Submitted by Laura Bartolomeo, Indianapolis, Indiana

Idea posted September 27, 2004

I had an unmotivated group once (seventh graders), and we used a basketball beat activity and combined it with the video Stomp Out Loud. (This would work well with fourth through eighth graders.)

  1. We looked for three things while watching STOMP - the steady beat, an ostinato, and then the main rhythm. Once the students had the idea, I put them in groups of four or five.
  2. Using nothing but body percussion, the students were to have a steady beat begin, then layer on an ostinato, then the main rhythm (we used nursery rhyme rhythms - clapped, not spoken), then the ostinato would drop out, and then the steady beat would stop for the ending. (It was a basic symmetrical layer on then layer off.) The students knew that if they did this well (i.e., silent start, good middle, silence after the ending, organized, professional, etc.) that each group would then get a basketball.
  3. Using the basketball, repeat #2.
  4. Going back to no props, change the form. Instead of Intro-A-Coda, try Intro-A-B-A-coda, or like the video try stopping all patterns and re-starting.

The students really loved this activity. After each performance we would discuss whether we heard a steady beat, ostinato, etc., and they quickly had true understanding of those concepts.