Play at a tempo that does not sound laborious but rather musical, and which you can execute well, and you should be fine. ![]() In my experience, too many beginners focus altogether too much on specific numeric tempo values but unless you are playing in a band or for dancers (bother of whom may have very definite ideas about tempo), this is a very individual decision. Again, a matter of musical taste.įinally, you also need to consider what tempo allows you to get the maximum amount of music from a tune - this will depend on your ability and level of development as well as your particular musical taste. ![]() There are many tunes which are played at a very wide range of tempos - for example, some 3/4's are played very slowly by some soloists, almost as slow airs, while others play them at (solo) march tempo. Usually you play slower for older dancers than you do for younger dancers (older in this case meaning teenagers and above as opposed to preteens) - the younger dancers can't get as much "lift" as the older dancers, so they naturally have to dance faster. ![]() Likewise, dance tunes will depend on taste and on whether you are playing for competition or for dancers. Also, 6/8s are usually played a bit slower than 2/4's and 4/4's, both by bands and by soloists. So bands will often play quick marches at 80-86 bpm, but soloists often below 70 - in fact, if you submit a march played above 70 in solo competition or below 80 in band competition, you will almost certainly elicit a negative remark from the judge. (In a band, expression can be augmented by the drums). "There is no disputing about taste.")Īs a general rule, quick marches are usually played slower by a soloist than by a band, in order to get more expression. Usually I’ll show the images or have the students organize the animals by speed (fast-to-slow), then, I will have them find the matching tempo.Unfortunately this question is almost unanswerable - except by the old Latin adage "De gustibus non disputandum est." (tr. I chose these specific animals because I noticed their rate of movement (MPH) could make a logical comparison to musical tempos (BPM). Here are the animals I use for teaching tempo… ANIMAL I’ll also introduce other animals such as cows, pigs and bears to compare Moderato, Andante and Adagio. Students can easily relate the speed of a cheetah to presto and the speed of a turtle to largo. Stretching and marching for the slower tempos, running, jumping and spinning for the faster tempos! Make sure you do the little hunting part because the kiddos LOVE it! Teaching Tempo With Animals The movements are pretty much improvised. Sorry in advance for how exhausted I look! Here’s a demonstration of the movements I use (I pretty much improvise them). This song changes tempos a lot so I have the students do stretching and marching at the slower parts and jumping, running and spinning at the faster parts! It’s always a huge hit with kindergarten. This was my own invention where I took a song from one of my dance classes called Chou Chou Sheng by Corvus Corax. Something else my students ask for over and over again is something they refer to as The Soldier Song. I tend to mix different genres and types of world music into my playlists (my principal loved that!) Sometimes I’ll ask the children to come up with their own animals too and they have some creative suggestions! For a playlist, you can use suggestions from my list above or your own preferences. First, I’ll have the students will move like rabbits (fast) or turtles (slow). One of the simplest things I do with my kindergarteners is having them move to variety of music containing different tempos. This is super effective for teaching tempo (especially for your K-1 students!). Largo in E-Flat Major – Frédéric Chopin.9 “From The New World” – Antonín Dvořák (Movement II) 2 “Moonlight Sonata” – Ludwig van Beethoven 23 in F-Major, Moderato – Frédéric Chopin 67 Allegro con brio – Ludwig van Beethoven Allegro Movement (Spring) from The Four Seasons – Antonio Vivaldi.Sabre Dance from Gayane – Aram Khachaturian.Flight of the Bumblebee – Rimsky-Korsakov.Summer from The Four Seasons – Antonio Vivaldi (Presto Movement). ![]() Here are some of my favorite recordings to use! I find that listening and movement activities are some of the best ways to teach tempo in your music class. Teaching Tempo Through Musical Comparison Here are some of my favorite strategies for teaching tempo. As students advance in grade level, I will introduce tempo names such as “andante” and “moderato”. It’s our responsibility as music teachers! I like to introduce the term “tempo” in kindergarten through identification of fast/slow or presto/largo. Although these concepts work harmoniously, terminology is important. We then presented novel test items that included changes in pitch (higher and lower octave transpositions), tempo (double and half the speed) and timbre (violin and piccolo). We familiarized the animals (LongEvans rats) with the Happy Birthday tune on a piano. I’ve noticed that students think that beat, rhythm and tempo are all the same thing. Here we explore whether other animals react to surface changes in a tune.
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