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By Jason Litt
With “Rhythms Around the Horn”, students will see four rhythm squares on the powerpoint (or PDF), all of them containing different rhythms.
For starters, have the entire class perform rhythm 1 (with instruments, vocalizing, clapping, patting, etc), then rhythm 2, then 3, and then finally 4.
After students understand the rhythms, then you can have the rhythms all be performed several different ways...
There are 4 levels of rhythms all with increasing difficulty
Have a great time with this!
Bar Line Blitz! (Identifying measures in simple rhythm patterns)
By Jason Litt
Down, Set, HUT!
In Bar Line Blitz, student will see a meter with several beats of music – except the bar lines are missing to separate the measures from each other!
They will will see 2 or more line placeholders (small grey lines) in between notes. One of the placeholders is where the bar line should go… but which one is it?
Identify where the bar line should be placed and the correct area will illuminate
green if it is accurate!
Play team vs team, A vs B, or individually... and enhance it by playing some fun football music in the background (search NFL themes or college football fight songs on YouTube) ;)
There are 4 levels (4 quarters if you wish) of varying difficulties. The last quarter, they students will need to identify where it should be placed without any small grey lined hashmarks
Have a great time with this one!
Body Percussion Dynamic Challenge! (4 beat patterns)
By Jason Litt
No need to have drums, recorders, or even auxiliary instruments for this one! If you don't have access, are traveling to rooms, or want to give a change to your curriculum try "Body Percussion Dynamic Challenge"!
There are nearly 30 Dynamic rhythm in each level with CLAPS, PATS , STOMPS, and SNAPS, and CHEST PATS, all indicated on the powerpoint slide with icons. Count your kids off with a few prep beats and watch them go!
If the kids master the rhythm with the appropriate dynamics, advance the slide and see how far they can get! (scoreboard included!)
Also terrific for reading in some of the younger grades who are not familiar with standard notation and need a warmup to reading using these icons.
Use the included background tracks (90bpm to 110bpm) or put on your favorite music so the kids can jam along (or choose your own)!
Here are the 4 levels:
Boom-ong Us! (Boomwhacker Imposter)
By Jason Litt
A twist on the "Poison Pattern" game we all know and love, Boom-ong us, will have students all have 1 (or 2 to make it a little more engaging!) boomwhackers.
They will be shown a pattern of 3 or 4 boomwhackers that will be known as the
imposter. The boomwhackers, from left to right, will be played as quarter notes one by one. Then, students will play an assortment of boomwhacker notes one by one on the following slides.
If the IMPOSTER Boomwhacker melody is shown, do not play it! If the students play it (either 1 note, or the entire melody), they will receive a strike. Play the game until all the students receive 3 strikes (or 5 strikes if you wish) as a class or until they get to the end.
There is a countdown meter on the bottom to show the class how many rounds they have to complete before the end. If they finish it without using all 3 of their strikes, they win!
Play by itself, with you accompanying, or with the background drum beats provided (tempos in the 80s to 110s)
Have a great time with this!
Leaf it to the Rhythm - Autumn-Themed Rhythmic Identification!
By Jason Litt
Getting ready for fall and working with your younger kids to identify rhythms can be easy with "Leaf it to the Rhythm"!
In this lesson with 12 rhythmic examples, students will see an item that you would typically see in the fall (i.e. - Migrating Birds, Columbus Day, Rake, Jack o Lantern, etc) along with 3 rhythms below.
Which rhythm best fits the item? Have the students choose the rhythm that best matches (you can either do this as teams, have the students select it at the whiteboard/projection screen, or even race to hit it first!), advanced the slide, and then find out the correct answered illuminated in green!
Examples have series of quarter rests, quarter notes, eighth note pairs, and triplets. Terrific for reinforcing rhythms in the younger grades but can definitely work to pass some time in the older grades as well!
Boom and Response (Call and Response for Boomwhackers!)
By Jason Litt
Getting your students to improve on rhythm and melody can't be any easier with "Boom and Response"!
