Teaching Note Values With Note Cards

Music Lesson: Note Values

A great way to teach note values to your child is to compare note values to note cards:

Materials Needed:

1. Pen

2. Multi-colored note cards

Instructions:

1. Draw a whole note on the back of a yellow note card. (As seen in photo.)

2. Cut a blue note card in half and draw a half note on each card. (As seen in photo.)

3. Cut a pink note card in quarters and draw a quarter note on each card. (As seen in photo.)


4. Cut a green card in eighths and draw an eighth note on each card. (As seen in photo.)

5. Lay out a card pyramid with the blank sides of the cards up as seen in the photo below:

















6. Tell your child that all of the cards are related and that there are 2 half cards in one whole card, 2 quarter cards in one half card, 2 eighth cards in one quarter card, 4 eighth cards in a half card, and so on.

Once your child understands the relationship between the cards, flip the cards over as seen in the photo below:

7. Explain to your child that just as the note cards are related, music notes are related in the same way. Tell your child that there are 2 half notes in a whole note, 4 quarter notes in a whole note, 2 eighth notes in a quarter note and so on.

8. Another fun way to use these cards is to have your child practice making rhythms by using Q-tips for bar lines as seen in the photo below:

9. After laying down a rhythm as seen in the photo above practice clapping the rhythm with your child.

Music Lesson: Time Signature

Rhythm Lesson #6 Time Signatures:

Review:

Review the meters lesson with your child.

Learning Objective:

Your child will be able to tell you what the numbers in a time signature mean.

Instructions:

Show your child the picture below and tell your child that the picture is a time signature (or meter signature). Tell your child that a time signature is made up of a top and bottom number. The top number tells us what the meter in the piece is, and the bottom number tells us what the note value for each pulse is. For example, in the picture below the time signature is ¾. The 3 tells us that the piece is in triple meter (there are three pulses per measure), and the 4 tells us that the quarter note gets the beat.

Exercise: Write the meter and note value for each time signature below:

Example:

2--duple meter
8--eighth-note pulse

3__________
4__________

2__________

2__________

4__________
8__________

4__________
4__________

3__________
2__________

3__________
8__________

4__________
2__________

2__________

4__________

Answers:

1) triple meter
quarter-note pulse

2) duple meter

half-note pulse

3) quadruple meter
eighth-note pulse

4) quadruple meter
quarter-note pulse

5) triple meter
half-note pulse

6) triple meter
eighth-note pulse

7) quadruple meter
half-note pulse

8) duple meter
quarter-note pulse

Exercise: Tell your child that a whole note/rest gets 4 pulses, a half note/rest gets 2 pulses, a quarter/rest note gets 1 pulse, and an eighth note/rest gets and eighth of the pulse. Review dotted notes with your child also. Now have your child write bar lines in the musical example below:

Rhythm Lesson #5

Note Values Part II

Review:

Review with your child the Note Values Lesson Part I .

Learning Objective:

Your child will learn to write out the note pyramid and tell you how all the notes in the note pyramid are related. Your child will also write on manuscript paper the 5 common rests.

Instructions:

Show your child the note pyramid and tell your child to draw the note pyramid on a separate sheet of paper. Then, tell your child that all the notes in the pyramid are related. Ask your child the following questions:

1. How many half notes are in a whole note? (Answer = 2)

2. How many quarter notes are in a whole note? (Answer = 4)

3. How many quarter notes are in a half note? (Answer = 2)

4. How many eighth notes are in a half note? (Answer = 4)

5. How many sixteenth notes are in a quarter note? (Answer = 4)

6. How many sixteenth notes are in a whole note? (Answer = 16)

Rests:

Show your child the picture below, and explain to your child that there are 5 common types of rests:

1. Whole rest
2. Half rest
3. Quarter rest
4. Eighth rest
5. Sixteenth rest

Tell your child that a rest represents silence, and when a rest is seen in music, no music is played during the rest. Have your child practice drawing the rests on manuscript paper.

Dotted Notes:

Show your child the picture below, and explain to your child that when a dot is placed beside a note (as seen in the photo), the value of the note is worth the note's original value plus one-half of its original value. For example, if a quarter note is worth one beat, then a quarter note with a dot is worth 1 + 1/2 beats.

Stay tuned for next week's lesson on Time Signatures.

