Rhythm Warm-Ups Lesson Plan Music You Can Read Music Notes, Inc. Elementary Music Curriculum Warm-ups

Excerpts from the Instructional Methods:

Before you begin using the Rhythm Warm-Ups, students should have an understanding of how beats measure time in music - see “Time=Beats.” For more advanced Rhythm Warm-Ups, students should be introduced to beat divisions - see “Teaching Beat and Rhythm Divisions.” Both are found in the Lesson Plans.

Objectives: strengthen focusing skills, understanding the silent beat, distinguish patterns, developing a team atmosphere, master reading simple to complex rhythms, understanding beat divisions, introducing mathematical concepts of fractions, developing rhythm ensembles, introduction and playing of percussion instruments, playing instrumental canons/rounds, mastering three beat patterns being played against four beat patterns.

Suggested lesson progression: Each step is repeated for mastery!

Identify where there are beats and where there are rests.
While pointing, chant the beats and whisper the rests.
Challenge students to chant and whisper w/o pointing.
Identify how the beats are divided (groups of four or three).
While pointing, count the beats and “think” the rests.
Challenge the students to count the beats and “think” the rests w/o pointing.
Demonstrate a clap as a beat, and a rest as a beat with hands apart.
Students join in as teacher demonstrates.
While pointing, clap the beats while chanting the beats.
Challenge students to clap the beats w/o pointing.
While pointing, clap beats w/o chanting beats.
Challenge students to clap the beats w/o pointing - objective is to “get it right” on the first attempt.
Mark class score on chart.

As students become accustomed to the flow of the Rhythm Warm-Ups, steps should be omitted to match the student’s abilities, and eventually the Rhythm Warm-Ups will be replaced by the Beats or Rhythm Format for the song being read during the class lesson.