Simpedia

Darla H., Kansas

There was a post from Gordon Harvey and some others several years ago that really helped me. I found it in the Simpedia under the heading READING RHYTHM CLAPPING.

I used the advice and just don’t ever let myself get stuck there. I don’t insist on mastery before moving on.

Also, do you have Laurie Richard’s new workbook Read ‘n Play Vol. 1? It has a lot of exercises for ties. I haven’t gotten there with my students yet, but it looks like it may be helpful also.

Joanne J., Western Australia

Neil recommends to process first without the tie and then process with the tie to assist in understanding it which you may have already tried.

In the context of a piece of music it is much easier to feel the rhythm through the tie because it usually makes natural rhythmic sense to hold the tied note rather than play it. Using the written music from levels 1 & 2 where ties appear is a great source for them to ‘feel’ the tie as they play the piece while watching the music. ( A plug for the importance of the ‘seamless’ Playlist!!)

I have made the mistake of not moving on in some instances and believe I was wrong to do that so would definitely recommend moving on to the dotted notes that come next for a couple of reasons:

1. you have another way of showing them what the tie does.
2. It is all a ‘process not an event’ and understanding this is not imperative to understanding anything that is coming after ie it won’t impede any other learning and as time passes they will ‘get it’.

Robin Keehn, Washington

I have found that SAYING what you are doing is really helpful. In other words, you could say:

Clap-clap hold or play-play-don’t play (that would be for example: quarter note, quarter note and tied to something else). Using either set of descriptions is more useful when you are actually clapping along with the words but sometimes it is better first just to describe it if students are struggling. Back to the “One thought process at a time.”

My philosophy is: When in doubt, describe it out loud.

Louise H., Michigan

What I’ve done is clap the rhythm without the tie first, and as many times as it takes until they feel comfortable. Then, instead of holding the tied note, we stomp our foot on the tied note. This takes the place of the clap in the hands, so the hands are holding the tie, but the body is feeling the beat of the tied note, make sense? Eventually we lessen the stop to a bounce in the body and then nothing.

On the really hard ones, like the tied 16th, we work on that beat only, not the entire measure.

Ties are hard, they take time to figure out and feel. With tied 16ths, there are really only a few possible rhythms and those can almost be done by rote.

Jan D., Ohio

I have found that many students have trouble with ties for a long time and others catch on the first week that they are introduced – and everything in between.

I also have them say the rhythm then clap and say the rhythm without the ties and say the rhythm and then clap and say the rhythm with the ties. We break it down into as small of sections as necessary. After they can do that, then we move on to playing and we may have to do that without and with the ties in small sections as well.

Two common problems I have seen is not being certain how long to hold the second note of the tie, even after talking our way through it, and getting the note that is played and tied reversed (counting the first and playing the second, even when they know it is play then hold). One more piece of information (the tie) is enough to make some fall apart. I believe all are a matter of not being able to process all of the material at the same time so working your way slowly through ties is essential for many students. Also, we have been playing what we see for awhile by the time we reach ties and some students have trouble not playing when they see a note. That in itself is the entire problem for some.

I have one student who has been trying to get ties straight for six months so I have had to come up with many different ways of thinking of the same material in reaction to what she appears to be struggling with. I have gone back and done more transcription in previous sections and spent a little more time in Reading Notes so she doesn’t feel like she is completely stalled. We have looked through the Music books of the first few foundation levels and TFMM to point out that she won’t always be playing that many ties in one piece and in context, she realizes that what is presented in the Reading Rhythm book is more “complex” than many of the pieces she will reading in the beginning. So, we spend a couple of minutes each lesson checking on her progress and then do something else.

Sometimes not understanding ties is the result of not truly understanding the basics of rhythm. Even when students play things correctly and even say things correctly, they can be missing some little piece of understanding that, when found, can make everything fall into place. Look for clues – these missing links can be difficult to find since we can’t see what is going on in their brains. Do all you can along the way to make certain that they understand the basics – in addition to having them say, clap, play, transcribe, etc., have them explain the rhythm just like we do with the diagrams in the foundation levels. That is a great way to see where they are in their understanding of rhythm. I always tell students who don’t like to say the instructions aloud for anything that I need to hear them say the instructions so I know what they need help with because I can’t see what is going on in their brains. They usually laugh and then do it.

