More rhythms….

We are excited to share our new rhythm piece for ‘Little Hands On Rhythm® – Activity Games.. These extension pieces will take students to the next level of rhythm reading. Here is an example of a rhythm built by one of my upper elementary students. Having the basic beat above to define the note and rest values in the rhythm, helps students to correctly play the rhythms they are are making. Student can further challenge their abilities by tapping the basic beat with their foot when playing or clapping the rhythm. For most students tapping the beat while performing the rhythm actually helps them perform the rhythm correctly.

Teaching Aids for Music

Portion of Article in ‘Scientific America’ entitled “The Myth of Individual Learning Styles”.

Fortunately, cognitive science has identified a number of methods to enhance knowledge acquisition, and these techniques have fairly universal benefit. Students are more successful when they space out their study sessions over time, experience the material in multiple modalities, test themselves on the material as part of their study practices, and elaborate on material to make meaningful connections rather than engaging in activities that involve simple repetition of information (e.g., making flashcards or recopying notes). These effective strategies were identified decades ago and have convincing and significant empirical support.

Cindi May

Cindi May is a Professor of Psychology at the College of Charleston. She explores avenues for improving cognitive function in college students, older adults, and individuals with intellectual disabilities. She is also an advocate for inclusive opportunities for people with disabilities.

What we are working on….The next tutorial video – Seeing and hearing the difference between beat and rhythm

The Little Hands On Rhythm – Activity Games, can be used to help explain the difference between beat and rhythm. This concept is not that difficult really and you could just clap a steady beat, then clap a rhythm to a song. But it is more fun, and I believe more concrete, for a student to see what a beat and rhythm look like as written language. They can clap and count bars of the basic beats on the rhythm board and then contrast the auditory and visual experience by creating a rhythm under the beat using different note and rest values. This will show the different time duration’s too. By clapping and counting the rhythm they can see and hear the contrast to the basic beat above.

Playing the the basic beat and the rhythm together, by tapping the basic beat with your foot and clapping the rhythm with your hands, or using both hands to tap out the basic beat and rhythm, can be challenging; requiring concentration and coordination. One more way to stay brain healthy and put rhythm in your world at the same time.

T.A.M. attends the ORMTA 2018 Convention

This past summer we were thrilled to attend the 2018 ORMTA conference and have the opportunity to show our rhythm activity game – Little Hands On Rhythm. Thank you to all the teachers and vendors who visited our booth and to those who purchased our products. We are looking forward to meeting up once again at the 2020 convention in Niagara Falls. Best wishes to all the teachers who are passionate about their profession and seek to share their love of music with their students by presenting materials that make music education fun and accessible for everyone.

T.A.M. would like to wish you all a wonderful 2019 teaching year!

Introduction of Little Hands On Rhythm at the MMTA meeting

Monday was a great start to the week for T.A.M. as we were invited to present a demonstration of Little Hands On Rhythm and the Random Rhythm game at the Milton Music Teachers Association. I thank the members for greeting me so warmly and being open to learning a new way of presenting rhythm to students. Thank you to those members who purchased a copy of the teaching tool for their studios. We are looking forward to hearing their student’s reactions!

I know everyone is very eager to have the extension kit with the sixteenth subdivision etc . We are working on getting the prototype housing completed. The extension kit manipulative pieces are completed and I am using them with my students. The pieces REALLY WORK beautifully to help students understand and represent the sixteenth note rhythms correctly. There are ample new rest, note and time signatures in the new kit to take students to a whole new level of rhythm study.

If your teacher organization would like a demonstration of Little Hands On Rhythm we would love to show you our products. Please contact us at info@teachingaidsformusic.com

Thank you to everyone who has supported T.A.M. in our effort to provide fun and exciting new teaching aids for music education : )

We have a winner!

Congratulations Verity on winning our draw at the 2016 CAMT conference for a free copy of our Little Hands On Rhythm combo set! This new teaching tool is a wonderful way for young children to learn the difficult concepts of rhythm. By using Little Hands On Rhythms students learn in the way they know best.. through hands-on exploration. We hope you and your students will enjoy your free copy and will use it often to explore the world of rhythm.

T.A.M. attends the 2016 CAMT conference in Toronto.

camt-conference-2016 On November 4, Teaching Aids for Music exhibited at the annual CAMT (Canadian Association of Montessori Teachers) in Toronto at the Old Mill Inn. We had a very successful event with lot of interest in our products. Over 70 people visited our booth and we had an opportunity to show our innovative new products for music education.

As part of our presentation we offered a draw for a free Little Hands On Rhythm and Random Rhythm card set kit.

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