bobby Shafto again and try to figure out where the 'ti-tis' are."
"This time let's sing the song in rhythm names."
"Now we are going to put all the 'tas' on our heads and all the 'ti-tis' on our shoulders.

Reinforcement:

"(1st student) where would you like us to keep the 'tas' this time?" (knees) 
"(2nd student) where would you like us to keep the ‘ti-tis’” (feet)
"This time, students on this side of the room are only going to sing the 'tas' and put them on their knees. The other side are only going to sing the 'ti-tis' and put them on their feet."
"Let’s sing Bobby Shafto once more with our beautiful singing voices.

5. The students will visually practise the new rhythms "ta" and "ti-ti" in known song material:

(b) Behavioural Objective: The students will visually practise the new rhythms of "ta" and "ti-ti" by clapping the rhythm of See Saw from the board and guessing the song name.

Review:

The teacher has a "ta" and a "ti-ti" written up on the board.  The teacher points to them one after the other and asks:
"(1st student) What do we call this rhythm symbol?" (ta)
"(2nd student) What do we call this rhythm symbol?" (ti-ti)

Point: 

"Let's all clap and say this rhythm written on the board."
"As we clap it again, try to figure out what song this rhythm is from."
"(3rd student) What song do we know that has this rhythm?" (See Saw)

Reinforcement: 

"Let's all sing See Saw in rhythm names."
"Let's clap the rhythm on the board as we sing the words of the song."
"Let's sing the song once more with our beautiful singing voices."

5. The students will visually practise the new rhythms "ta" and "ti-ti" in known song material:

(a) Behavioural Objective: The students will watch the teacher tap the rhythm of Rain Rain in beat circles on the board and derive the rhythm.

Review:  

"Please sing Rain Rain with the words."
"Sing the song and clap the beat and as you clap each beat I will write up a beat circle."
"Sing the song with the words and clap the rhythm while I tap the rhythm in the beat circles."
"What name is given to one sound on a beat?" (ta)
"What name is given to two sounds on a beat?" (ti-ti)

Point:  

"Watch the beat circles and sing this song in rhythm names."
"(1st student) Can you come to the board and write the correct rhythm in the first  beat?"
Individual students come to the board and write in one beat.

Reinforcement: 

"Let's sing the whole song using rhythm names."
"Let's sing the song beautifully with the words."

6. The students will practise the new rhythms of "ta" and "ti-ti" by writing them:

(a) Behavioural Objective: The students will derive and write the rhythm of Snail, Snail on their own individual beat sheets.

Review:  

The teacher hands out a Snail, Snail Beat Sheet.  
The students are asked to identify the song they know about a snail.
The students sing Snail, Snail with the words.

Point: 

"Let's sing Snail, Snail as we point the beat in each beat circle on our own sheets."
"This time, let's sing the words and tap the rhythm in each beat circle."
"As we sing the song again, we will sing in rhythm names as we tap the rhythm in the beat circles."
"Now write in the 'tas' and 'ti-tis'."
"Check your work as we sing the song again and I will write the song on the board in my beat circles."

Reinforcement:  

"Let's sing Snail, Snail once more in rhythm names."
"Let's sing the song once more beautifully with the words."

6. The students will practise the new rhythms of "ta" and "ti-ti" by writing them:

(b) Behavioural Objective: The students will be given a Bumble Bee Missing Rhythms and they will need to fill in the missing rhythms.

Review: 

"Let's say the rhyme Bumble Bee"  
"Let's say the rhyme and keep the beat on our heads."
"Let's say the rhyme and tap the rhythm on our knees."
"Let's say the rhyme in rhythm names."

Point:

"Let's say the rhythm names as we point to the beat circles on our handout."
"Now fill out the missing rhythms."

Reinforcement: 

"Let's say the rhythm names as we point to the rhythm on our handout."
"Let's say the words in our lovely clear speaking voices."

7. The students will practise the new rhythms "ta" and "ti-ti" in a creative context by either improvisation or composition:

(a) Behavioural Objective: The students will improvise their own four beat rhythm using "ta" and "ti-ti" in answer to the teacher's four beat rhythm.

