Your children are now steeped in various meters, with and without syllables, and have developed greater awareness of different meters and some degree of skill discriminating one meter from another. We’ll now move to the discrimination of beat functions within a meter. Your children have developed their sense of meter partially through Macro/Micro Beat Activities, so they have been immersed in and have been engaged with macro and micro beats in the various meters, with appropriate weight distribution, both with and without syllables. Discriminating between macro and micro beats forces the musical mind to reflect on beat function within each meter—that the beats/rhythm patterns they know so well in sound are different from each other.

Any number of activities can be designed to demonstrate children’s awareness of macro and micro beats and other beat functions. Just remember to place musical examples “next to each other” in sound so that through multiple opportunities, the musical mind can compare, contrast, create hypotheses, try them out and revise hypotheses as needed, in order to come to a “sound understanding” of beat functions being addressed—all without the intrusion of language. Create activities in accordance with the difficulty of meters and with the difficulty of rhythm patterns within each meter—introduce the new discrimination in Duple meter before Triple before Unusual Paired meter; and secure discrimination between macro and micro beats before going into division patterns or more difficult rhythm patterns. [Rhythm and Tonal Sequencing] The most effective activities you create will further unveil audiation, giving you greater opportunity to view it directly, manipulate it, and learn from the transparent workings of the musical mind.

Activities can be done in a group and with individual children. Those done in a group give all a chance to “practice” discriminating. Activities can be done strictly in movement, or with props, puppets, hoops, or any creative addition that doesn’t take away from the aural focus. For example, some children might move with macro beats while others move with micro beats. When they hear the beep, (which can be your voice), they switch. Or, one group (or groups) sitting or standing, might be holding a hoop (s), moving the hoop side to side with macro beats, while another group (s) works another hoop (s) the same way with micro beats, again switching when they hear the beep. Perhaps the individual child puts something in a “Macro Bucket” when he hears macro beats and in a “Micro Bucket” when he hears micro beats. Perhaps children jump across a rope strung across the floor, chanting macro beats on one side of the rope and micros on the other. Two puppets can also serve to contrast macro and micro beats just as they serve to contrast meters.

You can develop activities so children can learn a particular skill, or to uncover more about audiation and what it can or can’t do at any given age or stage. For example, a “Hopscotch” game of sorts was set up with a series of colored hoops on the floor to explore whether 4-5 year old children who could discriminate one meter from another were yet able to recall contrasting meters by name. The teacher demonstrated jumping from one hoop to another, while narrating. “When you jump into a red hoop, let’s see if you can sing in Duple meter, ‘du de du, du de du.’ When you jump into a blue hoop, let’s see if you can sing in Triple meter, ‘du da di du, du da di du.’ When you jump into the yellow hoop, let’s see if you can sing in Unusual Paired meter, ‘du be du ba bi, du be du ba bi." The teacher jumped and chanted through all of the hoops, without verbalization, and then invited children to take a turn. Each child charted his own course through the colored hoops, switching between Duple and Triple meter with ease, some needing a bit of coaching, with most all demonstrating their triumph by chanting Unusual Paired meter in the yellow hoop without any coaching.

Another example—a four year old, seven year old, and their grandmother were playing with macro and micro beats in Triple meter on a large drum. Grammy suggested that she and the four year old play micro beats and the seven year old play macro beats. Eventually, the four year old spontaneously began playing division patterns. After a number of phrases, Grammy pointed out that the four year old was playing “divisions,” while she was playing micro beats, and the seven year old was playing macro beats, and invited more of the same. A half hour later, when writing music, the four year old volunteered that he was writing “additions.” Grammy asked, “Do you mean ‘divisions?” He affirmed and went on to “read what he had written,” chanting divisions beautifully in Triple meter.

Advanced Rhythm Discrimination Activities can be created as warm-ups with movement with the choral ensemble or older group of students, or with props with most any age. One of the greatest delights of young children was teaching the endeared puppet, Doodley Duck—a well-meaning puppet who was always willing to engage, but never quite understood, so always needed the children’s help. “Today we’re going to teach Doodley Duck micro beats in Duple meter. Ok Doodley, these are micro beats. ‘Du de, du de, du de, du de.’ These are Macro beats. ‘Du, du, du, du.’ We want you to sing micro beats, ‘du de, du de, du de, du de.” Doodley starts on the next beat, singing macro beats in contrast to the demonstrated micro beats. Doodley always sings the opposite of what we ask him to sing. The teacher’s micros and Doodley’s macros (or vice versa,) keep the contrasting macro and micro beats “side by side” aurally. “Doodley, you sang beautiful macro beats, ‘du du du du.’ We want you to sing micro beats—‘du de, du de, du de, du de.’ Try it again, Doodley.” Multiple tries give children the chance to discriminate repeatedly. The children “get it” much quicker than Doodley does, and are always ready to help Doodley. Four year olds will even tell Doodley that he sang “great” macro beats or micro beats, before letting him know he didn’t do what we asked him to do. This activity sounds a bit wordy in print, but in practice, it is easier to keep contrasting macros and micros in sound while interacting with the puppet.