VOLUME 3
basic rhythms
Volume 3 presents simple rhythms, created from the different note values introduced in the previous two volumes. These include mainly short-short-long and long-short-short combinations. The purpose of these musical tracks is to introduce a variety of activities that allow students to assimilate musical rhythms while developing their motor skills and coordination.
1. anapest (short-short-long)
This rhythm begins with two short values followed by a long value – a simple pattern with little decoration. The calm tempo of the music would possibly suggest quarter-quarter-half as notation of the rhythm.
- Clap the rhythm with the music.
- Make a circle: each person in turn claps the rhythm once, so that the rhythm circulates around the circle. When the teacher calls “hop!” = the clapping of the rhythm changes direction.
- Step anapest, or do: step-step-jump (land on two feet on the long note).
- In a circle, move the body on each value, all together; then each person in turn moves the body in his/her own way, one anapest only, passing the rhythm to the next person. If the circle is large, two students (distant from each other) could begin these activities at the same time.
- With a partner, invent a way of showing the rhythm with the whole body, and afterwards with an invented clapping game (for example clap the first two notes in one’s own hands and the third in one’s partner’s hands): use any of these elements to create a dance.
- In groups of four, each person in turn moves or claps only one value of the rhythm (the result is that the second time, person number four begins).
- Move by oneself on beat 1-2 and with partner on beat 3.
- Replace one value with a rest = 2 claps out of three, which changes the rhythm but not the length of the rhythm pattern.
7 years and up
2. dactylic (long-short-short)
This rhythm begins with a long value followed by two short values, leading the movement to the next bar, in a feeling of continuous movement. Notice that this rhythm’s character is the opposite of the anapest which feels at rest at the end of it.
- Clap the rhythm in different ways; pass it around the circle; “hop” = stop (no one moves, but everyone internalizes the rhythm and the tempo), the next “hop” = start again. “Hop” could also be the signal for changing direction.
- Step the rhythm with three fluid steps forward, or invent a different way of stepping it.
- With a partner, find ways to play with it: clap the long value in your partner’s hands and the short on your knees.
- With a partner: A moves on each value of one bar, B imitates during next bar. Or A does the long value and B the two short ones.
All the activities in the track #1 could also be done for this rhythm.
7 years and up
3. anapest & pulsation
The anapest rhythm is heard almost twice as fast as in #1. And here we hear it alternately accompanied by the basic pulsation (quarter notes) and by its multiple (half notes) to give the student the feeling of both the tempo and the overall rhythm.
- Clap the rhythm continuously until the end of the phrases, even if the piano stops earlier on long note values. The change of meter in the accompaniment is always announced, as the piano installs it before adding the anapest rhythm; this allows the body to adapt to the new pulsation speed before clapping the rhythm.
- Walk the basic quarter note tempo (one note = one step) and sway for the half notes. For the sway sequences, you can make groups of 3 or 4 people in a line or in a circle, clapping the rhythm and swinging.
For 8 years and over, and adults
4. dactylic & pulsation
The 2/2 dactylic rhythm is alternately accompanied by long values (half notes) representing the beat and shorter values (quarter notes) representing the division, to give the student both the feeling of the whole rhythm and its division.
- Clap the rhythm continuously, even if the piano sometimes plays only the division or the beats (half notes).
- Then clap the rhythm and add, according to the accompaniment, either a sway (half notes) or a walk (quarter notes). The change of meter in the accompaniment is always announced, thus it can always be anticipated.
- For the sway sequences, make groups of 3 or 4 people in a line or in a circle, clapping the rhythm and swinging.
For 8 years and over, and adults
5. anapest-dactylic alternately
This track plays both anapest and dactylic rhythms. Notice if there is a long note at the end (anapest) or at the beginning (dactylic).
- Step the rhythm and change direction when the rhythm changes.
