I am always looking for new ways to practice the steady beat with my students. And while kids LOVE the freeze game, even our favorite activities can start to feel a little predictable after a while!
So why not combine the two?
Enter: The Steady Beat Freeze Game!
Students move to the steady beat while one student plays a drum. When the drum stops, everyone freezes!
It’s simple, requires very little preparation, and gives students the chance to feel, hear, and respond to the steady beat while they’re having fun. Even better, you can easily observe individual students and see who is really keeping the beat.
1. Get the beat in their bodies.
Start drumming a steady beat using a moderate tempo. Have them walk in a circle or around the room to the beat.
2. Introduce the freeze.
Tell students:
“When I play the steady beat, you move to the beat. When I stop, you freeze!”
Start playing—and stopping—at random.
3. Change it up!
Once students understand the game, experiment with how you play the drum.
Try playing:
It isn’t just about the steady beat any more, now you’re giving students opportunities to respond to dynamics and tempo too!
4. Put students in charge.
Let students take turns being the drum leader. This is where the activity gets especially cool!
As students lead, watch what they do. Do they play a steady beat? Do they change the tempo? Do they experiment with dynamics? Do they create long rests?
5. Talk about what they noticed.
After everyone has had a turn, ask:
One of the best things about this activity is seeing how students put their own personalities into it.
One student played the drum with his elbow because he remembered seeing me do it the year before. Another student took really long rests. Some students played loudly and dramatically, while others experimented with quiet sounds and gentle movements.
This is the most exciting part!
They’re not just following directions—they’re making musical choices.
While one student is leading, I can watch the rest of the class and quickly check who is responding to the beat, who is anticipating the stops, and who may need a little more practice.
The kids think they’re playing a game. I know they’re building the musical skills that matter. 😉
Yesterday the boy choir and I played around with the measures they composed a couple of weeks ago. I taped each work to the board in no particular order for us to sing. My goal was for students to think about choice. Both groups were able to switch measures around, but only the first graders […]
Yesterday our boy choir students created rhythms. I did not specify a time signature, so they were able to create any rhythm they wished, as long as two eighth notes and four sixteenths were next to each other. One second grader created a 5/4 rhythm that consisted of 1 half rest, one quarter, 2 eighths, […]
When I taught in a combined first and second grade regular classroom, the head teacher always wrote a “morning message” that was to be read as soon as the students came in the classroom in the morning. This message often included the activities of the day or something special that was going on soon. It […]
Different school models fascinate me, regardless of my opinion of its effectiveness. No matter the set up, we as educators can learn from them. This morning I read about a “democratic school” out in Maryland called The Fairhaven School. This school and schools like it, are designed to create the freedom for students to explore their interests and […]
According to the Center for Disease Control (From the CDC website): Approximately 11% of children 4-17 years of age (6.4 million) have been diagnosed with ADHD as of 2011. The percentage of children with an ADHD diagnosis continues to increase, from 7.8% in 2003 to 9.5% in 2007 and to 11.0% in 2011. Rates of […]
When popular business books speak about marketing, a large majority of them emphasize the importance of an enjoyable and memorable experience when they use your service or product. For teachers, our clients are our students…(even though it sometimes feels like we need to please parents and administrators). When kids step into our classrooms, what kind […]
Today I came back from a short business trip and couldn’t wait to see my youth choir students! (Grades 4-8) Although I had a great time in Texas, I was excited to dive back into the work with these very talented young musicians. Little by little they are digging deeper into conventional notation to understand […]
Every week I look forward to Thursday nights! I love to watch “Project Runway” and “Grey’s Anatomy” …..(although the latter needs to end already) and of course, “Scandal”. Now Ms. Shonda Rhimes has come out with a new fabulous Thursday night drama called “How To Get Away With Murder”…..yet ANOTHER show to become addicted to […]
I read a story in Jack Canfield’s book “The Success Principles” that was very powerful. He recounts a story from 1977 in Tallahassee, FL. A woman who was 63 at the time, picked up the back end of a Buick to get it off her grandson’s arm. Before that time, she had never lifted anything […]
In this job it is amazing how often I am in awe of my students! Yesterday and today I placed my first grade choir members into groups and gave them a set of Note Knacks. We had been singing “La” while dragging our finger across each block as a large group so that they could […]