Journey Montessori April 14

The Montessori students have been working on 4 and 8 beat rhythm patterns.  The students are all continuing to do a great job creating their own 4 beat rhythm patterns vocally (with animal, and other sounds).  Some of the students are now creating their own 4 beat pattern with body percussion as well.  

In our last few classes we added high and low sounds to our rhythm patterns, as a class.  I sang them a pattern and they had to tell me which sound they heard, high or low, and how many times they heard it.  We then added this repeated pattern as a ostinato (A continually repeated musical phrase or rhythm) along with a train song we have been singing.  The students helped me graph the ostinato on paper using simple long or short lines as symbols.  Reading the long and short lines for the ostinato is a beginning step to reading music.  The short lines can become quarter notes and the longer ones half notes.

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