Hands-On Approach To Teaching Compound Time...And A Musical Giveaway!

     This project is my brainchild- seriously, I spent a few evenings thinking up a hands-on way to teach the concept and theory of compound time.  I wanted it to be a craft that I made myself. And this is what I came up with: Blocks!

I cannot even tell you how excited I am with the finished project! It turned out even better than my imaginary image was. I couldn't find blocks that fit what I wanted, so I made these using wooden blocks of different sizes (the lightweight ones). I then traced the different sizes of squares onto coloured foam. Then I cut out the foam and glued it to the blocks with craft glue. Using a stencil and a sharpie, I drew the numbers to different time signatures. Yep, lots of cutting, glueing, and drawing. But now they are ready to use! 

Here's how to use them:

Like this (facing up)...

...or like this (facing out)

     So if we are teaching the time signature of 9/8, set up that side of the big block. Then set out 3 blue blocks to show the 3 beats in 9/8 time. Next, set out 9 pink blocks to show the 9 pulses that make up the 3 beats. Beside the blue blocks, set out a green block with the correct note value on it (in this case it's a dotted quarter note) to show which note gets the beat. Then set out a green block beside the pink blocks to show which note value gets the pulse (in this case it's the 8th note). 

    This can be a teaching aid or a game, or both. I'm can't wait to try this with my students when they arrive at compound time. And I'm so inspired that I want to make some blocks for my beginners that show simple time.

     Here's the best part- I am going to give a set of these blocks away to one random person. The set will include 2 big blocks, 2 green blocks, 4 blue blocks, and 12 pink blocks. (They may not actually be those exact colours, but this way you can tell what sizes they will be.) Here's how to enter:

*Leave a comment on this post telling me why you think you're not too old to play with blocks! :)

*Post about this giveaway on your blog or website, and comment here again telling me that you did. This will give you an extra entry.
*Become a new follower of this blog for an extra entry (tell me this in a separate comment).

      Winner will be chosen next Thursday, April 28th by a random number generator. Have fun!