Rhythm Go "Round" | Free Music Lesson Plan (Musical Form)

Big Idea

Challenge your students with this free, no-prep "follow-the-leader" body percussion activity. This rhythmic round builds advanced listening skills as students perform one pattern while simultaneously preparing for the next!

Grade Level: 3-6
Activity: Body Percussion & Follow-the-Leader Game
Skill: Identifying and Performing a Musical Round

Students will gain an understanding of a musical round by participating in a follow-the-leader activity using body percussion patterns.

This lesson is designed to fulfill the 2014 National Standard for Music:
Perform music, alone and with others, with expression and technical accuracy, and appropriate interpretation. (Performing - MU:Pr6.1.3a)

Whiteboard & Marker

Music Lesson Plan

Step 1
Write the word "round" on the board. Tell the students, "We'll be creating a round by playing a follow-the-leader game using body percussion. A round is a musical composition where two or more parts perform the same melody or rhythm, but they begin at different times."

Step 2
Clap a four-beat rhythm pattern and have students echo it back. Once they are comfortable echo-clapping, add other levels of body percussion like stamps, pats, and snaps. Use only one sound for each four-beat rhythm.

Step 3
Tell the students, "When you can do this well, we'll move to the advanced version! In this version, the leader continues to clap, pat, snap, or stamp a new four-beat pattern immediately after the first one, rather than waiting for you to echo. You'll echo my first rhythm while at the same time, watching and listening for the next one. This creates a round."

Step 4
Begin the activity. Keep the rhythms easy at first. As students get better, add more challenging rhythms and mix the body percussion sounds. Eventually, give students a chance to be the leader.

Step 5
After the students have had plenty of time to play the game, ask them, "What is a musical round?"