Last week we carried on looking at rhythm and pulse! Today we are going to continue looking at that and we are going to change the pulse we use to keep the beat!
We ended last week by making an 8 beat pattern, with two phrases, based on something you like! As a reminder, here is the example I made up:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
I Like to Play Foot-ball It Is Rea-lly Fun
Spend 5 minutes practicing this again. If you can remember the phrases you made up, then repeat those, however if you can’t remember what you did, then use my example above! Remember to clap the pulse at a steady pace, not rushing or slowing down!
Great! Now we are going to change what we do with our pulse! At the moment you are just clapping at a steady pace. However, now, we are going to do two things! First of all you are going to stamp one foot, then the other foot. This will cover beats 1&2. For beats 3&4 you will do your usual claps. So the pulse will look like this:
1 2 3 4
Stamp Stamp Clap Clap
Practice doing this a few times. When you feel comfortable doing it, repeat it so it goes to 8 beats! That will look like this:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Stamp Stamp Clap Clap Stamp Stamp Clap Clap
Now practice this pulse a few times. Keep going until you feel confident. Remember it needs to be at the same speed all the way through, no gaps or pauses, and trying not to speed up or slow down!
Good! Now we are going to put words to our pulse again! However, not something you like this time. Instead I want you to try and fit the words to name your favourite place! This can be tricky, so try not to make it a really long word otherwise it will not fit the beat! You can see my example for this here (remember the – separates the syllables in a word OR also separates two words in under one beat):
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
My Favour-ite Place-is Spain It seems-to nev-er rain
This can be very tricky so don’t worry if it takes you a few times to practice! Remember you are stamping your foot on beats 1&2 (5&6) and clapping beats 3&4 (7&8). If you need to practice the example first then do, then once you feel ok with that, move on to try and make your own up explaining your favourite place! It does not need to rhyme, but it sounds pretty great if you can! Let your teachers know on Dojo what you came up with!