Identifying the Groove
Materials: handout
- Talk about pulse and that it exists in every type of music. Demonstrate a pulse and ask the students what type of music is associated with that pulse. Students will give many different answers and none are truly wrong. Explain that a pulse is not associated with a particular style of music, but it is how the pulse is subdivided that helps define the style of music.
- Teach the class the phrases and body movements for both triple and duple subdivision. Use the phrases, body movements and melodies discussed to help your students understand and internalize the different grooves.
- Playing different musical examples and have the students try and identify which subdivision they are hearing. Make sure they always start by establishing the pulse before they start the subdivision (much like we did when discussing the clave).
- The quiz on the accompanying handbook can be used to measure their comprehension of the vocabulary for this lesson. The answers are listed below.
