High+School+Band+Lesson-Entering+on+off+beat



This lesson was intended to work on some rhythmic issues that were occurring in the piece "Rolling Thunder". There are many times in the piece where entrances will happen on off beats. The ensemble had consistently been entering late so this lesson broke the concept down to basics. I had the ensemble start by tapping their feet on beat 1 of each measure (in cut time) then singing "doo bahs" on the quarter notes. Then I had the ensemble clap on the first off beat of the first measure (doo BAH) and the first beat of the next measure. Then we made the rhythm more complex until it was the same rhythm as I wanted them to feel in the piece. From there we traded the rhythm back and forth between the people who were playing melody and the people who were playing counter melody.

EDIT: Kevin! Touche, my friend. Off-beat rhythms can be tricky but they're important, and rather annoying to listen to when not performed well. First of all, isolating the concept is necessary in almost every situation where a musical "skill" is being taught. Tapping the foot is a great way to internalize the pulse and pairing clapping with speaking the rhythm is a fantastic way to teach the off-beat through two mediums. I'd be careful not to add anymore actions, because I think you found a happy middle-ground where it won't be too complex. Additionally, I'd advise starting slow and then picking up the tempo slowly as they start to understand it. I imagine you did something to this extent while performing the lesson, but I think laying out how the tempos will progress would be beneficial. Finally, in steps 10 and 11 in your lesson, on top of having them point out the similar parts in the music, I would run those parts at least once so they become more familiar with it as an isolated concept rather than running into it in the middle of a run-through and thinking "Oh I'll fix it this time through!" and then maybe not play it right after that. Teaching the concept alone before immersing it into the rest of the music will assure you that they know the concept and not just how to play the 5th and 6th measures after D.

Very important lesson and I'm sure the kids would appreciate being better at off-beat rhythms, which is generally a pretty innate ability rather than learned.

Josh Huls