- Show the duration of each value of the anapest rhythm with hands and dactylic with feet (imagine that one is “painting” the rhythm in the air or on the floor).
For the teacher: be aware that the changes of rhythms are made first at a distance of 8 bars, then 4 bars, and finally 2 bars; be ready to give a voice signal to allow students to anticipate the changes.
- Make 2 groups: one group claps the anapest rhythm, the other the dactylic. A suggestion for this activity would be to have them play the rhythms on two different instruments (for example, claves and maraca) so that each group can hear themselves as well as the other group. Conduct them at the beginning until they remember the structure.
- Partner game: for the anapest rhythm, A leads the movement and B follows; for the dactylic rhythm, B leads and A follows. This activity could be done using a piece of ribbon or a bamboo stick. In this case we could imagine a story about a man and his dog. A would be the master and B the dog: then both have their turn to lead the walk.
7 years and up
6. anapest & dactylic together 1 & 2
This track superimposes the anapest and the dactylic, creating a polyrhythm. It is divided into two parts: the anapest is in the bass in the first part, and in the soprano in the second part. For the dactylic rhythm it is the contrary.
- We begin by concentrating on the anapest rhythm, and ask the students to step it during the first part and to clap it during the second.
- Repeat the activity for the dactylic rhythm, clapping it during the first part and stepping it during the second part. (The students now realise that what they hear in the bass is to be done by the feet, and what they hear in the soprano is done by the hands).
- Sitting in two lines or in two groups facing each other, one group claps the rhythm of the bass and the other the rhythm of the soprano (this will demand a change of rhythm for each group). Then, standing, the group following the bass will step the rhythm while the group following the soprano will clap the rhythm. Change groups.
- Instead of clapping or stepping the rhythms, invent a physical gesture to express each rhythm using a precise gesture for each note value.
- In groups of four (AA/BB) or two (A/B) create a sort of “choreography” where A follows the soprano and B follows the bass, either by clapping the rhythm or expressing it in movement.
- The challenge now is to step the bass while simultaneously clapping the soprano (anapest in feet and dactylic in hands or the contrary) to create a polyrhythm.
For experienced children 7 years and up
7. canons A & B
This track lends itself to several different activities. Firstly, as a preparation for any subsequent activity, the students need to have memorised the music and its rhythmic structure.
- They could clap and sing it phrase by phrase (4 measures) in echo for example, and then step it.
- They could also “share” the music in groups of four where each person steps one phrase and brings the phrase to the next person.
- The teacher’s imagination invents any number of interesting and developmental activities, whose objective is to memorise the music.
Notice that this music is not a canon in itself, a canon that we could sing. However, the track could be the inspiration for a rhythmic “continuous canon” exercise, where the students repeat the rhythm that they have just heard a measure before, whilst listening to the unfolding measure from the piano. Its structure is in four phrases, of which the first and third phrases are identical. The second phrase is built on the dactylic rhythm, the fourth on the anapest.
- It could therefore accompany a dance, in which there is a refrain (1) then a verse (2) then the refrain (3) and then another verse (4) that is, a dance step that repeats during the first and third phrases, and adapts to the change of rhythm in the second and fourth phrases).
Rhythmic canon B is in fact easier than A. It contains only the anapest rhythm accompanied by quarter notes and half notes, and there are only two phrases.
- One could ask the students firstly to clap or step the beat and to say “a-na-pest” each time the rhythm appears. Then they could repeat the rhythms heard, in a canon of one measure of distance, as in the above exercise.
7-8 years and up
8. trochee (long-short) & iamb (short-long)
This piece introduces two new rhythms: the trochee (long – short) and the iamb (short – long). In simple time, these rhythms are in a duration ratio of 3:1 (trochee) and 1:3 (iamb), resulting in dotted rhythms in the writing. In compound time, the ratio would be 2:1 and 1:2.
- Work in segments. Segment #1 : firstly, experience the steady pulse by shifting one’s weight from one side to the other.
