How to Prepare Quarter Rest

Teaching Guides

Jan 24

In this post we looked at some great songs for teaching quarter rest. Now that we have songs picked out, we’re ready to move on to preparing this rhythmic element.

Preparing Quarter Rest_1-23 Quarter Rest Prepare.png

Experience first!

One of the first tasks we have when preparing a musical element is letting students experience it without a label through what they feel, what they hear, and what they see. We do this through singing games.

Each of the songs in this post has an accompanying game or dance that works great for preparing quarter rest, but my favorite is Tinker Tailor.

Tinker Tailor is ball passing elimination game sung on a two note chant (that’s right, this song can double for Sol Mi practice!).

There are three specific ways this song helps prepare students:

Kinesthetically: Students keep a steady beat on their knees while they pass the ball. Since students are out when they get the ball on the quarter rest, they are feeling the beat without a sound because it’s a crucial part of the game.
Aurally: Having the “out” students reinforce the steady beat on instruments allows students hear a beat being played without a sound.
Visually: Students watch the ball being passed around the circle and see that the ball doesn’t stop with the singing. It continues with the beat. Students can see that there is a beat even when there isn’t a sound.

Describe what you hear.

The next step is for students to describe what they hear in the song. We do this by asking guided questions to get the students thinking about the specific rhythmic element.

After playing the game to Tinker Tailor, ask students to keep a steady beat on their laps while they sing the last phrase of the song ("rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief"). Then, follow a script like this:

T: How many beats are in this part of my song? (8)
T: What word do I sing on my first beat? (Rich)
T: What word do I sing on my last beat? (There’s no word)
T: Does our voice make any sound on the last beat? (no)

These questions guide students to describe a beat without a sound.

Match known phrases to sound / no sound on a beat

Students are aware that there can be a beat without a sound, so it’s time to identify a quarter rest in known songs.

Using the songs in this post, as well as some others your students know, have students listen to specific phrases to determine if they contain quarter rests. For this example, I used Cobbler Cobbler, Tinker Tailor, Rain Rain Go Away, and Bell Horses.

Start by listing out the phrases on the board (lyrics only - no rhythms) and writing four hearts. We want students to do the actual determining of sound / no sound by ear instead of by sight.

Cobbler cobbler mend my shoe, have it done by half past two
Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief
Rain rain go away, come again some other day
Bell horses bell horses what’s the time of day

While you point to the hearts to keep the steady beat, students may sing the phrase or clap the rhythm of the words.

Have students help you group each of the four the phrases into two categories: “beat without a sound” and “sounds on all the beats”.

Notate it!

After students can describe what they hear and aurally identify it, they’re ready to see it represented visually.

Using a song like Bow Wow Wow or Bell Horses have students help you notate the first 8 beats. Start by placing two lines of steady beat hearts on the board, then ask students to clap the words and tell you how many sounds they heard on each beat. (This is great review for quarter and eighth notes!)

Since we’re in the presentation phase, we’ll use a question mark for the quarter rest - students have not learned the proper notation yet.