Review: 

The rhythm for Blue Bells is written on the board. The first and third lines are in blue and the second and fourth lines are in black.
"Please clap the rhythm on the board and say the rhythm names."
"This time I am going to clap the rhythms written in blue and you can all clap the rhythms written in black."

Point:  

The teacher rubs off lines two, three and four.
"This time you can all clap the first line and I am going to make up the next four beats using a combination of 'tas' and 'ti-tis'."
"This time, I am going to clap the first line and everyone can mini-clap their own four beat rhythm back using only your index fingers to clap. You must use at least one 'ta' and one 'ti-ti'."

Reinforcement:

"(1st student) would you like to make up your own rhythm and clap it after the class claps the first line? You must use at least one 'ta' and one 'ti-ti'."
"(2nd student) you can have a go at making up your own rhythm and clapping it after the class claps the first line. You must use at least one 'ta' and one 'ti-ti'."
"I'm going to write (2nd student's) rhythm on the board and then we can all clap it with our lovely clear clapping."

7. The students will practise the new rhythms "ta" and "ti-ti" in a creative context by either improvisation or composition:

(b) Behavioural Objective: Students will compose their own four beat rhythm using "ta" and "ti-ti" by filling in the missing beats.

Review:

The teacher writes eight beat circles on the board and adds one or two vertical lines in three of the circles. (Example below)
"What do we call the rhythm with one sound on a beat?" (ta)
"Do I need to change anything on the board to make one of these rhythms a 'ta'? (No)
"What do we call the rhythm with two sounds on a beat?" (ti-ti)
"What do I need to change anything on the board to make any of these rhythms a 'ti-ti'?" (Join the two lines together at the top)

Point:

"We have quite a lot of beat circles with nothing in them!" (1st student) can you come and fill in two empty beat circles with 'tas' or 'ti-tis'?"
(2nd student) come up and fill in the next two empty beat circles with 'tas' or 'ti-tis'."
"We have one empty beat circle left. Hands up who would like it to be a 'ta'?"
"Hands up who would like it to be a 'ti-ti'?"  Teacher decides according to the vote whether to put up a “ta” or “ti-ti” in the remaining circle.
"We have now composed our first rhythm!"

Reinforcement: 

"Let's clap our rhythm."
"(3rd student) please come and change two beats."
"Let's clap our new rhythm with our clear clapping."

Other composition activities could include:

1. Individual students compose a four beat rhythm which could be used as a rhythmic ostinato with known songs.

2. Students are required to write a 16 beat rhythmic composition of four phrases with the form A-A-B-C.

3. The students are given a short rhyme which they chant at a steady beat.
   The teacher tells them to think about the rhythm which would fit these words.
   The students derive the "tas" and "ti-tis" which fit and write them above the words.
   
   e.g.
   Big feet, little feet
   Right feet, left feet
   Running up, running down
   In the main street of town.

8. The students will practise the new rhythms using flash cards:

(a) Behavioural Objective: The students will sight read from four beat flash cards the rhythms new rhythms "ta" and "ti-ti".

Review:   

Two four beat rhythms using 'tas' and 'ti-tis' are written on the board. 
"Boys and girls, can you please clap and say the first rhythm on the board after me."
"I'm going to count to 4 and then we are all going to clap and say the second rhythm on the board."

Point: 

"I have a number of flash cards here, each with four beats of rhythm.  I'm going to count to four and then everyone is going to say each rhythm one card after the other until we get to the end of all the flash cards and the beat can't stop between flash cards!"

"This time, after I count to four, everyone is going to clap each rhythm one card after the other and hide the rhythm names in our heads.  We will keep going until we get to the end of all the flash cards and the beat has to keep going between flash cards!"

Reinforcement:  

"(1st student) please clap and say the rhythm on this flash card for me."
"(2nd student) please clap and say the rhythm on this next flash card for me."
"(3rd student) please clap and say the rhythm on this next flash card for me."

8. The students will practise the new rhythms using flash cards:

(b) Behavioural Objective: The students will put flash cards in order to make the rhythm of the rhyme "2, 4, 6, 8".

Review:  

"Let's say the rhyme '2, 4, 6, 8' while we clap the rhythm."  
"Now let's clap and say the rhythm."

