Prep. Lesson 22. Fast & slow III
Claves, ribbons, mini whiteboards
Difficulty: 
Prior learning: None
Students will develop their ability to keep a steady beat while responding to changes in tempo and moving safely in their space.
Lyrics
B-E-A-T, This is how I keep the beat.
B-E-A-T, I can keep it nice and neat.
B-E-A-T, Show me how you keep the beat.
B-E-A-T, Can you keep it nice and neat?
Success Criteria
- I can march and chant the beat accurately.
- I can adjust my movements to match changes in tempo.
- I can maintain personal space while moving around the room.
- Teach the rhyme by chanting it for the students while walking around the room:
Encourage students to listen carefully and clap the beat with you as they learn the chant. - When secure, have them march around the room to the beat, chanting along.
- Remind them to move safely, using their bubble spots to avoid bumping into others.
- While chanting and marching, gradually change the tempo. Start at a steady pace, then speed up or slow down. Include slow-motion marching for an added challenge.
- Encourage students to adjust their movements to match the new tempo while keeping the beat steady.
- Allow students to take turns leading the chant and setting the tempo.
- The rest of the class follows the leader, maintaining the beat and tempo changes.
- Praise their efforts in adapting their movements and maintaining their personal space.
Students will develop an understanding of a steady beat, learn to identify it in music, and demonstrate it through movement and playing claves.
Success Criteria
- I can identify and move to the steady beat in Radetzky March.
- I can hold claves correctly and produce a clear sound.
- I can tap the claves to maintain a steady beat.
- Play Radetzky March by Johann Strauss and ask students to listen carefully, focusing on the beat.
- Instruct students to march around the room to the beat of the music.
- Emphasise moving steadily and matching their steps to the pulse.
- Distribute claves when the song finishes.
- Demonstrate how to hold claves properly. One hand holds a clave like a hotdog in a bun. The other hand taps the clave gently, “squirting the sauce” into the middle of the hotdog.
- Have them practise holding the claves and producing a sound.
- Play Radetzky March again and instruct students to tap their claves together to match the steady beat.
- Challenge students to march around the room while tapping their claves to the beat.
- Encourage them to listen carefully and offer guidance if they lose the beat.
- Ask students how the claves helped them connect with the steady beat.
- Praise their ability to match their movements and tap to the beat, reinforcing the importance of the steady pulse in music.
Students will explore tempo changes in music through movement by using ribbons to match the speed of the music.
Success Criteria
- I can match the tempo of the music with the movements of my ribbon.
- I can adjust my ribbon movements to reflect changes in tempo.
- I can listen carefully and respond to the music with coordinated movements.
- Explain that the speed of the music can change from slow to fast or back to slow.
- Play the short excerpt of Brahms's Hungarian Dance and ask students to listen to how the tempo changes throughout the piece.
- Hand out ribbons to each student and demonstrate how to move them gently and gracefully to match the tempo of the music.
- Begin the music and ask students to move their ribbons slowly to match the opening section.
- When the tempo speeds up in the middle section, encourage them to make faster, more energetic movements with their ribbons.
- Guide them to slow their movements again as the tempo returns to a slower pace.
- Ask students how the tempo changes influenced their movements.
- Discuss how the ribbon movements helped them feel and express the changes in the music.
- Praise their listening skills and creativity in responding to the music.
Students will explore tempo by associating animal movements with different speeds in classical music and demonstrating them physically.
- Show students a range of animal cards and ask them to identify the animals and describe how quickly they move (e.g., a cheetah runs fast, a turtle moves slowly).
- Work with the class to sort the animal cards into fast and slow categories.
- Discuss why each animal belongs in its chosen category.
- Play one of the classical music pieces with varying tempos and discuss how the music’s tempo matches the speed of certain animals.
- For each piece, ask students to choose an animal from the appropriate category (fast or slow) and move like that animal to match the tempo of the music.
- Encourage creativity in their movements while ensuring they stay safe in their space.
- Ask students to share which animals they picked and how they matched their movements to the tempo.
Success Criteria
- I can identify animals and decide whether they move fast or slow.
- I can match an animal’s movement to the tempo of the music.
- I can adjust my movements to reflect the pace of the music.
Students will explore Kangaroos by Camille Saint-Saëns, understanding its sections and using a listening map to identify the different speeds and feel of the music.
- Project the listening map for the Kangaroos section.
- Explain that it helps us follow the music and notice changes in the speed.
- Share that the Kangaroos section represents kangaroos' playful jumps. The music has sudden bursts of speed and pauses, just like a kangaroo’s movement.
- Play the Kangaroos section and guide students to follow the listening map as you point to the sections.
- Pause and discuss: “What do you notice about the speed of the music?” and “Does it remind you of a kangaroo jumping and stopping?”
- Encourage students to act out the jumping movements of a kangaroo while hopping in time with the music.
Success Criteria
- I can describe how the listening map relates to the music.
- I can identify the speed and jumping feel of the Kangaroos section.
- I can follow the listening map as the music plays.
Students will explore the Aquarium section from Carnival of the Animals by Saint-Saëns, using movement and visual representation to understand its flow and characteristics.
Note: This video is for demo purposes only. Lily will be filmed using a green screen.
- Play the excerpt from Aquarium and ask students to listen carefully.
- Discuss what the music reminds them of and introduce the idea that it represents fish's gentle, flowing movement in water.
- Demonstrate slow, fluid, fish-like movements that match the music's tempo and feel.
- Encourage students to copy your movements and explore how they might "swim" through the space, emphasising gentle and flowing motions.
- Discuss the movements with the class: “What do you think these movements represent?” “Are they fast or slow? Why do you think that is?” “How are these movements different from the jumping movements in Kangaroos?”
- Hand out mini whiteboards and markers to each student.
- Play Aquarium again and ask students to imagine what a listening map of the music might look like. Suggest they draw shapes, lines, or patterns that reflect the music's flowing and gentle feel.
- Select a few students to share their listening maps at the front of the class and discuss how their drawings represent the music.
Success Criteria
- I can move my body to represent the music's flow and tempo.
- I can describe the differences between the movements in Aquarium and Kangaroos.
- I can draw a listening map that reflects the music's qualities.
Suggested lessons
Y1. Beat II
Y1. Beat III
Y1. Beat IV