Singing and Clapping: Keeping the Rhythm
Primary 1 · Creative Arts
Singing and Clapping: Keeping the Rhythm
Lesson 2 of 8
11 min
Let's begin
Uwase and her cousin sit outside after supper. They sing and clap together.
At the start they are together. By the end Uwase is clapping twice as fast as the song.
Today you will make a clap pattern that stays the same all the way to the end.
One clap on its own is not a pattern.
A pattern is a small group of claps that comes back again and again.
Try this one: clap, clap, rest.
Say it out loud while you do it. Clap, clap, rest. Clap, clap, rest.
The rest is part of the pattern. Do not fill it in.
Walking speed, not running speed.
Walk on the spot while you clap. Left foot, right foot, left foot.
Your feet will hold the speed when your hands want to run away.
Careful! Getting excited makes the hands speed up. The song is not going wrong. Your hands are.
Tap your knees. Stamp one foot. Pat your chest.
Worked example
Try this group: clap, knee, knee.
Do it once. Then start it again at the beginning. Then again.
Keep the same group all the way through, and your song has a rhythm underneath it.
Sing a line you know: We sweep and sweep and sweep the yard.
Put clap, clap, rest under it.
Start the group again at the top of every line.
Sing it four times without changing speed. That is the whole job.
Children playing clapping games, holding one pattern all the way through.
Rwandan drummers keeping one rhythm that comes back again and again.
Tip
Walking speed, not running speed
Walk on the spot while your hands work. Feet are slower than hands, so let the feet be the boss.
If the end of your song is faster than the start, you ran away.
Try each one with your hands, then tap Show answer to check.
You clap once and stop. Is that a pattern?
Answer: no. A pattern is a group that comes back again and again.
Do clap, clap, rest three times.
Answer: clap, clap, rest, clap, clap, rest, clap, clap, rest. Leave the rest empty.
Ishimwe's song is faster at the end than at the start. What went wrong?
Answer: his hands sped up. He should walk on the spot to hold one speed.
Name two body sounds you can use instead of a clap.
Answer: a knee tap and a foot stamp. A chest pat also works.
Make your own group of three sounds and keep it through one whole song.
Answer: your own group, for example clap, knee, stamp, coming back every line.
What you learned today
Quick check
One clap on its own is a pattern.
