Y2. Lesson 22. Quadruple metre.
Prior learning: Prepare quadruple metre.
Duration: 30 minutes
Materials: Woodblocks or claves
Keywords: Beat, rhythm, singing, chanting, partners, rhymes, circle games.
Difficulty: 
Prepare
Present
Quadruple metre
Practise
Melodic development
Students become conscious of the term quadruple (4) metre.
- Lead the class in singing 'Hot Cross Buns'.
- Ask the class where the strong beats are to be found.
- Ask a volunteer to come forward and point to them as the class sings.
- Explain that a bar line is placed on every strong beat and this song has a strong-weak-weak-weak pattern of four beats.
- Project or draw the graphic on the board showing four beats in a measure. Explain that a measure is the distance between two bar lines.
- Teach that the number 4 is shown at the beginning to tell musicians how many beats are in each measure.
- Teach that the term quadruple metre, or 4-metre is used to describe music with four beats in a measure.
Rhythmic development
Students discover how to conduct in 4 metre.
- Teach that in music we call the strong beats accents and these can be shown by conducting.Here are the important points to teach students:
- Stand Tall: To start, stand up straight with your feet about shoulder-width apart. This will help you maintain balance and give clear signals to the musicians.
- Hold an Imaginary Baton: Pretend you're holding a long, thin stick, like a magic wand. This is your conductor's baton. Hold it lightly in your dominant hand (right hand for most people).
- The Starting Position: Begin with your conductor's baton at chest level. Your arm should be relaxed but not too low or too high. Keep it at a comfortable level, about the same height as your chest.
- Four Beats: In quadruple meter, you have four beats in each measure, and each beat gets its own movement. Here's how to conduct each beat:
- Beat 1: For the first beat, move your conductor's baton down in a smooth, downward motion. This signals the start of a new measure.
- Beat 2: For the second beat, move your conductor's baton to the left, at about chest level. This completes the leftward motion.
- Beat 3: For the third beat, move your conductor's baton up and slightly to the right in a smooth, upward motion.
- Beat 4: For the fourth beat, move your conductor's baton to the left, completing the rightward motion and returning to the starting position.
- Repeating the Pattern: After you've conducted all four beats, start the pattern over again from Beat 1. You'll keep doing this as long as the music continues in quadruple metre.
- Keep a Steady Tempo: Your movements should be smooth and steady, helping the musicians stay in time with the music. The size of your conducting motions can vary depending on how fast or slow the music is.
Creative movement
Students have fun tapping out a phrase on the back of another student.
- Arrange the students in a line, with the student at the back of the line initiating the activity by tapping out a phrase of the rhythm they've composed on the back of the student in front of them.
- This rhythmic tapping continues to pass forward through the line, with the student at the front of the line transcribing the rhythm onto the whiteboard.
- It's an enjoyable experience to observe how closely the transcribed rhythm matches the original one.
- You can transform this into a team game by dividing the students into groups of four or five, and the first team to accurately replicate the rhythm wins the game.
Listening
Students listen to a famous piece of music describing tortoises.
Questions
- How would you describe the tempo of the music? Is it adagio or allegro?
- Do you think the music describes how tortoises move? Explain your answer.
- Teach that "The Carnival of the Animals" is a beautiful piece of music composed by a French musician named Camille Saint-Saëns. It's like a magical musical journey through an imaginary carnival where animals come to life.
- Ask students to Imagine a big, colourful carnival with rides, games, and lots of animals. The music in this piece helps us picture what each animal is doing at the carnival.
- When it's time for the tortoises, the music becomes slow and steady because tortoises are very slow animals. They might be taking a very slow stroll at the carnival.
- Play the music on the audio player.
- Ask students what they wondered when they listened.
Visual learning
Students practice writing strong and weak beats in their notebooks.
- Refer to the graphics on the left.
- Using a target phrase of a known song in quadruple metre (such as Are You Sleeping or Hot Cross Buns) ask students to write down the strong and weak beats in their notebooks.
- Remind students that the phrase must use the number four in the beginning and a double barline at the end.
- Monitor student's progress and offer gentle guidance where necessary.
- When finished, ask students to share their work with the class.
Instruments
Students discover how tp play Cobble Cobbler on tuned percussion.
- Distribute tuned percussion instruments. In this exercise, xylophones are chosen.
- Divide the class into two groups.
- Demonstrate the melody of the song to the first group.
- When secure, demonstrate the simple accompaniment to the second group.
- Conduct the two groups and monitor the class performance, offering gentle guidance where appropriate.
Part work
Students use a four-beat ostinato pattern to a song in quadruple metre.
- Students are seated and attentive.
- Lead the class in singing 'Bow Wow Wow'.
- When secure, explain that students will now clap an ostinato pattern as they sing the song again.
- Remind students that this song is in 4-metre so we will need an ostinato pattern that fits over four beats.
- An example of such a pattern is shown on the left.
Assess
Suggested lessons
Y1. Beat II
Y1. Beat III
Y1. Beat IV