Today’s post is all about rhythm! I love using any visual to represent rhythm, a great visual for spring and summer lessons….. silk flowers.

They’re colorful and eye catching. Using these becomes a tactile experience as students place the flowers in the “vases” (plastic cups).

Grab four plastic cups. These become the beats. Then choose flowers to place in the vases. The flowers are the rhythms’/note values.

Choose your favorites whose name fit the different rhythms you want to focus on.

Here’s what I used:

• Rose = Quarter Note
• Daisy = Eighth Note
• Sunflower = Triplet
• Tiger Lily = Sixteenth Note

 

 

Check out the video to get the idea of how I use these in my studio, then adapt to however you see fit for your students.

 

 

Extension Ideas

• Choose one body movement for each rhythm and perform various rhythms using body percussion and silly movements (clap, tap, stomp, shake, flap your wings, “moo” like a cow, let the students choose and they’ll come up some wacky and amazing ideas.)

 

• Play a 4 chord progression using the rhythm created with the flowers.

 

• Assign notes to each of the flowers (Ex: Play a C for the roses, D for the daisies, E for the sunflowers, and G for the tiger lilies)

 

• Use your favorite melodic ideas from the step above to start an original composition.

 

• Play a different chord on each flower. (Ex: Roses=C, Daisies=C2, Sunflowers=Csus, Tiger Lilies=C5)

 

• Play a rhythm and have students arrange flowers to match what they heard.

 

• Scatter several rhythm cards face up around your studio. Create a rhythm in the vases and have your student quickly race to find the rhythm card that matches.

 

There are so many possibilities! Let me know if you try it out!

Happy Spring!