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Table of Contents
Why Color Code Rhythm for LD and Special Needs Students?
I remember the first lesson of one of my autistic students:
- While I started to color code the rhythm in the score, his mother kept saying he would not be able to clap and count.
- I quickly explained to the student how the color coding worked. However, before I could give a count off, he started accurately clapping his way through the song.
- I have to admit, he surprised even me. But maybe I shouldn’t have been so surprised, because color coding the counting numbers simplifies learning the rhythm.
- It condenses the counting from approximately a half-dozen shapes, that need to be interpreted and put in the rhythmic context of the measure, down to just three easy instructions.
This article uses technical musical terms. For definitions, see the Glossary at the end of the post.
Video: How Effective is Color Coding the Rhythm?
How Color Coding the Rhythm Works
- Red = clap
- Blue = do not clap
- Brown = rest
Color Coding Rhythm in the Score
Beginners, for an easy explanation of counting and clapping:
How to color code the counting numbers for classroom handouts:
- It’s easiest to import a TIFF of the colorized music example into Word.
- Color code the counting numbers by changing the font color.
- Save the file as a PDF, and email it to the students.
This example shows a pickup note at the beginning. Since beats 1, 2, and 3 are missing, the first note to be clapped is beat 4, which is colored red.
Mobile users: for best results reading the music, tilt your screen 90o to the right.
Concluding Thoughts on Color Coding Rhythm to Empower LD and Special Needs Students
Even typical leaners typically make a lot of mistakes when learning rhythm. Special needs, ADD, ASD, and LD students make even more errors.
- When employing color coded rhythm, the clapping can be almost effortless with whole, half, and quarter notes. It makes eighth notes easy, and even makes sixteenth notes within the reach of almost all students.
- “Clap” the rests by physicalizing the beat or sub-beat. Tell students to do an “opposite clap” on the rests, showing them how to do a physical action on the rest but make no sound.
- Cross out the second note of a tied note pair. Here is a harder example that demonstrates tied and dotted notes as well as sixteenth notes.
- Beginners: In the counting numbers the “e” is pronounced “ee” and the “a” is pronounced “uh”.
Color coding is a powerful multisensory teaching tool. Color code the rhythm in the score to take the tears and melt downs out of learning to count. Not just for LD, autistic, and other special needs students, but for typical learners as well.
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© 2020 Geoffrey Keith
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