Submitted by Caryn Mears, Kennewick, Washington
Idea posted August 6, 2010
I like to have my students make their own "musical quilt" by having them use simple "ta and ti-ti" rhythms and rests. Provide the students with the rules:
1. You may only put four beats in each box. This takes practice. Have students come up to the board and do a series of rhythms. I usually ave eight kids and they each get to add a "ta," or a "ti-ti," or a rest." Then, talk about how many would be four beats, show them where the bar line would go, etc.
2. You may not use a "ti-ti" in the very last box! You may only use a rest or a "ta" in the very last box!
Provide the students with a long piece of paper. Have them fold it in half. They then can do their own two measure rhythm. Once they can do this, at the next session, you provide them with a piece of paper that contains eight equal squares. Discuss how composers often use a certain rhythm pattern over and over. My students love Edvard Grieg's In the Hall of the Mountain King, so I model that rhythm and how it is repeated throughout the song. Then we do our own rhythms. They will have to do four measures and then if they like their rhythm, they can just copy it on the second line or think of another rhythm to use on the second set of measures.
Finally, I give them the quilt. This is a grid with 16 squares. They get to do their own rhythm, remembering my two rules and the fact that you can repeat any portion of the rhythm you like.
The best way to reinforce this concept is to initially have the students play the very first rhythm that they wrote on an unpitched percussion instrument. Then we play all of them at the same time, making sure that we all end at the same time. We do this after we have done four measures, after eight measures, and then after 16 measures when we have the final quilt. This reinforces so many concepts and they end up with a "musical quilt" that you could put on a bulletin board, or they can take home and share with their parents.