Laurie Richards, Nebraska

Ties can be challenging for some. Whenever someone struggles with something, I always figure out how to simplify it down to the most basic level, and do many repetitions, since that is how our brains learn best. For ties, that could mean writing a quarter note followed by 2 eighth notes, with a tie from the quarter to the first 8th. Voice the rhythm without the tie, then with the tie. I think it helps to put extra emphasis on the tied syllable. For example, this rhythm would be:

Without the tie: buuh, buh-buh
With the tie: Buuh – UH-buh with a loud “UH” so they still feel the rhythm (then reduce the emphasis on that syllable once they get it)

As someone else posted, it’s a process that you just have to keep coming back to rather than something to be mastered before moving on (at least for many students).

Darla did mention the Read ‘n Play book – I deliberately included quite a few exercises on ties and dotted notes so that students would have something concrete (and different) to keep coming back to for review.  These are best used as MORs in class so you will know they are processing the rhythms correctly.

Gordon Harvey, Australia

Here’s a CTE approach to ties that you might use if necessary:

Remember earlier in the Reading Rhythm process, Rhythm Across Fingers, when students were playing singles, doubles and quads in five fingers on the keyboard? There is the option there to tap doubles in the feet – L,R,L,R… I actually have students continue to tap their feet as they process further steps. So, even when learning half and whole notes, I have students tapping their feet. For those longer notes, this has the advantage of making it absolutely clear how long the note should be held. After they are comfortable with the step they are processing, I will then have them do it without the foot tapping, but they will be familiar with the tapping right up to the time they start on ties.

If so, you can then refer to each component of a group with ties by how they relate to the foot tapping. To take the simple example of an 1/8 note followed by another 1/8 tied to a 1/4, you would point to the first 1/8 note and say “that’s a Left”, then to the tied 1/8 and 1/4 and say “that’s held for the length of Right, Left, Right”. Make sure they are clear about that, then have them very slowly clap the two notes and voice “L, RLR” – no need to actually have the rhythm ‘correct’ just yet, it will be too slow for them to hear it anyway.

Now, still very slowly and still not worrying about correct rhythm, introduce the foot tapping, so they will be clapping when they tap their first left foot, then again while they tap the next right, left and right feet. When you feel they may be getting the hang of it, you could have them voicing the notes – “ba” and “baaa” instead of “L, RLR”. You will also, when you think they are ready, coach them on tapping the feet evenly.

Once they have the coordination completely clear, they can start to very slowly build up speed until they can do it thoughtlessly. Once they’ve reached that point, they can start to listen to themselves, then it will dawn on them “Oh, so it’s just ba baaa”. They need to hear it for themselves.

This sounds ponderous when written down, which is because it actually is ponderous, but I’ve found that if you do this absolutely thoroughly, allowing it to take however long it takes, for the first few projects, students will start to pick up ties in a more streamlined way pretty quickly, and then if they find a tie that is more challenging, they can just go back to the CTE process. What you don’t want is to try a method and fail, then try another method and fail again.

That said, like others have suggested, I also tend to move forward with other reading projects and just do small, ongoing doses of ties projects in parallel. I also think ties are something you can process in actual songs as you encounter them. In other words, unlike previous rhythm components, I don’t see that it’s necessary to be a total tie-master before moving on.

Beth S., Tennessee

I struggled with ties also, both personally and with students. Likewise, I’ve had students who have gotten stuck on the Ties and Dotted Notes pages for months. Interestingly, today I just finished up ties with an 11 year old and moved on to dotted notes. We completed the entire page in one lesson with no problem. The difference is not in the student but rather in the way I teach it now.

1. The student must know where the beat falls. Two things to help with this: a) mark the beats. I have student put a small caret mark under the note where each beat falls. b) have student clap the beat but voice the rhythm.

2. The student must also understand the up-beat and the down-beat and which notes fall where. i.e. quarter note – gets both up and down; eighth notes – one on the up and one on the down; sixteenth – two on the up and two on the down. This can be visually observed if the student is clapping the beat. As an alternative, student may tap the beat on the page with their index finger. In that way, their finger is coming down on each “caret” mark and they can see the up and down of the beat while voicing the rhythm at the same time.

Once I started this approach, I have no longer had major issues with ties/dotted notes/rests.