23

sequences of meter), and labeling the poetic meter.16 This recollection made me realize that the

short-hand system that suddenly came to my mind during rhythmic dictation was really from

these poetry exercises long ago. I hoped that a similar type of study could help students

understand meter and the expectation of beat groupings that it provides. I started experimenting

with common rhymes, writing them out, having students determine accents markings (strong =

“/”, weak = “-“), and then translating those markings into rhythmic notation in a time signature.

This type of presentation provided an opportunity for poetry lovers to make new connections to

patterns in music. The terms trochaic (two part group – accented/unaccented) and dactylic (three

part group – accented/unaccented/unaccented) fit well into the discussion of duple meter, simple

vs. compound, with trochaic representing the simple duple model and dactylic fitting compound

duple. 17

An example of this type of exercise can be experienced by using the children’s rhyme

“Baa, Baa, Black Sheep.” When presenting to a class or student, I review simple duple meter

(two large beats, each dividing into two smaller parts) and have the lyrics spaced out on a

handout with enough room to work. Students practice the feel of duple, put bar lines in and

stress marks above the lyrics, and then translate the lyrics into rhythm. The very first step in

these situations should always be recognition of the basic meter. An effective way to do this is

to have a portion of the class, maybe one-third, chant “one-two-one-two” as a duple background.

A reminder should be given to put a slight emphasis on beat “one.” After the basic pulse is

established with this smaller group, the rest of the class can join in with chanting the words to the

16
Sean M. Conrey. “Poetic Feet and Line Length,” The Purdue OWL, April 3, 2013,
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/570/03/.
17
Ibid.