Playing Rhythms Through the Box Method
January 16th, 2006 by jenh
How many students in the school band program reach the end of high school not being able to independently play common rhythms (involving dotted-eighth, dotted-sixteenth, sixteenth, or even eighth and quarter notes) with a steady pulse and strong rhythmic sense? How many rely on the band director to sing the rhythm to them? My hunch is more students than band directors would like to admit “get by” in band through mostly using their ear. If placed in a new situation where they must learn to perform a piece of music on their own, these students would flounder.
As a 4-5 instrumental music educator, I want my students to become independent musicians. So, instead of jumping into reading standard notation, I use the “box method” to introduce my students to rhythm notation. Fellow music educator Evan Tobias introduced me to this very successful approach to teaching how to read rhythms. An example of iconic notation, the “box method” is developmentally appropriate for my students, based on their age and experience. (See Jerome Bruner’s theory of cognitive development). Through using this method, my students are independently reading and performing rhythms with a steady pulse as soloists, in small groups, and in a large ensemble. Quarter, eighth, half, whole notes, and syncopation using these values are learned quickly and accurately, and soon we will be playing, reading, composing, and notating rhythms using sixteenth and dotted-eighth notes. Because the “box method” clearly shows the duration of sounds in a rhythm, students develop a clear understanding of rhythm and pulse before attempting to decipher the potentially confusing and unclear symbols in Western standard notation. I anticipate that having the experience with iconic notation will make the transition to reading rhythms using standard notation relatively simple and easy.
Another resource to look at is Rhythm Vocabulary Charts by Ed Sueta. Each page has about ten lines of just rhythm, and focuses on a particular note value or rhythmic concept (i.e. half notes, triplets, dotted quarter, etc.). In lessons we speak the rhythms (there is a chart in the book explaining a “too ta ta” method that I find works well for transitioning to tonguing), clap the rhythms, and play the rhythms on our instruments. Of course, I too have ‘borrowed’ the box concept for teaching rhythm - it is very accessible to those students still struggling with standard notation skills.