Ethan Fielding

High School Music Theory

MUS_CLAS 149: Social Foundations of Music Education

Section 1: Materials, Vocabulary, and Prior Knowledge

Materials
Exit Slip (Provided Below)
Board for writing space

Vocabulary
Pulse- An unaccented, steady measure of time.

Rhythm- An accented pattern that lays on top of a pulse.

Beat- A consistent, even set of pulses.

Meter- A set of beats where every so often one holds an agogic weight over the others.

Onset- Aurally: the audible start of a note

Visually: where the note is represented to start

Maximally Even Rhythm- A rhythm that takes a certain number of onsets and spreads them as
evenly as possible over a certain number of pulses.

Euclidean Rhythm- Same as Maximally Even rhythm.

Prior Knowledge
-Students will have begun the rhythm unit and discussed number rhythm.
-Students will be familiar with the western conceptualization of rhythm in note values.

Section 2: Essential Questions and Standards

Essential Questions
What significance do Euclidean and Maximally Even rhythms play into our understanding of
Western classical music?

Standards
MU:Cr1.1.C.IIIa: Describe and demonstrate multiple ways in which sounds and musical ideas
can be used to represent extended sonic experiences or abstract ideas.
MU:Pr4.2.C.Ia: Analyze how the elements of music (including form) of selected works relate to
style and mood, and explain the implications for rehearsal or performance.
MU:Re9.1.C.IIa: Explain the effectiveness of the technical and expressive aspects of selected
music and performances, demonstrating understanding of music theory as well as
compositional techniques and procedures.
MU:Cn11.0.IIIa: Demonstrate understanding of relationships between music and the other arts,
other disciplines, varied contexts, and daily life.
Section 3: Learning Outcomes

1. Students will perform maximally even/Euclidean rhythms as a group and individually.

2. Students will create a maximally even rhythm both visually and mathematically.
3. Students will respond to the prompted Euclidean/maximally even rhythms questions on
the exit slip
4. Students will connect maximally even/Euclidean rhythms to the number rhythm of the
previous day.

Section 4: Procedure

The teacher will have a circle drawn on the board with eight circles on it, like this.

First, the teacher will ask the students to pick up their thinking from last lesson and
review number rhythm. Then, the teacher will ask “if we know how to split 8 pulses evenly into
2, 4, and 8, what would happen if we tried to split it evenly into 3?”

The teacher will let the students think about an answer for a minute or two. One of the
students may come up with the correct answer, which is something along the lines of “split it as
close to even as possible” or specifically “3+3+2”. Once this answer has been reached, the
teacher will draw it on the board.

The teacher will have one of the students perform the rhythm on whichever syllable they
prefer. Once the student has done it successfully, the teacher will explain that splitting onsets
as evenly as possible between a number of pulses is called creating a maximally even rhythm,
or a Euclidean rhythm. The teacher will ask if there is anyone who knows what or where the
term Euclidean comes from (not expecting any answers).

Euclidean is the name for a geometric system developed by an Alexandrian Greek

geometer named Euclid. We utilize many of his concepts in our geometry classes, and he
developed an important diagram, one we will use to conceptualize maximally even rhythms.

At this point, the teacher will draw a long rectangle split off into 8 sections as an 8x1. It
should look like this:

Then, the teacher will say “since we already know what three in eight should look like,
why don’t we try to figure it out this way. If we put our three onsets all the way to the left in our
eight boxes, it will look like this:

O O O

Now, we can take the extra five boxes and move them over to the left in a new row.

O O O

Next, we take any remaining extra cells and move them all the way to the left again:

O O O

Finally, we take each column and stack them on top of each other, left at the top (and
then you may rotate it counterclockwise 90 degrees to make it easier to see).

O O O

Have the students perform this rhythm as a group. It should sound the same as the
circular notation above.

Do another example with 5 in 16 with the students. The final product should be this:

O O O O O

The teacher should now hand out the exit slip. The answer to the exit slip should look
like this:

O O O O O O O
Section 5: Assessment and Extensions

Assessment
1. Teacher will aurally evaluate students’ performance of the maximally even/Euclidean
rhythms.
2. Teacher will visually evaluate students’ understanding by their created maximally
even/Euclidean rhythm.
3. Teacher will evaluate students’ comprehension of maximally even/Euclidean rhythms by
looking over the exit slips.
4. Teacher will visually assess students’ responses to maximally even/Euclidean rhythm by
looking at their own creations.

Extension of Lesson
This lesson can be extended by each student performing their own maximally even rhythm at
the end of class.

I affirm that I will uphold the highest principles of honesty and integrity in all my endeavors at
Gettysburg College and foster an atmosphere of mutual respect within and beyond the
classroom.

Ethan Fielding
Name 1_________________________ Date____________

Worksheet 4.5
Use the rest of the page provided to draw the Euclidean rhythms diagram like the one
demonstrated in class to make a 7 in 20 pattern.