{"id":7241,"date":"2025-03-19T14:17:35","date_gmt":"2025-03-19T21:17:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bandworld.org\/magazine\/?p=7241"},"modified":"2025-03-19T14:22:14","modified_gmt":"2025-03-19T21:22:14","slug":"foot-and-clapping-rhythm-reading-exercises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bandworld.org\/magazine\/index.php\/foot-and-clapping-rhythm-reading-exercises\/","title":{"rendered":"Foot and Clapping Rhythm Reading Exercises"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear Directors,<\/p>\n

If you feel that tapping one’s foot is initially essential for successful counting and are interested in where rhythm comprehension ends, or students start to lose the processing ability to perform rhythms correctly, you might want to look over this sheet.\u00a0 I designed it as an assessment sheet to evaluate various rhythm categories, sequenced by difficulty level and RAM processing requirements.\u00a0 The notes chosen are simple, covering the first four or five notes of the concert Bb scale.\u00a0 However, you can easily have the students play them in different keys or play different full scales, going all the way up and repeating the octave on the whole note.\u00a0 Using a metronome, establish your tempo by having your students tap their foot for the first four counts and continue to do so throughout each rhythm line.\u00a0 I suggest the first time, clapping each rhythm while saying the counting out loud.\u00a0 The second time, they play the same line using their instrument.\u00a0 If the issue is a comprehension problem, it will normally show itself in this initial process.<\/p>\n

The \u201cFoot Police\u201d: <\/i><\/b><\/span>\u00a0This is a technique I used a lot at the elementary level, but I also find it very effective for middle school instrumentalists in particular situations.\u00a0 Set up your class with adjacent teams of two.\u00a0 Designate one as the \u201cplayer\u201d and the second as the \u201cwatcher\u201d.\u00a0 As you play each exercise line, the watcher taps their foot and observes his partner as they perform.\u00a0 The \u201cwatcher\u201d is to look and see if the performing student stops tapping their foot, or starts tapping out the rhythm (rather than the pulse) at any time during that exercise line.\u00a0 The performer still might play the line rhythmically correctly, but it is an indication that the student might be having a problem executing the two mutually exclusive events simultaneously.\u00a0 Rotate positions, switching the students performing and watching within each team.\u00a0 In each case, have the students indicate (thumbs up or down) if they observed their partner performing the requested exercise correctly.\u00a0 From this point on, if there are any problems, the students will probably continue to have issues, so this gives you a starting point from which you might begin your comprehensive rhythm curriculum.\u00a0 By adding the tapping of the foot, you are adding only one additional \u201cprocessing\u201d task to the performance mix.\u00a0 In music, we are constantly adding more and more onto our music students\u2019 plates, so rhythm errors that are occurring may not necessarily be comprehension in nature or a focus issue with individual students.<\/p>\n

My belief (more times than not) is the issue causing much of our students miscounting errors is \u201cRAM\u201d memory.\u00a0 I know that \u201cRAM\u201d is a computer term, but it is an accurate description when you consider how our brain and a computer both work.\u00a0 With a computer, you can just open it up and insert an additional 32 gig of RAM memory and, \u201cproblem solved\u201d.\u00a0 With our student\u2019s \u201cbiological computer\u201d, it is not that easy.\u00a0 Processing memory in one’s brain can only increase at its own pace over time.\u00a0 This is the reason counting issues are so inconsistent.\u00a0 When our brain becomes \u201cover-processed\u201d, it RANDOMLY selects musical aspects of our overall musical performance that we either \u201cdeemphasize\u201d or \u201cdiscard\u201d, to lower what we are processing to be within our present range.\u00a0 I find that around the freshmen or sophomore year in high school, most students’ brains develop to the point where this becomes much less of an issue, but in middle school, the balancing of \u201cRAM\u201d issues needed to perform at a high level is constantly something band directors struggle with.<\/p>\n

This is an area I have done a lot of research and field testing with since I retired.\u00a0 It is not an easy issue by any means, but one thing I have found to help is the concept (which you probably already use) of \u201csimplification\u201d and \u201creconstruction\u201d.\u00a0 The bottom line is, that you have to find ways to lower your \u201cRAM\u201d expectations on your students until the number of processes each student can perform has increased on its own.\u00a0 This is especially challenging in that the processing range of students within any given band or orchestra program can be HUGE!!!\u00a0 I have written countless papers and exercises dealing with this issue and trying to find different ways of helping students manage their processing memory when performing music.\u00a0 One of them is the \u201cRhythm Games\u201d process and project, which is a series of many articles presently being periodically published here in \u201cBandworld\u201d magazine online.\u00a0 As I work with my fellow band directors on this project, I will continue posting new content as I complete them.<\/p>\n

I would like to go back to the subject of \u201cplayers\u201d and \u201cwatchers\u201d for a moment if I can.\u00a0 Another technique I have used to help students with finding or feeling pulse is the \u201cFrankenstein Approach\u201d.\u00a0 I do this a lot when I work individually with newer instrumentalists, but have also had students help each other while they are teamed up with a partner.\u00a0 Sometimes putting a student in the position of being the \u201cteacher\u201d helps them understand specific problems they are having.\u00a0 The \u201cplayer\u201d places their toe or heel (depending on what they \u201ctap\u201d with) on top of the \u201cwatcher\u2019s\u201d toe.\u00a0 Follow the same procedures in playing your chosen exercise line and explaining that you have dissected a single body into two and that the \u201cwatcher\u201d is now actually the \u201cplayer’s\u201d foot.\u00a0 The \u201cplayer\u201d now focuses just on the performance of the given rhythms as the \u201cwatcher\u201d is now solely responsible for executing the pulse, while still allowing the \u201cplayer\u201d to feel it as they perform.\u00a0 This only needs to be done if one of the students is having difficulty doing the two processes simultaneously, but it does not always work.\u00a0 However, it is another little trick you can stick into your band director\u2019s \u201cBatman Utility Belt\u201d for a future day.<\/p>\n

If you decide to give this sheet a try, let me know how it worked out. This is my first \u201cdraft\u201d so I may be incorrect in my rhythm\/RAM sequencing, or there might be something I just missed.\u00a0 I took the rhythm categories as far as I could to fit everything on one page so I could gain initial input before going any further.\u00a0 Also, I would be interested in if you agree OR DISAGREE with my assessment about a key reason for counting issues occurring with middle school band students.\u00a0 However, the more I work with your band students, the stronger I feel, \u201cIT\u2019s ALL ABOUT THE RAM.\u201d\u00a0 Thank you for your time.<\/p>\n

Rich Moon
\nmoonerk@bellsouth.net<\/a>
\n<\/span>www.rhythmmastersimprovisation.org<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

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