I need an example of a rhythm in 3/4 time?

Question

.I need a 4 measure example of a rhythm in 3/4 time...

That's my main question, so whoever has a written example (that only uses dot's, quarters, halves, whole's and eighth's.) will be selected for best answer... I'm teacher a Music in Rhythm class, and I'm teacher about 3/4 times... I can't manage to find anything simple enough for the kids to clap.

Also, I'm looking for a way that I can teacher then why it's called 3/4. The 3 stands for how many beats in the measure and the 4 stands for what note gets one count... These kids are, honestly, not the smartest kids, and I'm wondering what's the best way to explain that to them?

That may very well work, but I'm also teaching them how to write out the rhythms. I suppose I'll look for it, but it's rather difficult to find a simple rhythm with yahoo or google images.

Answer 1

The simplest would be "quarter quarter quarter". Another simple one would be a dotted half note. You could also have "eighth-eighth eighth-eighth eighth-eighth". A little more complex would be "dotted quarter eighth quarter". Etc...

A couple of pictures of 3/4 time signatures w/ various rhythms.

http://www.music-mind.com/Music/Srm0035.GIF

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Time_signature_example.svg

For an explanation (I recommend drawing along with the words for a visual example):

There are three beats in a measure and the quarter note gets one beat.

So we need three quarter notes.

We know that two eighth notes equal one quarter note, so we can replace our three quarter notes with three groups of two eighth notes... now how many eighth notes do we have? (six)

So we have two ways of writing in 3/4 time: we can write three quarter notes, or six eighth notes.

Etc...

Good luck!

Answer 2

So first, I've found that it's best to teach these concepts slow. You don't have to cover the entire of key signatures in one day to a kid, it probably took you years to really grasp it.

For a rhythm, try something with words like

the |Birds_ will |stay_ at |slee-py time| lake_ un- |til_ the |hunt-_ ers| all go a-|way_

You understand the rhythms I'm implying.

Now with the time signature. I won't teach them 3/4- the concept of the 4 is very complicated and requires a huge amount of prior knowledge i'm sure they don't have. I'd write it as three over a quarternote. 6/8 would be 6 over an eighth note, and 3/2 would be 3 over a half note. Once, weeks from now, when they are comfortable with that, have them decode the notes to be the correct numbers.

Now for kids hearing triple time... You can start stuff so they understand that this is even a question, but it will be years before they've heard enough music to control it in their heads like that. It took us years.

Answer 3

Any waltz is an example of a 3/4 time beat, so maybe you could just play a song they would be familiar with, such as Waltz of the Flowers from the Nutcracker Suite. Even if they don't know the name of that song, odds are they are familiar with it from its use in cartoons, commercials, etc. Have them follow your lead as you clap the beat while the music plays. That's what I'd do, anyway.

Other 3/4 songs:

Edelweiss, from Sound of Music
Oom-Pa-Pa, from Oliver!

Answer 4

I'll add the Blue Danube to the above list.

To me, it's more about the feeling of 3/4 time compared to 4/4. Play examples of both types and get them clapping their hands and tapping their feet to feel the rhythm.