Every week, I get teachers sending me great ideas for being creative with the Rhythm Cup Explorations! There have been a number of ideas lately that go perfectly with a fall theme, so here you go! Keep sending me more ideas. It’s fun to share!
Fall Ideas Using Rhythm Cup Explorations
The Creative Cup Drag
In Rhythm Cup Explorations 2, there is a new “drag feature” that helps teach students that longer notes like half notes are still active. Students tap the table with the cup on the ictus of the beat and then drag it for the remaining length. Well, Morgan Weisenburger of Morgan Weisenburger Piano Studio shared this video with me and I’d LOVE to get ahold of some of these placements. Do any of you have any ideas where to get them? What about other ideas on how to make the drag creative?
Pumpkin Cup Tapping
Barbara from Skylinepiano.com had a great idea to decorate pumpkins with her students at her fall group lesson using notes for eyes, accents and fermatas for noses and well, the sky’s the limit with student’s imaginations.
Then, her plan is to have the students use the pumpkins to replace the cups and students will tap pumpkins. In her group lesson, she’ll have a group of students with pumpkins and a group of students with cups and any time you mix timbre like that and have the two groups do two separate rhythms, it makes for a fun sound!
Stronger Cups
I know several of you teachers have really strong (or shall we say particularly destructive) students who tend to smash their cups too soon (remember there really are cup smashing symbols in the Holiday Rhythm Cup Explorations). So, while I was working on the new 2015 Cup tapping Holiday Piece (that comes out at the end of October), I realized that you can just tape 2 cups together and it makes the cup much, much stronger.
Pumpkin Rhythms with Layton’s Pumpkins
Andrew Young had a great idea to use D’Net Layton’s Pumpkin Rhythm Cards and allow his student to create what she wanted to do with the cup during the rhythm. They made a quick video. Pay close attention to what they do in the middle…imagine doing your rhythms backward for extra practice!
Remember that any time you involve the student in the act of creating what to do, they will always learn more and retain more!
Stronger, Prettier Cup Tapping
Lauren Lewandowski of PianoWithLauren.com had a number of great ideas in a post about her first group class of the season! When I saw this picture of the decorated cups, I had the thought that, “With a cup that pretty, no one would want to smash it!” So, it might be another way for students to take ownership of their cups and see them as a precious instrument rather than a piece of plastic that sounds fabulous for just a little time.
What are YOUR ideas? Share them in the comments below or send me an email! I’d love to hear how you are being creative with your resources!
Related Items:
- 8 Ways to Get Rhythms Cups to Explode in Your Studio
- Holiday Rhythm Cup Explorations – perfect for group lessons, a special recital piece or just fun in December!
- We Three Kings – Camels and Cups – imagine the fun an audience could have if they could cup tap easily.
Hey Wendy,
I found some of these placemats at a grocery store called Kroger last year. I don’t know if they still have them, but it might be worth a look! Hope this helps
Fabulous! I’ll have to just keep my eyes out. Thanks for the tip, Becky!
I don’t own one of these, or an actual washboard, but can you imagine how much fun it would be to use this flat on the table, or as shown in the photos? http://www.zydecoplaywear.com/Home.html Now, if we can figure out who could manufacture something that might only cost about a $1 per student! haha! 🙂 Having just typed that though, it’s occurred to me having just one used in the group may be plenty percussive and the students could take turns…… And if one could figure out how to keep “fluted” or “grooved” rhythm sticks from rolling, one might be able to drag the cup across that…. is there such a thing as easily-removed and residue-free duct tape? 😉 If I ever figure out any of this, I’ll let you know! Thank you for sharing these fun ideas!
Washi tape is easily-removed and residue-free. It’s not as strong as duct tape but I’m sure it would hold in place decently well if you put pieces across either end of the fluted rhythm stick!
I just started with the wild and fun “cups” about 2 weeks ago. Of course we are having a blast. I wanted to say that my end goal for my year end recital is to have a large ensemble doing “Spring Cleaning” using a 1 gallon cleaning pail, and a stiff bristled brush as their “cups.” The drag of the half notes will cause the bristles to sweep across the table. I have a few other cleaning supplies that I will be adding. I am also writing a script about what kids really do when you send them out to clean — and also to practice piano. Of course the piano part needs to be the famous chopsticks! I have several trios of chop sticks in mind to make this happen.We just moved to another city in October, so I am building a studio, for me it has meant a large number of beginners. Mostly boys!
This is such a great idea, Linda! Thank you so much for sharing it. I’d LOVE to see a video of the end goal if you want to share it!
Thanks for being a creative teachers!