Part 1 “Sound”

                  Another method that I found highly effective in teaching young children to begin counting is “Rhythm Motions.” It incorporates almost every aspect of possible learning methods, including; visuals, pictographs, tactile with motion, and multiple vocalization options.  It puts everything right in front of the child’s face, and every note and rest coincides with a specific name/sound and motion lasting the exact duration of time (at a given tempo) designated by that particular note or rest.  As my teaching career evolved, I taught at the elementary level after my high and middle school band years.  However, if I had come up with this highly efficient system prior, I would have DEFINITELY used it (the first month or so) teaching my beginning band classes.  Rhythm Motions would have been especially helpful when I was teaching a band class several weeks before “mouthpiece testing” or if I had to wait for a music store to deliver my beginning band instruments.  Even after getting into the method book and starting to address counting more traditionally, I could have still always fallen back to “Rhythm Motions” if and when needed.  This “spiraling” technique is especially effective with rests, whose durations determine the specific length of time to complete a particular motion or sound.  This concept of “filling in the gaps” helps your students avoid “guessing” lengths of rests, which is very common in middle school band programs.      

                 Let’s start with the images and displays on the “note” picture sheet, most of which I downloaded as “clip art” from the internet.  The first note I covered was the “invisible hammer,” which represents the quarter note.  The student pretends they are hammering a nail into a wall, saying “hammer” every time they strike the nail.  At first, I would have students say the name of the picture we are using and then “morph” it to the name of whatever note or rest we are using.  Note (especially young elementary students) I would say the words “hammer” and “quarter” as one syllable.  When we would get to eighth notes, I would say both as two-syllable words.  Using syllables helps provide a “subdivision” connection between the quarter and the eighth notes when counting. 

                 The following note on my list was teaching the students “box-er,” one syllable for each 8th note.  The right hand would punch directly in front of their face on the first syllable and the left hand on the second.  As before, this “motion eventually morphs into their name, “8th-notes.” For notes longer than the quarter note in length, we ask students to imagine a large white canvas in front of them.  Nowadays, I guess we would use the analogy of stepping up to the classroom’s “smart board.” Either way, you paint or draw the note as you say its name.  For half notes (like in the “picture” sheet) start where the dot is and as you say the word “half” draw a circle using your “pointer” finger.  Then, on the word “note,” you draw the “beam” by going to the top and drawing an arrow (indicated in black) going down.  For a “dotted half note” the first two counts are drawn and said in the same manner.  On the third count, pretend that you are putting a period just to the right of the half note you just finished drawing.  Right as you do that, say the word “dot” or “dotted” (in one syllable), and you have completed that note name with its motion. 

        As far as notes go, I always taught the whole note last.  The students would start at the 12:00 “dot,” then (asking the students to keep their arm straight) draw a circle clockwise.  As they did this (using a steady tempo), they would say the word “Draw” at 12:00, “a” at 3:00, “Cir-” at 6:00, and “-cle” at 9:00, completing the four-count length required.  In this case, we would eventually “morph” into saying “Draw-a-whole-note” to remind students of its name as they draw its shape.  The preceding information takes care of the “sound” half of the “Rhythm Motions” equation.  The next installment will cover the more challenging aspect for almost all younger musicians, keeping accurate track of “silence.” 

Part 2 “Silence”

               On the other side of “Rhythm Motions” (except for rest’s names), I tried to avoid the “rest” word as much as possible, replacing it with the word “silence .” The words mean different things, and many young students tend to think that a “rest” means for your brain to “take a rest.” Starting with the quarter rest, in elementary school, I liked to refer to them as “Mr. Quiet.” I used the example of “Zzzzzz” in comic books for someone sleeping or being “quiet.” To create a quarter rest, I simply stacked two “Z’s” on top of each other and took away the “trap door” at the bottom. Later, I explained that if I took our quarter rest and cut it in half, we would have two “7’s”. That is how I could take a single quarter rest and (if I wanted to) turn it into two 8th rests, side by side. The “sound” option for the quarter rest is “Shhhhhh,” and for elementary students and (even band beginners), I would have them put their “pointer” finger up to their mouth before making the sound. I would also practice a string of quarter rests (and quarter notes) to be sure the sound initiated for both was ALWAYS precisely on the beat. The elongated “Shhhhh,” along with the motion of moving the finger to the student’s mouth, forces them to extend the “quiet” sound for the length of about one count. I know students cannot make a hand motion when playing their instrument, but I assure you, the reference helps and can be referred back to if students start “cheating” on the quarter rest’s duration. That is the same reason and benefit of the “hammer” motion and sound for quarter notes.  

