Purists say this is missing out one of the skills of playing the guitar by ear. This activity doesn’t require any equipment at all and it’s not restricted to Music lessons, either – it will add to the success of relevant English, Drama and Geography lessons too. It’s easy, it’s fun and it’s memorable. This has nothing to do with rhythm or tempo; it’s a sound effect, which will gradually develop. The first few tiny drops of rain. Don’t say anything, but change your activity from rubbing palms to gentle, non-rhythmic clicking.
This action is passed around the circle (on their own drums – not the cowbell this time). Each rhythm is repeated by the whole group. This can be tricky because, when put on the spot, some pupils freeze, or cause the whole thing to grind to a halt.
They won’t know instinctively how long to play or how to give their rhythm a clear end, and so the rest of the class won’t always sense when to repeat the rhythm. Be prepared to rescue the situation by counting in the next player. However, at least everyone gets to have a go, so it’s perceived to be fair – which is very important. It’s also fascinating to hear how the class will interpret loose or ambiguous rhythms.
When they repeat a loose rhythm together, they generally come up with a consensus of something more in-time. The effect is like ‘quantizing’ in a sequencer: tidying up the rhythm and putting i learn to play piano the beats and stressed in the right place:
One – and – three – and
Once they can do this (keep the hi-hat going), put two quaver hits on the third beat: One – and – threethree – and
Children love this as it begins to sound like ‘We will rock you’ (not the carol)!
Snare
Keep the other two elements going and get your most able pupils to play the snare sound (and this is the hardest part as it will be on the off-beat) (or back-beat) (as in ‘it’s got a back-beat, you can’t lose it’). One child or group to be the hi-hat. Hi-hat
Explain that this keeps going throughout the whole groove. The simplest way i learn to play piano to get this going is to count a steady 4 and make sure that they play the hi-hat sound once on each beat:
click – i learn to play piano click – click. Once you get going you could do two i learn to play piano quavers (eighth notes) for each beat:
clickclick – clickclick – clickclick – clickclick. A further refinement, which really does establish a cool feel, is to emphasize the first of each pair:
loudsoft – loudsoft – loudsoft. Kick Drum
Once the hi-hat is underway, introduce the kick drum (or bass drum) sound on the first and third beats.
Count aloud to help them to get the beats in the right place. In this article you will find the two options you are probably weighing examined so you can pick the one that is right for you. One option is to hire a local vocal coach.