Brian Buechele

Dr. Talbot
MUS149
25 January 2020
Rhythm Lesson Plan

Context

❏ 2nd Grade Class

❏ Middle of unit of Rhythm and learning about the musical concept of ​syncopation

What is Known

❏ ​Students know​ how to keep a steady beat

❏ ​Students know​ the difference between whole, quarter, eight, and sixteenth notes

❏ ​Students know​ the difference between 4/4, 3/4, and 2/4 meters

❏ ​Students know​ how to tap on beat

❏ ​Students know ​how to tap the sub division

What We have to Remember

❏ The students are still working on these skills and they are not perfect with each
skill

❏ Some students are at different levels of each skill, some have music backgrounds or
parents are musicians, etc.

❏ We only have a 10-minute period of time so we do need to go fast but remember to

go help each student progress

Essential Question

❏ How does syncopation elevate our sense of rhythm through song?

National Standards
 ❏ MU:Cr1.1.2b Generate musical patterns and ideas within the context of a given
tonality (such as major and minor) and meter (such as duple and triple)

❏ MU:Pr6.1.2a Perform music for a specific purpose with expression and technical
accuracy.

❏ MU:Re7.2.2a Describe how specific music concepts are used to support a specific
purpose in music.

❏ MU:Cn10.0.2a Demonstrate how interests, knowledge, and skills relate to personal

choices and intent when creating, performing, and responding to music.

Learning Objectives

❏ ​Students will ​sing a song that contains syncopation

❏ ​Students will ​tap/use body percussion that contains syncopation
❏ Students will ​sing and use body percussion at the same time that contains syncopation
❏ Students will ​create their own rhythm/gestures to show gestures of syncopation

Assessments

The teacher will​ observe the students singing syncopation

The teacher will ​observe the students tapping a syncopated beat

The teacher will ​assess the students’ understanding of syncopation through an exit ticket that
gives the strong beat and the students have to write a syncopated measure

✓+: completed the assignment and showed full understanding of syncopation and the
assignment

✓: completed the assignment, but there was no syncopation and student did not fully
understand the assignment

✓-: did not complete assignment

The teacher​ ​will​ assess the students by asking each group if they understand syncopation and
how to create their own gesture with an embedded assessment:

Thumb up: understand

Thumb neutral: unsure of a part

Thumb down: no idea

Materials

❏ Exit ticket

Terms

❏ ​Off-beat/Weak beat - ​The “and” of the beat

❏ ​Syncopation - ​Any beat that occurs off of the strong beat, or on the weak beat of
the meter

Procedure

1. Teacher will​ stand in on the rug and motion for the students to join and create a circle
2. Teacher will​ sing first section of “Funga Alafia” and use gestures to signal to the class
that this is a sing and repeat portion of the class
3. Teacher will​ then sing the B section and then use gestures to ask the class and remind
them that it is a sing and repeat portion
4. Teacher will​ then “clap” to signify eighth note and use the chest thump to signify a
quarter note
5. Teacher will​ use gestures to put the class into two different groups so that one half of the
class is clapping eighth notes and the other half of the class is using chest thumps to show
quarter notes
6. Teacher will​ tap their thighs on the beat to create a different but steady beat for the
student groups
7. Teacher will​ have the groups switch what they are doing, so that the subdivision
becomes the division and vice versa
8. Teacher will ​then have the students alternate between the slap and thump, or eighth and
quarter notes
9. Teacher will ​have the students add the words “Funga Alafia” corresponding the beat
lengths, this entails to have the syllables “Fun-” and “A-” require the use of the clap to
signal eighth rests and the syllables “-ga”, “-la-”, and “-fia” to use the chest thump
10. Teacher will​ gesture for the class to repeat
11. Teacher will​ sing the next measure and show the note values for “Ashe Ashe”, having
“A-” as the eighth note and the “-she” for the quarter pulse chest thump
12. Teacher will ​have the students put all of the A section together and repeat after the
teacher
13. Teacher will​ then signal the B section of the song, which is the same as the second and
fourth measure of the A section
 14. Teacher will ​have the students put both sections together
15. Teacher will​ model the tapping rhythm that keeps a steady beat and then gesture the
students to create this same beat
16. Teacher will ​sing along to the song that we have learned while tapping the steady beat
17. Teacher will​ place the students into 2 groups using gestures, similar to the beginning of
the lesson. One group will do what we have been working on while the other group will
keep the steady beat, both while singing the song.
18. Teacher will​ have the groups switch and sing through with alternating patterns and beats
19. Teacher will ​split the groups into 3 groups through gestures
20. Teacher will​ have the students form groups of three and create their own beat/gesture to
show syncopation, while the teacher keeps a steady pulse, the students will perform their
gesture, in time.
21. Teacher will ​give the students the exit ticket

If Time Allows

1. Teacher will​ split the students into 3 groups, one is an improvisation group​, ​one is the
syncopated gesture and the final group is the steady beat group
2. Teacher will ​make all the three groups go at the same time while singing, alternating
after each run through of the song.

How this fits into the Curriculum

❏ Continues our understanding of rhythm with quarter and eighth notes

❏ Furthers our understanding of rhythm through understanding of syncopation

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.

-Brian Buechele

References

“Music Standards PreK-8.” ​National Association for Music Education,​ 2014,

nafme.org/my-classroom/standards/.
Olatunji , Baba, director. ​Baba Olatunji Plays Fanga​. ​YouTube​, YouTube, 1993,
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTWySGpPVv0.

Schwartz, Ed. “Off-Beat and Syncopation.” Edited by Richard Cole, ​OnMusic Dictionary -
Term​, 2016, dictionary.onmusic.org/terms/2398-off-beat.

Thompson, Beth. “Funga Alafia.” ​Beth's Notes,​ 6 Sept. 2019,

www.bethsnotesplus.com/2016/02/funga-alafia.html​.

Exit Ticket

1. ​Write your own syncopated beat, I gave you the strong beats. Use a circle to represent a
syncopated beat and a triangle to show an un-syncopated beat (Remember the song, Funga
Alafia, that we worked on in class and what it looked like)