Learn all about two of the components of music that keep it moving and grooving: tempo and rhythm.
Tempo is the speed of music – how fast or slow the music is. Let’s learn about tempo.
Listen as Conductor Dan talks about two common tempos in music, andante and allegro. Clap along with him!
Vocabulary
Conductor Dan taught us about andante and allegro, now let’s learn about two more: moderato and presto. Here is a helpful way to imagine four different tempos as animal speeds.
Activity
Step One: Try acting each animal moves while you listen to these four pieces in this playlist:
Feel how each animal has a different tempo. The music is in order of slow to fast:
Step Two: Once your child has a grasp of each tempo, write down each one on a slip of paper and put them in a pile. Create another pile of papers that have different movements on them. Take turns choosing a tempo card and a movement card and do that movement in the tempo you choose. Movements could include:
Rhythm in music is patterns of long and short notes combined together. Rhythm is what gives the music it’s groove. Rhythms can be simple- a song like Twinkle, Twinkle Litte Star has the same quarter note rhythm throughout the whole piece. Or rhythms can be complicated like The Rumble from West Side Story. Let’s learn about rhythm!
Check out this video introducing two simple rhythms to kids in an easy way for them to understand. If your kid(s) enjoyed it, check out part two with additional rhythms.
In the video, we learned about two different rhythm patterns using the words “beet” and “cherry.” Let’s take that yummy fun a little further with more fruit and veggie rhythm words.
Activity
Going Further:
Get creative with our online rhythm composition activity to compose your own rhythm pieces at home.
Going Further
Check out our playlist full of music that grooves thanks to its fun tempo and rhythms.