K DRUMMING UPDATE!

Although the primary purpose of the K Drumming Unit has been to expose Kindergarten students to the various percussive instruments, rhythms, and songs that exist within the three cultural spectrums we have been studying, it has also served as an opportunity to introduce visual musical concepts, that is, an ability to make a connection between what the student hears, what the student plays, and what the student sees.

In order to do so, we use the Kodály method of basic rhythmic instruction, a syllabic system in which note values are assigned specific syllables that help students differentiate between shorter and longer note values. Below are examples of student compositions created in "beat boxes" which help emphasize the ways in which rhythm and beat correspond. Each line of four boxes represent one four beat measure (in 4/4), in which students are asked to place their choice of the quarter note (ta), the quarter rest (sh), two eighth notes (ti-ti), four sixteenth notes (ti-ka ti-ka), and most recently, the half note (two-oo), which they learn must be written on the line in between two beats that can contain no other note value, as one half note fills up two beats.

These compositions are then performed through song and percussive instrumental play as solos and as small ensembles. Here's a look at some of what we create in our "beat boxes"!

This student's composition is an example of the beginning activity, in which students use only quarter notes (ta) and quarter rests (sh).

Here, students learn to "cut" their ta box in half or into four, resulting in either two eighth notes or four sixteenth notes. For the time being, we refer to them as only "ti-ti" and "tika-tika".

In the next step, the concept of the half note is introduced as a note value that lasts for two beats, placed on the line that joins two beats in the measure. We learn that no other note value can be placed in those boxes, because they are already "full."