Teaching- How To Teach Rhythms To PreK Students

Sometimes we can be held back due to the fear that we have to know a concept completely before we try anything using that concept. As teachers, we can transfer this fear to avoid introducing concepts to our students. Over my years of teaching, I have learned to never underestimate what students of any age can do with the proper supports or scaffolding.

There is nothing wrong with beginning to understand how music is grouped as rhythms and how sound can be organized through time without first understanding fractions, time signatures, division, etc.

The way I introduce rhythms with PreK is to start with echo clapping. I simply clap a pattern and have students echo with the same pattern. With clapping, we don’t have to worry about the correct way to do it as we would with using a drum or another rhythm instrument, the students’ full attention can be on responding to what they hear. We may play this game for a couple of classes.

Next, I count aloud as I clap (1 2 and 3 4) and ask the students to echo the clapping and the counting. I do this before even explaining that we are putting notes in groups of 4. We may do this exercise several times before transitioning to the same thing with rhythm sticks and then hand drums. Sometimes, a student notices that I stop at “4” and that is great. If no one notices, that is okay too!

Once the students are confident echoing rhythms, we pass the beat around a circle. It starts with just the counting. I start by counting “1”. The student next to me (I would explain if we were going clockwise or counter clockwise) counts “2”, the next student “3”. This is how we then figure out that after we get to “4”, the next person will actually say “1” and we start over again. A student may get confused and say “5”. That’s nothing to worry about. Often, the student will realize what they have done and laugh. Simply start over again with 1. If needed, I demonstrate counting to 4 and starting over at 1 again. The next level of the exercise is to pass the beat and play instruments while counting.

After these exercises, I introduce what notes look like. We talk about how they have a circle part and then an up and down line. We don’t worry about what each part is specifically called or what each part means at this time.

I then show 4 quarter notes in a row. I would say “remember how we counted notes in groups of 4? Let’s count how many notes we see”. At this point, every student is desperate to show off their counting skills. So I call on one volunteer to count the four notes. But what about all the other students?? Everyone gets a chance to count the four notes! The repetition is really good for learning how rhythms work.

Next, I would change one beat to two eighth notes beamed together. At this point, students don’t need to know the specific names of the notes, that two eighth notes fit in the same beat as quarter notes, etc. I would simply ask “which notes look different in this picture?” Once again, a class full of volunteers will demonstrate their understanding. I would then say, “when we see two notes with a side to side line (beam) like this, we put the word ‘and’ after the number”. I then count the rhythm. Once again, if each student in the class wants to count each rhythm, that is fine. I make sure to count it in rhythm each time so that students hear the eighth notes as shorter than the quarter notes.

For several weeks, I will share 2 or 3 pictures of quarter and eighth note rhythms and have us count them as a class. The next step is to invite students to attempt counting a rhythm before we do it as a class. I have found about 75% of students are able to correctly count the quarter and eighth note rhythms at this point. I am not simply talking about memorizing the sequence of the notes as a group, but actually pointing at each note and saying a number or an “and”. With more practice visually, aurally (through hearing and echoing), and kinesthetically (through playing instruments), by the end of the year, I have found that each student is able to count simple quarter note and eighth note rhythms.

Sometimes very advanced musicians that have been performing for years forget about learning the basics. I know I cannot remember the first time I counted a rhythm. It was probably when I started piano lessons. I do have to admit that I didn’t understand time signatures until I was in middle school. My strategy with PreK rhythms takes away much of the complication and returns it to counting to 4 and recognizing pictures as symbols without having specific vocabulary that can muddle things up.