Beat Tag | Free Music Lesson Plan (Meter & Time Signature Game)

Big Idea

Students learn 3/4 and 4/4 time with a no-prep musical tag game that is so active and fun your students will beg to play it again!

Grade Level: 2-5
Activity: Music Game & Movement
Skill: Identifying Meter and Accented Beats

Students will gain an understanding of meter by experiencing and performing accented and unaccented beats through movement.

This lesson is designed to fulfill the 2014 National Standard for Music:
Demonstrate and explain how the expressive qualities (such as dynamics and tempo) are used in performers’ decisions to convey expressive intent. (Responding - MU:Re9.1)

Recorded Music with a Strong 3/4 and 4/4 Pattern, Piano, or Drum
Whiteboard and Marker

Music Lesson Plan

Step 1
Tell students, "We're going to play a game to learn about meter and time signatures." Point to the whiteboard where you have written the 3/4 and 4/4 signatures. "Have any of you seen these time signatures before?"

Step 2
The top number of each time signature tells you how many beats are in each measure. Ask students, "How many beats are in a 3/4 measure? That's right, three."

Step 3
"Let’s create a three-beat pattern." Take suggestions from the class, and perform a few. "My favorite pattern is pat-clap-clap. That first 'pat' is the strong beat, and the following two 'claps' are the weak beats. Let’s try this pattern."

Step 4
"Let's stand up and try another strong-weak-weak pattern." Ask the students to stomp their right foot on beat 1 and clap their hands on beats 2 and 3, as you play a boom-chick-chick pattern on the piano.

Step 5
"Now let's move around the room, taking a step on beat 1 of each measure and clapping on beats 2 and 3." Once everyone is performing this pattern successfully, you're ready to start the game.

Step 6
"It's time to play the game."

Set-Up
Choose two "Taggers" to stand on one side of the room. The rest of the class are "Players" and will start on the opposite side of the room.

Rules
1) When the music starts, everyone must move by stepping on beat 1 and clapping on beats 2 and 3.
2) Taggers can only tag a player if they are in range while maintaining the step-clap-clap pattern.
3) If you get tagged, or if you accidentally step on the wrong beat, you're out.
4) If a tagger steps out of turn, the game freezes. Players can safely move to a new spot in the room. Then resume the game. 5) The very last untagged player wins the game.

Students that are out participate by keeping the pat-clap-clap or pat-clap-clap-clap pattern.

Step 7
"Let's play!" Play a version with a 3/4 meter first. Repeat the activity with a 4/4 meter pattern (stomp-clap-clap-clap or strong-weak-weak-weak) and a different musical selection, to reinforce the concept further.