Point: 

"I have all the rhythms we need on these flash cards.  (1st student) please come and find the 1st card we will need for our rhythm."
"(2nd student) please come and find the next card we will need to make our rhythm."
"(3rd student) please put the rest of our flash cards in order."
"Let's say the rhyme while I point to the cards to check we have them correct!"

Reinforcement: 

"(4th student)  I have mixed the cards up!  Please come and put them in order again!"
"Let's all clap the rhythm and say the rhyme to check (4th student's work!)"

For more ideas on how to use flash cards, click here

9. The students will practise their knowledge of the time value of the rhythms they have learned:

(a) Behavioural Objective: The students will practise their knowledge of the time value of the rhythms they have learned by tracing different ways of writing the rhythm of Rain Rain Writing Rhythms and realising it doesn't change the way the rhythm sounds.

Review: 

"Let's write on the board all the different ways we know of writing ti-ti."
"(1st student) can you please write one way we know?" ()
"(2nd student) can you please write another way we know?" ()
"(3rd student) can you please write another way we know?" ()
"There’s one more way we know to write 'ti-ti'. Who remembers? (4th student), please come and write the other way we know?" ()

Point: 

"Look at the handout you have just been given. You will see 4 different ways of writing 'ti-ti' on this page.  Please trace over your rhythms."
"(5th student) what song have we just written? The picture is a clue!" (Rain Rain)
"Let's all point to the rhythm as we sing Rain Rain".
"(6th student) does the sound of the song change at all when we write the rhythm differently?" (No)

Reinforcement:

"Let's all sing the song with rhythm names as we point to our pages."
"Let's all sing the songs with words in our beautiful singing voices."

10. The students use inner hearing to practise the new rhythms in known songs:

(a) Behavioural Objective: The students use inner hearing to practise the rhythms "ta" and "ti-ti" in the rhyme Bumble Bee by saying the words when the teacher's hands are on his/her mouth and the rhythm names when the teacher's hands are on his/her head.

Review: 

"Let's say the rhyme Bumble Bee while keeping the beat on our knees."
"Let's clap the rhythm as we say the rhyme again."
"This time we will say the rhythm names as we clap them."

Point: 

"Boys and girls, when my hands are near my mouth, we will say the words. When my hands are on my head, we will say the rhythm names."
The rhyme is said a couple of times with the teacher showing where to change from words to rhythm.

Reinforcement: 

"(1st and 2nd student) can you please have a go now for the class – watch carefully!!"
"(3rd and 4th student) you can have a turn now in front of the class."
"Let's all say the rhyme with our lovely clear speaking voices."

10. The students use inner hearing to practise the new rhythms in known songs:

(b) Behavioural Objective: The students use inner hearing to practise the rhythms "ta" and "ti-ti" in the song Kangaroo Skippy Roo by singing rhythm names when the GO sign is shown and keeping the rhythm names in their heads when the STOP sign is shown.

Review: 

"Let's sing Kangaroo with the words."
"Now we will sing it with rhythm names."

Point: 

"This time when I hold up the GO sign we will sing the rhythm names."
"When I hold up the STOP sign we will sing the rhythm names in our heads."

Reinforcement:  

"(1st student) come out and you can change our STOP – GO sign."
"(2nd student) come out and you can change our STOP – GO sign."
"Let's all sing Kangaroo with the words in our beautiful singing voices."

11. Use known rhythms to introduce the concept of form in music:

(a) Behavioural Objective: Students will discover "form" in music by noticing and naming the different rows of rhythm in Starlight Starbright.

Review: 

"Let's all sing Starlight Starbright with the words."
"While everyone sings the song again, I'm going to write up the rhythm on the board." The teacher writes the rhythm with 4 beats per line, making 4 four beat phrases.
"Let's all sing the song in rhythm names."

Point:

"I am going to call our first line 'A'."  The teacher writes 'A' at the beginning or end of the line.
"(1st student) is our next line the same or different?" (different)
"(1st student) what will we call this line?" (B) The teacher writes 'B' at the beginning or end of the line.
"(2nd student) is the third line the same as the first or second line or is it different?" (different)
"(2nd student) what will we call the third line?" (C) The teacher writes 'C' at the beginning or end of the line.
"(3rd student) is the fourth line the same as any of our other lines or is it different?" (different)
"(3rd student) what will we call the third line?" (D) The teacher writes 'D' at the beginning or end of the line.

