This track has been given in two speeds: the first is faster, and suited to a child’s walk. The second is at a more measured speed, and adapted to the calm, reflective walk of an adult.

Its form is a rondo: A B A C A + coda (C being a melodic variation of B). Notice the upbeat (anacrusis) of the phrases, starting on beat 3. In the A parts, the upbeat is of two eighth notes whereas in the B and C parts, it is one quarter note. If its role remains to “pick up” the next phrase/part of the phrase, at the same time, it defines by anticipation its movement; it announces its energy.

• Walk the pulsation and notice the effect of the group of three on your body: the change of leg on the downbeat gives a nice sensation of balance; change direction after the cadences. Look at your classmates while walking, greet them, enjoy the sensation of space, enjoy moving. Imagine you are going somewhere so that your phrases will have a sense of purpose.

• Two by two: step together with a partner each time you hear the theme (A); walk alone or with someone else during part B and C.

In the context of teaching older adults (seniors), one could imagine starting with the faster version and then asking them to adapt their walk to the slower version. Walking at a slower speed will demand physical adaptation of the whole body in order to remain balanced. The slower music demands an “intentional” step: be aware of the melodic line which gives direction and musical intention to each phrase.

For children about 8 years and above

This track has been given in two speeds: the first is faster, and suited to a child’s walk. The second is at a more measured speed, and adapted to the calm, reflective walk of an adult.

Its form is a rondo: A B A C A + coda (C being a melodic variation of B). Notice the upbeat (anacrusis) of the phrases, starting on beat 3. In the A parts, the upbeat is of two eighth notes whereas in the B and C parts, it is one quarter note. If its role remains to “pick up” the next phrase/part of the phrase, at the same time, it defines by anticipation its movement; it announces its energy.

• Walk the pulsation and notice the effect of the group of three on your body: the change of leg on the downbeat gives a nice sensation of balance; change direction after the cadences. Look at your classmates while walking, greet them, enjoy the sensation of space, enjoy moving. Imagine you are going somewhere so that your phrases will have a sense of purpose.

• Two by two: step together with a partner each time you hear the theme (A); walk alone or with someone else during part B and C.

In the context of teaching older adults (seniors), one could imagine starting with the faster version and then asking them to adapt their walk to the slower version. Walking at a slower speed will demand physical adaptation of the whole body in order to remain balanced. The slower music demands an “intentional” step: be aware of the melodic line which gives direction and musical intention to each phrase.

For children about 8 years and above

This piece has a melodic line which is easily singable; singing with the piano will allow the students to easily identify the phrases. Feel the length of the phrases and find the two “exceptions”.

• Draw the melodic line by following its curves, its breathing and its inflections either with your arms while standing on the spot, or walking freely (“singing with your feet”). Express with your whole body and face how each phrase ends (in a verbal context, would the punctuation be a question mark, or a comma, or a dot?). Singing the phrases will clarify instinctively the “punctuation” of the end of the phrase.

• Pass a phrase from one person to another by stepping each note of the phrase and arriving at the person chosen on the last note. This exercise can be done in a circle or spaced freely in the room.

• One could also bring an imaginary object and present it on the last note of the phrase, with the expression related to the musical cadence. The receiver takes over and brings the next phrase to another.

8 years and up

Here, the piano clearly indicates the length of the phrases by a short rest. Phrases are short, medium or long. They all begin on a strong beat (no anacrusis); they often end in an interrogative manner, with various expressive nuances that stimulate the imagination and encourage the development of an inner speech or the staging of a dialogue. Silences are also part of the music and must be as “inhabited” as the sounds.

• Move with each phrase, lying on the floor, sitting or standing. Pay attention to the length of the phrase and the expression of each ending: work on the body and theatrical expression of all these interrogative phrases. How does each person feel and express these musical nuances with their body and face?

• Develop an interaction between two people:

• On the circle step and pass an object to someone and arrive just on time on the last note. The next person takes the object at the beginning of the new phrase and goes to someone else. Play with space and time by adapting the length of the trip to the allotted time (length of the phrase).

• According to the same principle, the exchange can be done in pairs, in a more theatrical dialogue, without object, by developing an interior intention, as in a mime.

For children with musical experience and good listening ability

The previous tracks in this volume present phrases whose lengths are of 2 – 4 – 8 measures. This track, in 2/4, also presents phrases of 3 measures. The structure of the phrasing is as follows:

3 measures twice, 2 measures twice, 4 measures once;

3 measures twice, 2 measures twice, 4 measures twice.