- Secondly, show the uneven trochee rhythm by a gesture of the arms or upper body, or simply clap it.
- Do the same with the iamb segment (#2). It is important that students experience the different physical sensations of these two rhythms, and relate them to the regular beat which underlies both.
- Therefore, propose that they step the beat while clapping one rhythm or the other. Take the time to feel each element separately before putting beat and rhythm together.
It is, however, interesting to listen to the improvisation, particularly with the preceding rhythms still ringing in our heads. Despite the clear long short or short long rhythms clearly heard, the accompaniment of quarter notes gives the impression of the dactylic rhythm (trochee) and the anapest rhythm (iamb). This is the beauty of music, when sounds weave together and create diverse perceptions.
The experienced Dalcroze teacher would connect these two rhythms (trochee/dactylic and iamb/anapest) through reaction exercises such as the following :
- Clap or step the dactylic rhythm, identifying values 1 2 or 3. The teacher calls “1, 2 or 3” and the student takes out this value. When one takes out the 2nd value of the dactylic rhythm one hears the trochee. Same for the anapest rhythm: when one takes out the 3rd value one hears the iamb rhythm.
These exercises would need to be done by either very experienced music educators or Dalcroze practitioners. However, these two rhythms can easily be introduced without any reference to anapest or dactylic.
For experienced children 7-8 years and up
9. continuous canon
- Listen to the music while stepping the beat and even humming the melody, which is easily singable.
The students need to memorise this track (4 phrases of 4 measures). It contains several rhythm patterns that we have already met in this volume (each rhythm pattern lasts one measure, and we can hear anapest, dactylic and trochee (other melodic elements are regular note values).
- One way of memorising the piece could be to identify each rhythm pattern in turn, by inventing a gesture to show it, but it is important that the teacher create a variety of interesting and motivating exercises or activities whose consequence would be the memorisation of the piece.
- Perform the canon by clapping the rhythm one measure later while stepping the quarter note beats.
- Next, step the canon one measure later. You may add beating time.
Take the time to feel the link between the unfolding rhythms and the physical sensation of beats and measures. As this volume contains several tracks suitable for rhythmic canon exercises, earlier activities are also valid for this track.
For experienced children 8 years and up
10. playing with ostinato rhythms
This piece features two rhythms of different characters, each repeated several times. Work them separately.
- First part: clap the rhythm which repeats for each phrase, localising the anapest within the rhythm (by saying “an-a-pest”).
- Step the rhythm, changing direction for each phrase. Choose a material (for example a gymnastic ribbon) which could express the dynamism of the rhythmic phrases.
- Second part: sing the melody and walk whatever note values relate to the music (basic tempo, twice as slow, twice as fast, not necessarily one sound = one step).
- This music lends itself to the activity well known to Dalcroze teachers where students are spread out in the room; one student walks the first phrase towards another, who then walks the second phrase to a third student and so on.
- For both parts, play freely with the rhythms; adapt your movements to the different characters; beat time, say the rhythms and write them on the board.
8 years and up
11. “Keep the Rhythm” anapest ostinato
This piece was designed to practise keeping the rhythm anapest throughout, despite the distractions of the piano. The piano plays the rhythm during the first part so it is relatively easy for students to tap it. However, once the piano introduces syncopation, triplets, rests, or other musical whims, the ability to continue to tap the anapest rhythm depends on the accuracy of one’s physical sensation of both the beat and the rhythm. It is, in fact, muscular memory which is needed.
- Walk the pulse (in place or moving forward) or clap the beat: start with the most suitable option for everyone.
- Feel the stability of the tempo by making a movement on each beat.
- Walk the pulse and clap the rhythm at the same time.
- Another possibility would be for students to be seated in a circle and pass the anapest rhythm from one to the other, by tapping it on a tambourine or claves.
- For children aged 10 and over, of advanced musical level.
For experienced children 10 years and up
