Today I’m excited to share the first of three rhythm resources I’ll be publishing in the coming days: Rhythm Trees in Duple and Triple Meters.
Next will be “Music Notation Parts: Cards and Cutouts” and the final a huge set of rhythm cards for building rhythm patterns.
I’ve been using all three resources in various forms in my studio for several years and am finally ready to share them with you!
While I believe this resource will be valuable for any teacher – regardless of your approach to teaching rhythm – I’d like to take a moment to share what inspired it, so you know where I’m coming from.
The Inspiration Behind This Resource
Over the past 10 years or so, I’ve studied the work of Dr. Edwin E. Gordon, whose research led to what we now know as Music Learning Theory (MLT). My biggest takeaway—and the easiest aspect I think most teachers can apply—is his approach to teaching rhythm.
MLT practitioners begin with how music is heard and felt, not how it’s read. Dr. Gordon coined the term audiation, which refers to hearing music in our minds with understanding and meaning (not just recalling it like pressing a play button). Audiation is being able to describe or give language to what we hear. MLT has given me the verbal tools to talk with students more clearly about what we hear in music.
Rhythm begins with the macrobeat, or “big beat.” You can feel this by gently swaying side to side—it’s the pulse of the music.
Next is the microbeat, or “little beat.” The microbeat helps define the meter. Each macrobeat can be divided into either two microbeats (Duple Meter) or three microbeats (Triple Meter). Try this: continue swaying side to side to feel the macrobeat, and then use your hands to tap the microbeats in groups of 2 or 3.
How this appears in notation can vary. For example, in Duple Meter, the Macrobeat might be a half note with quarter-note microbeats, or a quarter note with eighth-note microbeats. Other factors may come into play to determine what note is the Macrobeat – most notably what other rhythms are present and the tempo of the pattern executed.
In Triple Meter, the Macrobeat might be a dotted half note with quarter-note microbeats, or a dotted quarter note with eighth-note microbeats.
This is called enrhythmic notation.
Dr. Gordon felt that existing counting systems didn’t fully support enrhythmic notation, so he developed his own: the Gordon/Froseth Rhythm Syllable System.
- The Macrobeat is always Du.
- The Microbeat is Du-de in Duple and Du-da-di in Triple.
If we continue to divide the Microbeat, the next level is called Divisions. It is verbalized by inserting “ta” between the microbeats in any variation.
Duple Meter Examples:
- Du-ta-de-ta
- Du—-de-ta
- Du-ta-de
Triple Meter Examples:
- Du-ta-da-ta-di-ta
- Du-ta-da-ta-di—
- Du-ta-da—-di-ta
- Du—-da-ta-di-ta
(etc.)
If you would like to dive deeper into this system, I would recommend this video by Andy Mullen from The Improving Musician.
As I said at the start though, no matter your approach to rhythm, I believe you will still find these sheets flexible!
Utilizing This Rhythm Trees Resource
I think the first time I heard these called “rhythm trees” was when using Marilyn Lowe’s Music Moves for Piano series. She uses the term “rhythm trees” in her Reading and Writing Music Notation books. Rhythm trees are a nice visual reference to showing how rhythms build on and relate to one another.
For instance, in Duple Meter, we might do a pattern using quarter and eighth notes. When we’re ready to add divisions, we refer to the rhythm tree to find what note value would be used at the next level – sixteenths.
Then we might take those same patterns and do them with the half note as the macrobeat, quarter notes as the microbeat, and eighth notes as divisions
This download includes 10 pages featuring multiple variations of rhythm trees. Choose the version that resonates most with you and your students – or use different views for different teaching applications.
Duple Meter Rhythm Trees
For those who do not use the MLT rhythm system, pages 2 and 3 include duplicates that remove that terminology.
Triple Meter Rhythm Trees
Notice I DID include dotted whole notes as a big beat. The most commonly used rhythm trees in triple are that of the dotted half note and dotted quarter note macrobeats. Both dotted whole notes as well as dotted eighths are possible ways of notating in triple meter but neither are widely used.
I decided to include the dotted whole note so students can see it IS a viable option. I chose that over the dotted eighth since we reference the whole note in duple meter. This kept a little more consistency with in the rhythm trees and avoided getting into 32 notes.
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