In this resource, there are 3 tracks totally 5 minutes that you can play for your students (and repeat if necessary). Each track is a specific amount of beats for the "Call" (4 beats, 6 beats, or 8 beats) with the same amount of empty beats that follow directly after -- and thats where you students submit their "Response"
You can utilize this in one of several ways:
Or any other crazy way you may think!
Have a great time with this!
Inspector Interval - Identifying Intervals (2nd-7ths)
By Jason Litt
End of the year review or just starting up with aural theory? Try on "Inspector Interval"!
In this fast paced game, students will do a brief review of how a musical interval is defined and jump right into the contest -- have an interval on the treble clef staff appear and TEAM A or TEAM B will have to name the interval as fast as they can!
There are no qualities of intervals (major 2nd, minor 6th, etc), just interval names by itself. There will always be a grounded "F", so the intervals will be built on top of that
We usually play this game 'around the world' style. We start off on the left side or right side of the the room and the first two people stand up and you flash an interval on the screen. The student who gets the note correct gets to move onto the next child in the class while the other student sits. That student has to make their way through the entire class before being deemed champion... but they could be beat at ANY TIME! You can mix it up, left side, right side, boys/girls, etc. Kids get ultra competitive!
... or use it as an individual activity!
Poison Bucket Patterns! (Poison Patterns/Poison Rhythms)
By Jason Litt
One of the favorite end-of-the-year (or even beginning-of-the-year) activities for the kids to get them sight reading and of course, keeping their eyes and ears out for one of those DEADLY Poison Rhythms/Poison Patterns!
Poison Bucket Patterns! takes students through 78 slides and 5 levels of Bucket Drumming sight reading. Students will play a variety of rhythms as the teacher scrolls through the slides. Each slide contains one rhythm they will play and after advancing to the next slide, you can elect to give them a 4 beat or 2 beat prep to read the next rhythm, whichever works for you. The less prep they have, the better because...
There will be one rhythm (the poison rhythm, poison pattern, or OOPS! rhythm as we'll call it) that students DO NOT play! If they do, they're out of the game.
Students learn the rhythm before the round is played. Be careful or you will be ELIMINATED!
You can play this in teams, As vs Bs, however you wish! There are 5 background grooves that go from 80 bpm to 120 bpm to challenge your kids as they go through the levels. Levels begin with 4 beat rhythms and end with 6 beat rhythms with rests, quarter notes, and 2 eighth note patterns.
Have a great time with this!
TAKE NOTE, Lines of the Staff (Reproducible Worksheet)
By Jason Litt
Review your lines of the treble staff from EGBDF and FACE with "TAKE NOTE"
In this reproducible worksheet, there are 3 pages of exercises where students will identify the names of the treble clef letters from 1st line E to top line F.
TAKE NOTE 2.0 is a continuation of the first page
TAKE NOTE 3.0 is a treble clef note shown and the student will circle the answer they think is correct.
You may use this as an assignment, warmup, timed practice, or however way you see fit!
Shamrock ROCK! (40 rhythm reading practice icons with Music!)
By Jason Litt
Getting ready for St. Patty's day, we bring to you Shamrock Rock!, a series of rhythm reading exercises for your elementary aged kids!
Each series of Shamrock Rock! has 10 rhythmic examples (in 4 different levels, 40 exercises in all) of quarter notes (1 four leaf clover), two eighth notes (2 smaller four leaf clovers in the place of one beat), and a quarter rest (pot of gold)
A link to music is provided for you below to listen to in the background while you perform these rhythms on boomwhackers, rhythm sticks, orff instruments, auxiliary percussion, body percussion, tubanos, handbells, or more!
2 Hours of Irish Jig Background Music!
Body Percussion Warmups (40 exercises!)
By Jason Litt
No need to have drums, recorders, or even auxiliary instruments for this one! If you don't have access, are traveling to rooms, or want to give a change to your curriculum try "Body Percussion Warmups"!
