Benjamin McCarley

Talbot MUS 149

Rhythm Microteach Lesson Plan: Improvisation
Previous Learning: The 4th grade music class has been exploring what it means to make music
through different learning experiences in instrumentation and singing. This new unit of rhythm
highlights the ideas of syncopation and improvisation through interactive exercises designed to
teach and explore rhythm. The new experience of rhythm is to highlight and learn more about
what makes rhythm so crucial to music, and how rhythm forms the backbone to any and every
song. On today’s lesson, students will start to learn how to improv with basic rhythm patterns
and learn about off-beats within rhythm.

Essential Question: How does improvising rhythm create an understanding for making music
and bettering a musician?

Grade Level: 4th grade general music

Standards:
- MU:Cr1.1.2a Improvise rhythmic and melodic patterns and musical ideas for a specific
purpose.
- MU:Pr4.2.4a Demonstrate understanding of the structure and the elements of music (such as
rhythm, pitch, and form) in music selected for performance.
- MU:Pr4.3.3a Demonstrate and describe how intent is conveyed through expressive qualities
(such as dynamics and tempo).
- MU:Pr6.1.4a Perform music, alone or with others, with expression and technical accuracy, and
appropriate interpretation.
- MU:Re7.1.3a Demonstrate and describe how selected music connects to and is influenced by
specific interests, experiences, or purposes.
-MU:Cn10.0.4a Demonstrate how interests, knowledge, and skills relate to personal choices and
intent when creating, performing, and responding
Learning Objectives:
-Students will identify different rhythm patterns relating to eighth notes, sixteenth notes, and off
beats
-Students will perform basic improvisation of different rhythm patterns by using their bodies
(clapping, patting, snapping, stomping) to make music
-Students will respond to different prompts of improvisation
-Students will create music through improvisation of rhythm
Materials:
An open space where students and teacher can perform in a circle
Body for playing rhythms and keeping beat on
Cards with different rhythm patterns/note values on them
OnMusic Dictionary. (2015). On music dictionary. Retrieved September 18, 2018. From
http://dictionary.onmusic.org/
Glossary of Terms/Abbreviations:
Improvisation- Term relating to the spontaneous performance of music without previous
preparation or any written noes.
Syncopation- Deliberate motion of the meter or pulse of a composition by means of a temporary
shifting of the accent to a weak beat or an off-beat.
Rhythm- The subdivision of a space of time into a defined, repeated pattern; the
division of music into regular metric portions; the regular pulsation of music.

Off-beat- Any pulse that accentuates any part of the measure other than the first beat of the
measure

Subdivision- To break up a larger metrical pattern into smaller parts so that it may be more easily
understood. 

Procedure:
1. Once class has started, the teacher will get the class’s attention by beckoning them to
form a circle
2. The teacher will then display to the students the various hand signs and other indicators
for the exercise
3. After repeating the indicators to the students, the teacher will repeat them back for mutual
understanding, and seek a visual from the students to make sure they understand.
4. The teacher will beckon the students to join into the beat.
5. With the beat established among the circle, the teacher will then share some basic rhythm
patterns that fit within the established beat
6. Once the base rhythm pattern has been repeated a few times, the student’s roles will be
swapped
7. When each group has gone, the teacher will establish the beat again
 8. When everyone is ready to move on, the teacher will introduce off-beats.
9. The students will listen to the rhythm, and the beat will be reestablished.
10. A group of students will perform off-beat rhythm against the established beat a few
times, each group continuing until off-beats have been established.
11. Once off-beats have been established, the teacher will start doing basic improvisation
exercises with the students keeping the beat
12. The teacher will beckon the groups of students to improvise however they see fit within
their groups first.
13. Once every group has established an improvised sequence together, the established beat
will continue
14. The teacher will then keep the beat with the non-performing groups, and have the small
groups improvise together, focusing on rhythm patterns, tempo changes and dynamics.
15. Once every group has done improvisation together, the teacher will select volunteers who
are comfortable improving by themselves
16. With everyone keeping the beat, the selected student will improvise for a few measures,
and the beat will continue for anyone to hop in and improv
17. When everyone has done improvisation by themselves at least, the teacher will conclude
the established beat by slowing down the established beat into nothingness, ending the
microteach.
Assessment:
-The teacher will assess the class responses by taking mental notes on the students’
understanding of the material through the visual signs such as a thumbs up or continued success
on the exercises,
-The teacher will assess the students by considering how the students performed and will hold an
open discussion for the students to communicate their thoughts on the lesson. The discussion will
focus based on their performances in improv, and what they felt, heard, and thought of
throughout the exercise.
-The teacher will assess the student’s confidence with the material through a free response with 3
guiding questions for the students passed out towards the end of the exercise. (What common
rhythm patterns could you make out?”, “What was the importance of off-beats within the
rhythm?”, “What did doing the exercise teach you about improvisation?”) For the free response
sheet, grading would go as follows
Check +: The student can put the feelings of music into words by pointing out specific aspects
within the exercise to a high degree of accuracy and understanding
Check : The student was able to answer on what they experienced in the exercises, and may have
pointed out specific aspects of the exercise.
Check -: The students was partially able to answer the guiding questions but did not point out
specific aspects within the exercise that were meaningful to them.
Extension of Learning:
-Continuing into the lessons, the students will apply rhythmic exercises of clapping to
syncopated rhythms, creating more music with off-beats, and finally moving into complex
rhythms including dotted beats and improving in different key signatures.
-The exercises will be taught in multiple ways, including through voice, instrumentation, and
other body rhythm exercises
-Next steps would be exploring intonation and syncopation on a grander scale to connect the idea
of rhythm and how it fits into a song
-The final lessons would lead into a syncopation and rhythm assessment that tests identifying
common rhythm patterns, make a rhythm underneath a melody, and creating improvisation
within a certain rhythm pattern.
Honor Code: I affirm that I have upheld the highest principles of honesty and integrity in my
academic work and have not witnessed a violation of the Honor Code.
Benjamin Phillip McCarley