            I already explained how we created 8th rests and that (for PowerPoint purposes) I wrote them as italicized “7’s”.  The sound vocalization for the 8th rests is “ts.” Many band programs refer to this as “tissling,” which is a reasonably accurate recreation of the 8th rest’s appropriate duration. In many cases, I have used this “tissling” technique with rests for middle school bands. I first feared using the same vocalizations for both sound and silent situations would confuse students. In the “ts” application though, it was different enough that there was no conflict at all. In elementary music situations, I explained 8th rests like this. “Let’s say someone is not the smartest person in the room. This person has just cooked something on your stove but wanted to be sure they turned the oven off. Now, even though the “burner is red, that person does not know that it means that the stove is still on. So, that person decides that the only way to ensure the oven is off is to touch the burner. Now, if you were that person and you put your finger on that burner to be certain it was off, would you need to leave it on the burner for a long time, or would you know right away that the stove was on? Right, you would hear the “ts” sound and immediately take your finger off the burner. Now, let’s say (if you were that person) you were so surprised when you reacted the first time that you forgot if you had already checked to see if your stove was off. So what are we going to have to do now? Right again, we will have to try putting our finger back on the burner again.” I acted this whole thing out, “hamming” it up as I went and having a lot of fun with it. I always had the younger ones giggling at this point, so I knew I had their attention. After my second attempt at checking to see if the burner was on, I would say that is how we figured out that the two 8th rest “sounds” are short and make up the same length as one quarter rest. I admit that the whole story is somewhat “lame,” but the kindergarten and first-grade kids bought into it every time.

             In music, you seldom see a “dotted half rest.” So on this “rest” page, I only dealt with “half rests.” Let’s pretend you are wearing a hat and want to take it off. You grab the “bill” of your cap and say the word “hat.” When your invisible hat is off (with your arm extended), you say “off.” So “Hat – off” is the motion and vocalization we use for a half rest. As before, we eventually replace the saying and motion with the actual name of that rest, both being two syllables long.              

            The whole rest is a tricky one. If anyone can come up with a better idea, please share it with me. The whole rest is the only rest where I taught vocalization and motion in two phases. First, we have to be sure that the whole rest (especially being silent) is held out for four total counts. I feel that initially, using exaggerated motions tends to help out. The phrase I taught was “Dig-a-deep-hole” (four syllables). The motion sequence went like this: “Dig,” put your invisible shovel on the ground like you are about to dig a hole, “a” your right foot is placed on top of your shovel, “deep” your right foot pushes your shovel into the ground, and “hole” you take your invisible shovel and throw the dirt over your right shoulder. After your students get comfortable with the timing (and can do it keeping tempo), change the motion by going back to your big white canvas. You will now draw a “whole rest” in the following fashion. Start on your left side, touching your imaginary canvas, and sliding your finger straight across (to the right) and when you stop, say the word “Draw.” Lift your finger off the canvas and place it about 1/4 of the way from where you started. Draw a short line straight down, and when you stop, say “a.” Next, draw a parallel line to the right, about 1/2 the length of your line above. When you arrive at your stopping point, say “whole.” Finally, keeping your finger on the canvas, draw a short line upward until it intersects the original line you drew above it. When your finger reaches that intersection point, say “rest.” In summary, you start with “Dig-a-deep-hole” and “morph” (when ready) to “Draw-a-whole-rest,” each being four syllables long.   

            The concept of “filling in the gap” and vocalizing “silence” associated with rest durations can be a GREAT help to your beginner musicians and even those revisiting music and playing an instrument for the first time. I have also experimented with it in the middle school’s “Ultimate Musicians” program, and where students had issues with the correct length of notes or rests, I found it to be efficient and helpful. Both motions and sounds constantly reinforce the “sound and silence” aspect of performing notes and rests, and I guarantee these will pay dividends down the road. Hopefully, some of you will agree that “pedagogically,” it just makes sense. I never got a chance to “test drive” this concept in full with a beginner band of my own. So, if anyone out there decides to “give it a go,” please get back to me and let me know how things went.

Sincerely,

Rich Moon