There are 10 warmups in each level with CLAPS, SNAPS, STOMPS, and SNAPS, all indicated on the powerpoint slide. Count your kids off with a few prep beats and watch them go!
Also terrific for reading in some of the younger grades who are not familiar with standard notation and need a warmup to reading using these icons.
Use the included background tracks (90bpm to 110bpm) or put on your favorite music so the kids can jam along!
Here are the 4 levels:
By Jason Litt
The follow-up to "Rhythm Wind Up and PITCH!"
______________________________________
This one will get the kids on their edge of their seats!
You will need 1 thing for this particular game:
The students will see a melody at the bottom of their screen and memorize the melodic direction or say it back in their head (just make sure the melodic is not sung out loud). They will then hear a musical example of an endless loop of melodic figures separated by 4 beats each in between rhythms. (Teacher will click the speaker icon to play)
Take a listen...
....
....
One of the melodic figures will be the melody that is on the screen. AS SOON AS THEY HEAR THAT MELODY, they throw their suction cup ball at the target. The first kid who gets it correct is the winner (and make sure you advance the slide to make the target turn green) :)
Obviously, we cannot play this as a class because of
The amount of suction cup balls tossed at the screen would be insane
Team A v Team B would be a bit more competitive and only two balls would be launched at once
If you don't have a whiteboard/projection screen, you can alternatively have the students raise their hand when they hear it and choose the kid who has their hand up the fastest.
Have a great time with this fast paced game!
Brass with Class! (Identifying order of Brass instruments)
By Jason Litt
Focusing on the timbres of the Trumpet, Trombone, Horn, and Tuba? Try "Brass with Class" on and let your kids zero in on differentiation between each... and more!
In "Brass with Class!" will hear the brass instruments in all sorts of orders (immediately following each other's segment) and their goal is to put them in order they hear them. Students will get a brief review in the beginning by playing the examples of a Trumpet, Trombone, Horn, or Tuba.
After reviewing the timbres, go onto the game where the options will be shown at the top and blank spots at the bottom for the instruments to go. Students can either have printed cards with the instruments, write it in on the whiteboard, call it out, or however you wish! I like to do the printed cards on the floor so the students can line them up and I can assess from the top.
Included are
Have some class -- Brass with Class!
Fully Staffed! - (Lines and Spaces of the Treble Clef Staff)
By Jason Litt
Need a resource that is a creative and intuitive way to work on the notes of the treble clef staff?
In “Fully Staffed” students will see several notes on the Treble Clef staff. They will then be asked to identify one specific note out of all of the notes shown. By process of deduction, or even using previous knowledge, they’ll have to find the note as fast as they can, either individually, as a class, or team vs team, boys v girls, however you wish! As soon as they’ve locked in their answer, advance the slide, and the correct note will be revealed by illuminating green
I like to have the students challenge either other and see who can be the first student to name the note
Included in this 55 slide resources are 5 levels:
Level One: Find one note out of 3 listed (ex, find the “E”)
Level Two: Find one note out of 4 listed (ex, find the “F”)
Level Three: Find two notes listed out of a melodic figure (ex, find “A” and “D”)
Level Four: Backwards! Find the note that is NOT “F” or NOT “D”, etc
Level Five: Find one note out of 8 notes listed (ex, find the “G”)
Get ready to get FULLY STAFFED!
By Jason Litt
Reviewing the Percussion chapter with your kids and have discussed unpitched instruments? Pitched instruments and the accessory effects and how to play?
Try this interactive powerpoint that's full of fun with Percussion Jeopardy!
All new categories, all new answers! An authentic jeopardy game board with categories for:
Pitched Percussion
Unpitched Percussion
Percussion FX
Percussion Techniques (How to Play)
Students can elect to pick $200, $400, $600, $800, or $1000 answers. After clicking on the amount, the answer will appear on the next slide. Students (keeping in true Jeopardy! fashion) can answer in the form of a question
"What are Timpani Drums?"