Before doing any work at all which refers to “counting” measures, the teacher must allow him/herself and the students time to listen to the music and feel the beginning, the length and the end of each phrase instinctively.

• Clap softly the last note of each phrase. Do the same by clapping on your body:

a) choose two different spots on your body as a point of departure and a point of arrival, and draw clearly the phrasing between one spot and the next.

b) choose a departure point and the teacher, or a child calls the arrival spot. Make your arm and hand travel with the shape of the phrasing. Alternate right and left arm.

• Travel with a friend and change the friend at the beginning of the next phrase. More experienced students could “travel” with a friend who is not necessarily beside them, fostering eye contact.

• In pairs : A is walking, designing with his/her steps a path on the floor; B follows this path during the next phrase. Or B goes the opposite way.

• Sculptures in a garden: on the spot, isolate one or two parts of the body (as directed by the teacher); move alternatively one and then the other part, changing with the phrasing. Students may then choose two different parts themselves, moving these parts freely with the music.

• After changing its shape on the spot, the sculpture may move in space when the music suggests it. There are some phrasings that can be interpreted differently by the students: in this case, if one follows the articulation of the melody, some phrases will be felt as twice as short. But if one listens to the base line, the phrases can be heard as longer.

• The conductor (solo) and the orchestra (tutti) move in place simultaneously: the conductor shows a direction for each phrase with his/her arms, and the group moves with the whole body or with an isolated part of the body in the direction indicated by the conductor.

8 years and up

This music is particularly characterized by a sort of elasticity created by the movement of crescendo/decrescendo, which culminates in a dynamic and melodic peak.

• Listen to the music and identify these moments. Notice that they happen in groups of 8, or 4+4.

• Move freely with the changing colors of the harmonies and dynamics, allowing your body to express the rubato. Show clearly the difference between the darker dynamic (close to the ground) and the more elated (lifted up in the air). Each phrase being composed of a crescendo and a diminuendo, this feeling of increasing intensity and release needs to be felt and shown in the body.

• Hold a bamboo stick 50 cm long with two hands, to help feel and shape the movements of the phrases.

• Two by two, hold the stick by either end with one finger or in the palm (not grasping it); each partner in turn directs by pushing the stick according to the dynamics of the phrase.

• Make a single circle with the whole class: enlarge it with the crescendo and shrink it with the diminuendo. One could also imagine the opposite movement: diminuendo = more distance, crescendo = approaching and raising arms.

• Clap 8 times in one direction (expressing the musical line) and draw a line for the next 8 beats (or to the end of the phrase if it is longer). Continue by alternating the two activities and adapting the clapping/drawing alternation to shorter phrases as well.

• Step and move the way you feel; draw the phrases and dynamics in space.

Without stepping the beats, express the music through movement of the whole body suggesting the “in” and “out” (opening of the crescendo and release of the diminuendo).

9-10 years and up

This piece is characterised by a rhythmic theme repeated many times, either in the treble or in the bass. During the first part, this theme begins always on the second beat of a four-beat measure, later on, for a few times only, it begins on the fourth beat.

This improvisation lends itself to a series of listening games and develops musical memory.

• While seated, listen to the piece and raise your hand each time you hear the pattern. This listening exercise could already be done in pairs, with one reacting to the pattern in the treble and the other in the bass. Change roles.

• By oneself, clap the rhythmic pattern every time it is heard.

• Then distinguish the bass from the treble by clapping the rhythm of the pattern on the legs (bass) or in the hands (treble).

Note that students cannot be expected to respond immediately until they are familiar with the music.

• Step beat and change direction at each pattern, by means of a circular turn. (For children, we could use the image of a roundabout, where the car enters it from one direction, follows its turn and exits in another direction).

• In small groups, take turns and create a free movement on the rhythmic pattern only whenever it is heard, whether in the bass or the treble (we suggest small groups so children don’t wait too long for a turn).

• Divide the class into two groups; one following the bass and the other the treble. Clap the rhythm when it concerns your group. Change roles.

• In pairs (A = treble, B = bass), side by side, hold hands and walk the beat together. When the pattern is heard in the treble, B makes A turn once on the spot, without letting go hands. Then continue the walk together in the same direction. Vice versa when the pattern appears in the bass. Encourage the children to aim for a beautiful quality of movement so that this exercise would resemble a dance.

• Through a more conscious listening now, identify the few places where the theme begins on the fourth beat. This will necessitate that the children know how to beat four beats.

