Submitted by Kristin Lukow, Nebraska
Idea posted May 27, 2005
We just did our tennis balls to the beat lesson. I have The Heart Chart up in front of the class with four rows of beats displayed. (You could also draw this on the board.)
The first row is a whole note. For this we bring the tennis ball around our bodies in four beats.
The second row has two half-notes. For this we bounce the tennis balls on beats one and three and catch on beats two and four.
The third row has four quarter-notes. For this we toss the tennis balls in the air and catch them on each beat.
The fourth row has eight eighth-notes. For this we toss the tennis balls back and forth between our hands on every half beat.
I use "Stars And Stripes Forever" for this exercise. The tempo is perfect, the beat steady, and it's a good listening lesson.
The first day we do this, we all perform together. The second day we perform it in cannon. One row starts the sequence and performs each rhythm for four measures, and then the next rows starts, etc. Each row does all the rhythms; they just perform them at various times. It's an awesome sight!