Then I decided to approach the bottom number from a different angle; one that my younger students especially could understand. First I show my students a paper circle and ask them what shape it is. Then I show them a laminated circle made from card stock outlined in black representing a whole note (upper left hand corner pic if you're looking at the web version of this blog). I say, "A whole circle represents a whole note". Then I cut the paper circle in half and then in quarters so that my students actually see the process from going from a whole circle to four quarters of a whole by the end of the activity. Then I place the two laminated half pieces made from card stock with half notes written on each piece on top of the whole note circle (upper right hand corner pic). I say, "I'm going to cut my paper circle in half. Now we have 2 equal pieces. Each piece represents a half or a half note." I go through the same process when cutting the paper circle in 4 equal pieces and I call them quarters and refer to them as quarter note pieces (upper middle pic).
Then I say, "Ok, let's recap. A whole circle equals a whole note. When we cut the circle in half, each half equals a half note. It takes two half notes to equal a whole note. When we cut the circle in four equal pieces each piece represents a quarter note. Just like it takes four quarters to equal one whole dollar, it take four quarter notes to equal one whole circle or whole note. Take a picture in your mind of everything you just saw. Did you do it? OK."
Then we look at that bottom number of the time signature again and I say to them that every time they look at the bottom number of any time signature they need to ask themselves the same question inserting the bottom number when asking this question, "It takes (2,4,8) of what note to make a whole circle or whole note?"
When kids first learn about time signature it's normally 4 over 4 so the question I ask is, "It takes 4 of what note to make a whole circle?". They think about the visual activity we just completed and they say, "A quarter note". As an extension activity I then change the bottom number to the number two and then ask the same question, "It takes two of what note to make a whole circle?". They answer, "The half note". I change the number back to four and ask again, "So it takes four of what note to make a whole circle or whole note?".
Then we talk about how the bottom number "4" represents the quarter note getting the beat on the metronome. That's all they need to know for now. So the "4" represents the quarter note and now they have a visual to help remember why. That's it!
I do have some students ask what exactly that means. If I feel that they're old enough to understand a bit more then I actually use the metronome as an example sharing that each "click" of the metronome is the single beat that a quarter note gets and that this helps students play with a more steady tempo and also helps with counting out other note values in equal proportion. I then ask the older student how many clicks of the metronome it would take to equal a half note, a whole note, etc. For the most part, though, I simply say, "The bottom number "4" represents the quarter note. That's all you need to know for now. " And I end it there with a smile and we move on. Then they do a follow up activity that I created (see picture below).
