4/5 Music Lesson - Rhythm

Hook - Rhythm Master

- Explain the game to students and then play a few rounds together
- 1 student is the Rhythm Master (picked secretly) and another is the detective. The Rhythm
Master makes a rhythm using body percussion, which all other students copy. The detective is
in the middle of the circle and has 3 guesses to determine the Rhythm Master.

Core Learning - The Cup Game

1) Show students video of Stomp with brooms. Discuss what an instrument is (could be a
broom, could be a cup). Encourage students to listen to the rhythm the musicians create us-
ing their bodies and brooms. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CEwnXt-zk4
2) Show students video of cup game and tell them they will be learning able to do it too if they
try really hard and stay focused.
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=adrITOXR1U4 (Girls at camp)
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weqDCGg0GYs (Perfect Pitch audition)
3) Teach chant to students
Clap Clap
Tap, Tap, Tap
Clap, Grab, Move
(rest)
Clap, Grab, Hit, Hit, Switch, Slap, Down!
Practice chant until students are feeling confident with it. Try different tempos too.
4) Each student will need a plastic cup, upside-down, on a desk in front of them. Tell students to
be careful with the cups because there aren’t very many.
5) Slowly model the rhythm with the cups to the students, while saying the chant. For directions,
see below.

Clap, clap - Clap with your hands twice

Tap, tap, tap

- Tap the bottom of the cup with your left hand
- Tap with your right hand
- Tap again with your left

Clap, grab, move

- Clap your hands once
- Grab the cup overhand with your right hand
- Lift it up and move it slightly to the right with a smack.

Rest - Leave a slight, barely noticeable pause

Clap, Grab, Hit, Hit, Switch, Slap, Down!

- Clap once with your hands
- Use your right hand to reach around and grab the cup from the left side
- Hit the open end of the cup against your left hand
- Hit the bottom side of the cup against the desk
- Switch the cup, right side up, to your left hand
- Crossing your arms in front of you, slap your right hand on the left side of your desk
- Slap down the cup in your left hand (up-side down again) on the other side of your right hand
on the table
6) Break down rhythm, showing students one section at a time and adding on when they are
ready. Use “me first” then gesture to show them it’s their turn. Have students say the chant
as they are performing the actions.
7) Practice a number of times, until students are feeling confident. Change the tempo and en-
courage students to say the chant inside of their heads instead of out loud.
8) When they are ready, challenge students to doing the game with music.
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PAYpSFhOw8 (Movin’ like Berney)
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRzoaps-GkY (Gangnam Style instrumental)

Extension: The last move (“down” move) can also be a pass. Have students sit in a large circle.
When you slap the cup down with your left hand on this last beat, you pass the cup to the per-
son on your right. Each person does the same so that the cups get passed around in a circle as
you play. As soon as the last beat is over, everyone begins the rhythm again on the new cup
that is (more or less) in front of them.

Extension: Play the game in rounds. Have one person start the rhythm, and the next person
start the rhythm when the first is half-way through. The second person starts at the beginning
when the first person has just “moved” the cup to the right and is starting the next “clap”.

Extension: In small groups, students create their own version of the Cup Game. They teach it to
another group and learn the other group’s version too.