In music education we talk of dividing and subdividing the beat. But when I play, I don\u2019t really think of dividing anything. It feels more like simply playing faster or slower and often in the context of the prevailing beat and tempo. Dividing is a physical act: we divide a pie into pieces. Or it\u2019s a calculation: everybody gets two pieces. But I don’t really experience those aspects in time, as such.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though the metaphor of division is strained, I still use it since it is so widespread. I say division (in both simple and compound meters) to mean a primary level (e.g. 2 eighth notes with a quarter-note beat) and subdivision to mean a secondary level (e.g. 4 sixteenth notes with a quarter note beat). (A quirk I picked up from my colleague Jeremy Dittus in his quest for specificity!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Subdivisions in music are often too fast to move by stepping. They can be performed by speaking or with smaller body parts like fingers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Children can experience subdivisions as a single event, lasting a beat, or as a continuous event, that is, a kind of continuous shift. Even young children are very sensitive to this. I can see by the way they respond that when I play with subdivisions the music feels faster to them. It is, but technically, as long as there hasn\u2019t been a tempo change at the beat level, it actually isn\u2019t! I look for ways to draw this truth out. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Even the young can hear one set of subdivisions if played the right way. The easiest way to test this is to play an inhibition<\/em> game: they move with the music when they hear one set of subdivisions, and hold when they hear another set, toggling back and forth. (I avoid saying ‘freeze dance’, which has become popular, because I don’t want them to freeze, just hold themselves still.) By changing the character, tempo, style, abd mood of the music, the game does not become tiring. The children can even suggest ways to move, though at some point you will have to ask someone for “a slow way”. I imagine that even youngest children can feel the relationships between beat and subdivision when we do this. There will be plenty of time to articulate it later when their math skills have caught up. Hopefully I am making the lives of their private teachers and band directors that much easier when they begin to encounter “1-ee-and-ah” in their written music. Older children (late elementary) love this game, too. They love to be right, and they love to detect things according to rules. This gives them both, plus the opportunity to stand still, which they value much more than their younger counterparts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To introduce the subject to my early and late elementary classes, I used the first movement of Mozart\u2019s Symphony No. 1, whose theme is built on a very declaratory 1-3-5 statement, ending with two sets of subdivisions. I gave the kids a movement task (“find joints in your body and move, and mirror your partner”). I asked them to change partners whenever the theme appeared, which provided some hilarity as the theme kind of sticks out like a sore thumb each time. (Give him a break — he was eight when he wrote it!) I wish the theme emerged just a bit more for this purpose, but it was fun anyway and primed them to listen for both subdivisions and the major tonic triad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In music education we talk of dividing and subdividing the beat. But when I play, I don\u2019t really think of dividing anything. It feels more like simply playing faster or slower and often in the context of the prevailing beat and tempo. Dividing is a physical act: we divide a pie into pieces. Or it\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[128],"tags":[113,135,131],"class_list":["post-7609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dalcroze-reference","tag-children","tag-selected-feature-articles","tag-subjects"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9ohMj-1YJ","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1094,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/changing-beat\/","url_meta":{"origin":7609,"position":0},"title":"Changing Beat","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"October 13, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"I am playing in a measure of 2 or a duple meter. Here we play with beats of 2, 3 and 4 divisions. I start with 3, which I am playing with a swing feel on the recording. At \u201chip,\u201d I take a way a division (e.g. 3 divisions becomes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":10688,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/1st-2nd-grade-skills-and-objectives-associated-with-rhythm-part-2-of-4\/","url_meta":{"origin":7609,"position":1},"title":"1st-2nd Grade Dalcroze Skills and Experiences: Rhythm (Part 2 of 4)","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"September 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Second in a series of posts describing what a typical class might cover during the year. Now we get to the heart of the matter. This is a formidable list, and not all that different from a list I might make for adult classes. Does this mean the children will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7656,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/meter\/","url_meta":{"origin":7609,"position":2},"title":"Meter","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"April 17, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Part of a series of posts on the 'musical subjects' I am working with in my classrooms and thinking about as a musician and teacher. I often turn to Walter Piston when I want some inspiration for teaching or for my own practice. Here's what he says about meter in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":529,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/7-9-year-old-dalcroze-april\/","url_meta":{"origin":7609,"position":3},"title":"7-9 Year-old Dalcroze: April","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"May 29, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Life caught up with me in April, so this is the first update for class activities in over a month. Here is a brief list\u00a0of some of the things we have explored and games we have played over the past several weeks: Toss the bean bag on the high note.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":452,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/a-class-for-5-6-year-olds\/","url_meta":{"origin":7609,"position":4},"title":"A Class for 5-6 Year-olds","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"January 29, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"So many things can happen over the course of a Dalcroze semester that you can often get a better\u00a0idea of what a class has been doing by simply describing a single class in detail. Here\u2019s a description of a recent class of exceptional 5-6 year-old girls that I am fortunate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":741,"url":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/changing-meter-reaction-game\/","url_meta":{"origin":7609,"position":5},"title":"Changing meter: Reaction game","author":"Michael Joviala","date":"August 31, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Note: This part of a series of posts for adults interesting in practicing eurhythmics on their own. The following is a known as \"Quick Reaction Game\" in Dalcroze parlance. In a quick reaction game, participants respond to a signal (auditory (musical or non-musical), visual, verbal or tactile). In this case,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dalcroze Reference"","block_context":{"text":"Dalcroze Reference","link":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/category\/dalcroze-reference\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7609"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19828,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7609\/revisions\/19828"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/joviala.com\/jovialaworks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Target Skills:<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Early Elementary:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Late Elementary (all the above plus):<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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