At first, the above exercises will be experienced several times with an element of surprise, but once the children know the piece well, they can anticipate the “musical turns”.

This music can be used for simple exercises with younger children or for more complicated listening with an older or more experienced class.

7 years and up

This piece is a series of four phrases in 12/8, all of the same length. The introduction played in the treble indicates the measure and the tempo. Each phrase begins with an upbeat (anacrusis). After each phrase there is an equivalent time without the melody, where the children are asked to repeat in echo what they have just heard.

This is a quick reaction and memory exercise.

• Begin by asking children to skip with the music and to stop exactly on the last beat.

• Then play each phrase and they sing it back (melody and rhythm).

• Then ask them to sing and skip the four phrases in echo.

• Identify the first beat by tapping on knees. For more advanced students, step the beat, beat time and sing the melody (don’t forget the upbeat!)

• As a preparation for dictation, help students to identify the last note of each phrase and the first note of the following phrase: phrase 1 ends on C and phrase 2 begins on C; phrase 2 ends on B flat and phrase 3 begins on A flat. This work is more precise and meticulous than demanded by a repetition of a phrase heard. It is suitable for more advanced students or students in a music school.

• Students who are experienced in listening skills and dictation could be asked to sing back the phrases heard using the names of the notes.

The conclusion of the piece was created simply to end the exercise. It can be sung as an echo, accompanied by the piano.

8 years and up

This piece is constructed on the alternance of measures of 4 regular beats with measures of a syncopated pattern.

• Feel the difference between the straight quarter notes and the undulation and suspension of the syncopation by stepping what you hear (one note = one step) and pivoting either on the down beat or on beat 2 (long note) of the syncopated rhythm.

Another way of feeling the syncopation would be to step beats 1 and 4 forwards, and take a step backwards on beat 2. Find a way to emphasize the downbeat (beat 1) of the syncopated rhythm (bend knee, change direction) to avoid shifting the feeling of the downbeat to the long note.

• Step the syncopation side to side, crossing one foot in front of the other on beat 2. Adapt the use of space and energy to the tempo of the music.

• Quick reaction exercise: being completely familiar with this piece, the teacher could use it as a ”hop” exercise. Each time the teacher says “hop” right on the first beat of a syncopated measure, the students take a step backwards (this step will fall exactly on the second beat).

Identify the structure of this piece and memorize it so that you can anticipate changes and integrate them seamlessly to appreciate them more.

Let’s imagine a 4/4 measure at a fast tempo:

4 bars of 4 quarter notes / 4 bars of syncopation, four times
2 bars of 4 quarter notes / 2 bars of syncopation, twice
1 bar of 4 quarter notes / 1 bar of syncopation, eight times.

Second part identical, EXCEPT the beginning: 

4 bars of 4 quarter notes / 4 bars of syncopation, once only
2 bars of 4 quarter notes / 2 bars of syncopation, twice
1 bar of 4 quarter notes / 1 bar of syncopation, eight times.

8 years and above

This music is in 9/8:  we hear successively a rhythmic measure (active measure) and a measure of a long note (passive measure). The alternance between active and passive measures creates the possibility of exercises in canon of one measure.

• Begin quite simply by stepping beats and beat time, taking the time to listen to the rhythm and the melody. Internalize rhythm and melody by using one’s interior hearing, repeating the rhythm (without voice) one measure later (rhythmic canon).

• The next activity is to step the beats and clap the rhythm one measure later.

• Then, step the rhythm one measure later (one note value = one step, skip on the dotted patterns).

• For advanced students: beat time while stepping the rhythm in canon.

For children with experience and good concentration skills

This music is quite fanciful and lends itself to imaginative movement and interpretation. There are three sections. The beginning of the suite contains only one type of locomotion – the skip. 

• During the long first sequence, the teacher needs to give instructions as the music progresses :

For example, structure it by alternating between skipping on the rhythm (trochee*) and walking (pulsation).

One can also walk two by two side by side, or face to face by taking 4 steps forward and 4 back, or follow the dynamics, coming closer together with crescendo and further apart with diminuendo (or the opposite).

• The second part is a rhythm (anapest*) to clap or walk.

• The third part, near the end, is playful and more complex, and can be interpreted freely, for example by imagining a story where a person is looking for someone or something and ends up disappearing in the mist …

Allow the children to imagine their own stories and create their own movements either alone or with others according to how the music inspires them.

* Trochee = long-short

* Anapest = short-short-long

(See volume 3: basic rhythms)

7 years and above