Download Rocky theme story

Rhythm notation
Teach music and singing at school in such a way that it is not a torture, but a joy
for the pupil; instill a thirst for finer music in him, a thirst which will last for a
lifetime… If the child is not filled at least once by the life-giving stream of music
during the most susceptible period-between his sixth and sixteenth years-it will
hardly be of any use to him later on. Often a single experience will open the young
soul to music for a whole lifetime. This experience cannot be left to chance; it is the
duty of the school to provide it.
Zoltan Kodaly
Visual and Performing Arts Standards for California Public Schools
Grade Three Content Standards
Component Strand 1.0 Artistic Perception
Read and Notate Music
1.1 Read, write, and perform simple rhythmic patterns using eighth notes, quarter notes,
half notes, dotted half notes, whole notes, and rests.
Activity One
Using “Fanfare for Rocky” by Bill Conti
--Walk on quarter notes
--Use body motions for whole, half and eighth notes
--Walk and use “kinesthetic notation” in various combinations
--Eighth notes=both hands held shoulder high with palm out (or clapping), quarter
note=hands clasped together, half note=circle at side (alternate), whole note=circle with
arms that moves upward in front of the body)
--Echo clapping games w/4 beat phrases
Activity Two (body notation)
Demonstrate rhythmic notation in 4/4 time using four students
Each student w/hands together=quarter note
Each hand=eighth note
Two fingers on each hand=sixteenth notes
Two students=half note
Three students=dotted half note
Four students=whole note
Rest=hand down or hands behind back
--Clap and notate rhythms created by class
--Illustrate rhythms w/printed notes and rests
--Demonstrate how to draw notes and rests (practice)
--Work in groups of four to create and notate rhythms for the class to perform
--If time, experiment with tempo, dynamics and articulation
Activity Three (written notation)
--Introduce written notation, either traditional or invented by class
--Practice drawing notes
--Practice drawing rests
--Transfer body notation to written notation
Extension if time: Use construction paper to create quilt square notation and experiment
with different combinations.
Activity Four (alternative to kinesthetic notation—sitting at desk)
1) Students will clap or tap the quarter note pulse to music with a steady beat.
2) Students will clap or tap eighth notes..
3) Students will clap or tap half notes.
4) Students will clap or tap whole notes.
Experiment with one hand tapping one note value and the other tapping a different note
value.
Assessment performance tasks
In groups of four, students will perform and notate simple rhythms from nursery
rhymes/phrases:
Peter, Peter, Pumpkin eater.
Monkey see, monkey do
Sally sells sea shells
Rain, rain, go away
As a class, students will notate a rhythm pattern with quarter and eighth notes and rests
presented visually using body notation.
In small groups, students will perform a similar notated rhythm by tapping or clapping
In pairs, students will notate a rhythm pattern played or sung using traditional notation