"So this piece is in the form A-B-C-D."

Reinforcement: 

"Let's clap and say line 'C'."
"Let's clap and say line 'B'."
"Now we will clap line 'A'."
"Last let's clap line 'D'."
"Now let's sing Starlight Starbright all together with our beautiful singing voices."

This activity needs to be practised with many songs so that students encounter as many variations of phrases as possible.

12. Use aural and written dictation to practise known rhythms:

(a) Behavioural Objective: The students will echo clap after the teacher and derive what rhythm the teacher clapped

Review: 

"Please clap and say these rhythms after me."  The teacher claps and says the rhythms of 3-4 four beat rhythms.

Point:

"This time I am going to clap a rhythm but I’m not going to say the rhythm names.  As you clap it back I want you to say the rhythm names as well."
This is repeated several times.

Reinforcement:   

"(1st student) can you please repeat this rhythm after me and say the rhythm names."
"(2nd student) can you please repeat this rhythm after me and say the rhythm names."
"Everyone, please repeat this rhythm after me and say the rhythm names."

12. Use aural and written dictation to practise known rhythms:

(b) Behavioural Objective: The students will dictate rhythms after the teacher claps them.

Review:

"Please repeat these rhythms after I clap and say them." (The teacher claps and says the rhythm names of 3-4 four beat rhythms.)

Point:

"This time I am only going to clap the rhythm.  Repeat after me."
"Clap the same rhythm after me, but this time say the rhythm names as you clap it back."
"I will clap the rhythm once more and after I clap it please write it down."

Reinforcement: 

The steps in the "point" are repeated with several different 4 beat rhythms.

NOTE: 

• As students' skills increase, the 2nd step may be left out.
• As students' skills increase, dictations can increase to 8 beats.

13. Use part work to practise known rhythms:

(a) Behavioural Objective: The students will sing Bobby Shafto while clapping a 2 beat rhythmic body ostinato using "ta" and "ti-ti".

Review:

"Let's all sing the song Bobby Shafto while keeping the beat on our knees."

Point:

"This time tap a 'ta' on your knees followed by a 'ti-ti' on your chest as I sing Bobby Shafto again." (The teacher does the 2 beat body ostinato while singing.)
"Now we will all sing the song while keeping our rhythm going."

Reinforcement:

"(1st student) where will we keep 'ta' this time?" (shoulders)
"(2nd  student) where will we keep 'ti-ti' this time?" (feet)
"Let's all sing Bobby Shafto with our beautiful singing voices."

Once students can do 2 beat ostinati comfortably, these can be extended to 4 beats and can just be clapped or tapped rather than doing a body ostinato.

13. Use part work to practise known rhythms:

(b) Behavioural Objective: Half of the students will clap the rhythm Bye-lo Baby-o from the board while the other half the class clap the same rhythm backwards.

Review:

"Let's all sing Bye-lo Baby-o."
"I have the rhythm written on the board, let's sing the song in rhythm names, reading from the board."
"Now let's clap the rhythm backwards."

Point:

"This half of the class, please clap the rhythm.  This half of the class you clap the rhythm backwards at the same time!"

Reinforcement:

"Now let's swap sides."
"(1st and 2nd student), please clap the rhythm while (3rd and 4th student) clap it backwards."
"(5th student), please play the rhythm on the woodblock while (6th student) plays the rhythm backwards on the tambour."
"Let's all sing Bye-lo Baby-o with our beautiful singing voices."

14. Use sight reading to practise known rhythms:

(a) Behavioural Objective: The students will read the rhythm from an unknown song written on the stave.

Review: 

"Please clap the rhythms from these flash cards." Teacher shows about 4 four beat flash cards with 'ta' and 'ti-ti' on them to the class to clap.

Point:

"I have a song here written on the stave.  Let's clap and say the rhythm names."
"This time, let's keep the rhythm names in our heads while we clap the rhythm."

Reinforcement: 

"Let's tap the rhythm on our shoulders."
"Let's stamp the rhythm with our feet."
"Now we will clap it once more as we say the rhythm in our lovely clear speaking voices."