Rhythm Lesson # 4

Note Values Lesson Part I

Review with your child:

Measures lesson

Instructions:
Show your child the notes shown below. Tell your child that some notes have stems, some notes have holes, some notes have stems and flags, and some notes are filled in. Below is an example of the 5 common types of note values:

Tell your child that when you put these notes together you get rhythm. Below is an example of rhythm. Notice also how the pulse stays consistent no matter what the rhythm is:

Note Pyramid:
Below is an example of a note pyramid. Explain to your child that at the top of the pyramid there is a whole note. 1 whole note is divided into 2 half notes. 1 half note is divided into 2 quarter notes. 1 quarter note is divided into 2 eight notes. 1 eighth note is divided into 2 sixteenth notes.

Exercise: Practice Drawing Notes:

Print out the picture below, and have your child practice tracing each note. Then, have your child practice drawing each note on a separate piece of paper. You may print staff paper here . You may also click here to print out a worksheet for note tracing.

Rhythm Lesson #3

Summary:

So far, we have learned about pulse and meter--two important steps to learning how to read rhythm. Today, we will learn about measures.

Measures:

Teach this to your child:

When looking at music, you can see that it is divided into vertical lines called bar lines. From bar lines you get measures. It is much easier to read music in measures.

We can study measures from the last lesson we had about meter. Remember duple, triple, and quadruple meter?

When you add bar lines to these examples, you get this:

Double bar lines:

You will see double bar lines when you come to the end of a section or piece. Below is an example of a double bar line.

Rhythm Lesson #2

Lesson 2: Learning Meter

Learning Objective:


Children will be able to clap different meters. It is important to learn about meters because understanding a meter is one of the beginning steps to reading music.


Instructions:


Explain to your child what a meter is by telling your child that in most music there is a pulse, and some pulses are stronger than others. When you have a pattern of strong and weak pulses, you get a meter.There are 3 common meters (A Creative Approach to Music Fundamentals, Duckworth):


1. Duple meter (one strong pulse and one weak pulse, first line)

2. Triple meter (one strong pulse and 2 weak pulses, second line)


3. Quadruple meter (one strong pulse and 3 weak pulses, third line)






Copy the image above onto paper and show it to your child. Tell your child that there is an accent under some of the notes distinguishing the differences between the meter patterns. (An accent is a musical mark telling the person reading the music that the note should be stressed more than the other notes.) Now clap the 3 examples with your child. Every time you see an accent under the note, clap a little harder. After clapping the examples with your child, explain to your child that by doing this exercise, he or she can feel and hear the differences between the meters.


Assessment:

Can your child clap all three examples with the accents? If not, help him or her until they can.





Adapting to younger children:


Clap your child's hands for them to the 3 examples shown above (make sure you stress the accents.) By doing this your child will be able to feel the difference between the meters.

Rhythm Lesson #1

Learn to Feel the Beat/Pulse

Importance of feeling a pulse:
Most music we hear has a steady beat, or pulse. Learning to feel the pulse is the first step your child will need to learn before he or she can begin to read rhythm.

Learning objective:
Children will be able to clap or tap their feet to the pulse.

Equipment Needed:
Examples of fast, medium, and slow paced music with a steady pulse.

Instructions:
1. Tell your children that most music they listen to has a steady beat, or pulse. The pulse can be fast, medium, or slow. There are many ways to feel the pulse. You can clap your hands, tap your foot, or even nod your head.

2. Turn on an example of the medium-paced music. Clap (or whatever your child prefers to do to feel the pulse) your hands to the music's pulse/beat, and explain to your child you are clapping your hands to the pulse. Let your child try to clap his or her hands to the pulse. Your child might need help, so you can help your child clap. This may take some practice, especially if your child has never clapped before.

3. Now do the same activity for the slow and fast songs, and have your child clap to the pulse.

4. For fun, you can have your child try to jump, tap his or her foot, or his or her head, march, or dance to the pulse.

5. You can also try doing this with a metronome.

Adapting to younger children (toddlers/babies)
Turn on a musical selection, and clap your child’s hands to the pulse/beat for them. Tell your child he or she is clapping to the pulse. Do this activity for the slow, medium, and fast paced music.

Now let your child try to clap to the pulse by themselves.

For fun, you can let your child hit 2 blocks together, or bang a stick on the ground to the pulse.

Assessment:
Can your child do this next time with out any instruction? If not, help your child until he or she can.

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