Teaching Time Signature: Part II

Hi Everyone!  Continuing on with how I teach time signature to my students (especially my younger ones), I'm going to share how I teach what the bottom number of the time signature represents.  When I first started teaching piano about 10 years ago (after I taught in the public school system for 10 years as an elementary school teacher)  I have to be honest and say I dreaded teaching the bottom number of time signature to my students because they just wouldn't get it no matter how many fraction examples I gave them.

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).

I then show my students a quarter and ask them if they know the name of the coin.  Most of them, even the really young ones, do.  I tell you what, the kiddos know their money!  Then I show them a dollar bill and I say that the whole dollar is like the whole note.  I fold the dollar bill into four equal parts and place a quarter in each space and say just as it takes four quarters to equal a dollar it takes four quarter notes to equal a whole circle or whole note.  At this point they begin to understand the relation between quarters and dollars and quarter notes and whole notes through the use of money.

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).

This activity from beginning to end takes about 5-10 minutes of their lesson but, in my opinion, time well spent!  By teaching the bottom number of the time signature through the use of fractions from a totally different perspective with circles and money I no longer dread teaching this because my students get it and quickly!  My kiddos grasp this approach a whole lot easier than if I were to teach straight up fractions to them.  Next time I'll share a little STEM project (thanks Melissa for letting me know that I had created a STEM project without even realizing it!) I do with my students to help them understand how important time signature is to a song;  how it is the foundation and framework of each song.  Until next time, piano blogger signing off...........