Darla Hanley's Music Room
Creative Teaching for Students of Today (& Tomorrow) PK-8
Today’s Teaching Strategy: Larks and Spurs
(2-Team Body Percussion Accompaniments)
Upper Elementary (5)
This teaching strategy is a 2-team rhythmic accompaniment that goes with “Larkspur” by Natalie Padilla and Quinn Bachand. I chose this music because it works well to reinforce steady beat and syncopation.
The track is available on multiple streaming audio platforms. (Like many of my teaching strategies, you should feel free to find other audio tracks to anchor the learning experience using music that works in your setting or new tracks to simply “mix it up.”)
Hi! I’m Darla, an experienced PK-12 music educator, college professor, and former Berklee College of Music Dean looking to connect with teachers, parents/caregivers, and others seeking to advance creative music making for today’s students—and their teachers. In Darla Hanley’s Music Room you will find teaching strategies, advice and teaching tips, playlists, and more.
Larks and Spurs
Today we are going to create an accompaniment to a song called “Larkspur” by Natalie Padilla and Quinn Bachand.
What is an accompaniment? (a musical part that supports or enhances a melody or song)
What is a larkspur? (a flower)
What is a lark? (a bird)
What is a spur? (a verb meaning to encourage or push—to spur something on; or a noun meaning a sharp object attached to a rider's boot used to get a horse to move forward)
ProTIP: Taking time to reinforce vocabulary, and in this case to include a musical term and a riff off of the song title, is playful, informative, and foreshadows the names of the 2 teams.
To create our accompaniment we will use 3 types of body percussion: 1) clapping, 2) stomping, and 3) patsching (tapping our thighs). Let’s read the “Larkspur Rhythms” notation and perform the body percussion—without a track to get started.
*Important* ProTIP: Have students perform the Patsch pattern and continue it while adding Hand Clap 1; stop and restart having students perform the Stomp pattern and continue it while adding Hand Clap 2 to anchor the syncopation. (i.e., students are not expected to perform Hand Clap 2 by itself unless they are familiar with syncopation).
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Play the recording of “Larkspur” and direct students to perform the “Larkspur Rhythms” using body percussion with the track. Layer the rhythms to create the two combinations (Patsch + Hand Clap 1; Stomp + Hand Clap 2).
ProTIP: Begin rhythms at 0.9 of the track following a brief introduction. (Note: There is a change in tempo and feel of the music at 1.37. Use the first 1.36 as an excerpt for the accompaniment or continue the track to see how students respond to this change.)
Now we are going to form 2 teams, “The Larks” and “The Spurs”.
ProTIP: There are many ways to assign students to teams (e.g., count 1s and 2s; draw cards with T1 and T2 on them; have students form partners and ask 1 person in their pair to kneel down—have all standing students form 1 team and all kneeling students form the other). Use the approach that best suits your teaching setting.
“The Larks” will perform the first two lines (i.e., Patsch and Hand Clap 1). “The Spurs” will perform the last two lines (i.e., Stomp and Hand Clap 2). This is exciting as you get to read and perform two lines of rhythms at the same time!
Have students switch teams and repeat so all students experience the syncopation.
EXTEND the Learning:
Select individual students to create new body percussion moves to replace the patsch and/or stomp patterns.*
Add words to anchor the rhythms (i.e. Patsch = “lark, lark, lark, lark”; Hand Clap 1 = “larkspur, larkspur, larkspur, larkspur”; Stomp = “lark, lark, lark, lark”; and Hand Clap 2 = “spur, spur, spur, spur”).
Distribute claves or drumsticks to all students and have them perform the last 2 lines with a Stomp and transfer Hand Clap 2 to their instrument.
Formally teach the word syncopation as new vocabulary.
🎵 Natalie Padilla and Quinn Bachand, “Larkspur” Link to Track on Spotify
Learning Targets
Read, Move, (Play*)
Learning Outcomes
Respond to show tempo, beat, and syncopation using movements
Create original ways to move to music*
Perform movements in teams (and play rhythmic patterns on instruments*)
*Students (only) lead, create, and play instruments as part of the EXTEND the Learning within this teaching strategy.
Assessment
Informal Observation/Formative Assessment
Thanks for checking this out. If you use this teaching strategy, be sure to leave a comment to let me know how it resonates with your students!