Rhythm Chants and Tonality Songs serve for immersion in meters and tonalities, while Rhythm Dialogue, Resting Tone Activities, Macro/Micro Beat Activities and Tonal Dialogue serve interactivity. Might these activities be used for immersion?

Children have to be familiar with rhythm patterns in order to dialogue in rhythm, and they have to be familiar with resting tone in order to respond in Resting Tone Activities. Each of these develops the readiness for Macro/Micro Beat Activities and Tonal Dialogue. To invite the two latter activities before sufficient input will yield only imitation rather than meaningful output.

Beginners immersed in various meters and tonalities can be effectively drawn into Rhythm Dialogue and Resting Tone Activities as class activities, establishing the aural, while priming children for interactivity. Within a lesson plan with 6 sets of Rhythm, Tonal, Song, the final set might be devoted to Rhythm Dialogue and Resting Tone Activity. Start with macro and micro beat patterns in Duple meter, inviting response by delivering “du de du, du de du?” as a question, and gesturing for adults and children to provide an answer. Thus starts Rhythm Dialogue, but more importantly, the immersion of rhythm patterns in the context of Rhythm Dialogue, with it's anticipation of give and take.

Tonally, start with easy Resting Tone Activities of O-Solo-Me-O and use the “resting tone squat,” to bring the whole class into the game. Sing the tonal segments and then squat with the resting tone, saturating children with resting tone while setting up the anticipation of resting tone in the musical mind.

Using Rhythm Dialogue and Resting Tone Activities for one set of Rhythm/Tonal Activities within a class of beginners awakens and strengthens these dimensions in the musical mind without any expectations.  When these children are ready for interactivity, the musical mind will already be prepared with a response and you will only have to deal with enticing children to respond individually.

Rhythm Dialogue and Resting Tone Activities actually serve for immersion with more developed children as well, as the musical narrative commands the room and those little musical minds are responding in audiation, if not aurally, to each individual interaction, anticipating the resting tone or rhythm response.

Macro/Micro Beat Activities can serve for immersion with more developed children, as new content is introduced with props, encouraging macro/micro movement, yet not at all expecting precision. Macro/Micro Beat Activities for immersion for somewhat developed children provide an opportunity for children to try to fit the new, more difficult content into their somewhat established aural grid for meter. Of course, children without immersion in meters have not yet had the opportunity to develop that aural grid. Macro/Micro Activities don’t “teach” it, and props distract its development. Beginners need immersion in the various meters.  

Resting Tone Activities are essentially the first experience in Tonal Dialogue, and all Resting Tone Activities immerse children in both resting tone and tonal segments. Tonal Dialogue is too advanced for beginners. The greatest challenge with more developed children who are comfortable with Resting Tone Activities is to move children from responding with just the resting tone, to responding with a tonal segment.  Using a puppet to demonstrate might be a helpful technique.