"What are mallets?"
"What is a Piano"
After the money is awarded (You can split sides of your class, boys vs girls, class vs class, however you want it!), there is a link in the bottom right hand corner to go back to the title screen and game board.
After extracting the ZIP file, make sure to install the Jeopardy! font included, or else you'll see random characters all over -- not good eats!
Email me at jasonlitt@gmail.com or leave a comment if you have any questions. Happy Jeopardy...ing!
Holly Jolly Rhythms! - Body Percussion Game
By Jason Litt
In Holly Jolly Rhythms, your kids will be challenged to body percussion like never before!
Students will see familiar Christmas characters and items along with body percussion that go along with the characters. They will use a series of claps, pats, stomps, and snaps indicated by clip art in beat boxes read from left to right
If everyone in class performs the body percussion PERFECTLY, you will move onto the next character… and then… A Present will drop into Santa’s sleigh if the students perform a certain number of the Holly Jolly Rhythms correctly!
You will control the amount of time the students can do this. You can put on a holiday song (2, 3, or 4 minutes long) or set a timer, and upon the conclusion, see how many presents they've amassed at in Santa's Sleigh!
It gives the kids an ending goal to get as many presents as they can along with aligning syllabic language to modified notation.
Have a great time with this a cheers!
Common Sense (Identifying Errors in Common Meter)
By Jason Litt
"4 beats in a measure with the quarter note getting the beat", the time old concept we ingrain in our students' mind! Assess your students by letting them identify inaccuracies in a measure of music with "Common Sense"
Students will view examples of a measure of Common Time (4/4) and find the measure that has too many or not enough beats to equal common time!
After the students select the correct measure, advance the slide to find out the answer. You can then trigger a discussion of what made it inaccurate (too many beats, not enough beats, etc)
The latter half of the lesson shows you one measure of music with a [ ? ] box. Students will have to select (from a multiple choice selection of answers) which answer would best fit in the box to complete a measure of 4/4
Spooky Rhythms! (* Distance Learning Approved)
By Jason Litt
In Spooky Rhythms, right in time from one of your favorite October holidays, students will see a character, item, or a semblance of something from Halloween
They will then view a series of pumpkins with rhythms on them (all combinations of quarter notes and two eighth note pairs) and will have to identify which pumpkin matches the character displayed on the powerpoint.
Have the students select the answer and the correct pumpkin will turn green (maybe it's ripe)
There are three levels
One or two Halloween characters/items with 2 pumpkin choices
Multiple Halloween characters/items along with 4 pumpkin choices
Spooky Rhythms ReMix -- 1 pumpkin rhythm and 3 multiple choice characters/items
You can assign to distance learning and have the students select the 1st, 2nd (or 1st, 2nd, 3rd, or 4th pumpkin) or play it in class (side vs side, boys vs girls, individually, or all together!)
Have a spooky time with this ;)
By Jason Litt
With Halloween (or in general... anytime is good) around the corner, Candy Rhythms are a tried and true way to engage students to introduce them to aligning syllables. Mix it up a little with Candy Rhythm Matchup!
In this lesson, students will see a rhythm on the board that matches the name of some of their favorite candies. They will then have a choice between 2 or 3 different candy brands and will have to choose the best match for the rhythm shown
The answer is outlined in green on the following slide. You will get 10 rhythmic examples in this mini-lesson
Have a great time (and avoid those cavities)...
Rhythm Espresso! (* Distance Learning Approved! *)
By Jason Litt
Something that'll satisfy your caffeine fix and your students understanding and mastery of rhythm!
In Rhythm Espresso, students will see an assortment of 10 famous beverages (by national coffee chains, of course) and accompanying coffee logos with rhythms in them. One of the rhythms match the rhythmic syllabes said in the beverage name.
Have your students select the rhythm they believe to be correct, advance the slide, and the correct rhythm will illuminate green!
Works well with boys vs girls, team vs team, individually, or even as a distance learning activity!