Teaching Counting with Musition
Like I mentioned with Auralia and teaching intonation a few posts ago, sometimes just ONE exercise or function is reason enough to purchase a software title for use with your students. I would argue that the Rhythm Counting exercises in Musition are reason enough to integrate MusitionFirst into your instruction with any performance ensemble.
As a band director, one of the most important things for my students to learn was how to count rhythms. Basic enough, but it was always a challenge. While some band directors blame the music teachers that taught their students before they were in their ensemble, that is often unfair. It’s one thing for students to learn how many beats a quarter note gets, it is quite another to PLAY or SING a quarter note alone or with an ensemble. They’re also focusing on the PITCH that they need to play or sing while staying in tempo with the other members of the ensemble.
Within MusitionFirst, available exclusively through MusicFirst, there are 3 levels - Introductory, Beginner, and Intermediate. You can find these different levels by clicking on the down arrow in the upper left corner of the software interface (see above). Each level then has additional levels of difficulty - ranging usually from 1 to 4. There is a very helpful description of each level so that you can focus on exactly what your students need help with (see below).
Once you’ve selected the level of difficulty, you are presented with a musical example in a variety of time signatures. Underneath the musical example there are boxes below each note. The objective of these exercise is for students to select the correct count for each note - choosing from the time-tested 1 e & a method of counting rhythms. In the example shown below, the students need to select the correct count for each note. If a rhythm is held through a count, the students simply selects the correct count number in parentheses.
I don’t know about you, but this type of exercise is a PERFECT way to gain an understanding of whether or not your students know how to count. And when you think about it - creating a similar exercise without MusitionFirst is extremely time consuming - especially if you are creating it in either notation software or Google Forms. I love this exact exercise and to me, it illustrates exactly why performance ensemble teachers specifically, should integrate MusitionFirst as a routine part of their instruction. It is exercises like these that make a strong case for technology integration with ensembles. The best part? You can assign students unlimited quizzes like this, with however many questions you’d like at whatever level of difficulty you’d like, throughout the year. All student work is recorded directly into your grade book. You can set up a weekly or monthly rhythm counting quiz for the year in the MusicFirst Classroom in about 5 minutes. It doesn’t get much easier than that.
If you would like to try our MusitionFirst with ALL of the different types of exercises, just sign up for a FREE 30-day trial HERE. Your students (and their counting skills) will thank you.