Making Rhythm Reading Fun: Playful Teaching Methods for Music Education

I love incorporating elements of play into my teaching. During my Suzuki pedagogy studies in Sweden, play was an essential part of the instruction, both with instruments and when working on music reading. While there are misconceptions that children don't learn to read music with the Suzuki method, this isn't true. In fact, students often practice music reading as a separate skill at the beginning of their learning journey. Playing an instrument is a demanding motor skill exercise, so there's no need to make it more difficult by adding music reading simultaneously. I follow the same principles with my beginner bands, though the transition from playing without sheet music to playing with it happens faster, as the musicians are older and need to prepare for note-based ensemble playing.

Rhythm Words

A simple way to start with music reading is to use rhythm words. During my university studies, I used a Finnish rhythm reading book that introduced me to rhythm syllables. It used "ta" for quarter notes, "ti-ti" for eighth notes, and "tika-tika" for sixteenth notes, along with the more exotic "ti-pa-tu" for triplets, a syllable I never have seen or heard since.

When teaching children, I try to be more down-to-earth, so I prefer to use the Blue Jello rhythm words from Music Mind Games or make up my own. Here are some example words from Music Mind Games:

• Quarter note: Blue

• Eighth notes: Jello

• Quarter rest: Rest

• Half note: Two-oo

• Whole note: Fo-o-our

• Sixteenth notes: Huckleberry

Feel free to encourage students to create their own rhythm words when introducing rhythm reading.

There are many good variations of rhythm words, and I believe there's room for both Blue Jello, Kodály, Takadimi, and other variants. The most important thing is to find something that works for both you and your group.

Rhythm Cards

When introducing music reading in groups, I usually start with rhythm cards. I first show a card with quarter notes that I read before the group reads it together with me. Then I show a card with eighth notes that we read in the same way. Afterward, we go through several cards that combine quarter notes and eighth notes. I emphasize reading in pulse, and once the musicians have understood the concept, they get four beats of rest between each card.

Rhythm Relay

This game is inspired by an activity shared by Amy Abbott. You can find more of her activities here: Music a la Abbott.

Divide the group into two or three teams. Each team lines up in a long queue. One person from each team competes at a time. Place three rhythm cards on the floor, at a good distance from the competitors. Play, clap, or say the rhythm on one of the rhythm cards. When you've played the entire rhythm, the students should run to the correct rhythm card. The first one to reach the correct rhythm card gets a point for their team. The game becomes even more fun if you place a whoopee cushion at each rhythm card and the students have to sit on it to get points for their team. When the round is over, the competitors go to the back of the queue, and you put out a new card on the floor, so there are always three rhythm cards in play.

I always conduct a "practice round" where no points are awarded to check that everyone has understood the rules of the game. I also let the winner of each round take the card back to their team as documentation that they got the point. That way, I don't have to keep track of which group is leading at any time.

Don't Clap This One Back

This game comes in many variations. Here are two of them:

Clap a rhythm and have the group clap the same rhythm back. Clap a couple of different rhythms and let the group continue to imitate your rhythms. Choose a rhythm that the group should not clap back, for example, quarter note, quarter note, two eighth notes, quarter note (the notorious "now everyone listen to instructions" rhythm used in schools across the country). When you clap this rhythm, the group should be completely silent.

Continue clapping and imitating rhythms, but when you clap the "forbidden" one, the group must not clap back. If you're using points, give a point to the group every time they manage to stay quiet on the "forbidden" rhythm, and a point to yourself every time someone claps there.

The second variant of the game uses rhythm cards. The game works the same way, but now one of the rhythm cards should not be read or clapped. Hold up the cards, maintain a steady pulse, and give the musicians 4 beats between each card to prepare.

Don't have rhythm cards? You can download mine for free here!