MusicEd: Samples of classical music in various styles for study of rhythm

List of ten musical works of various styles for the study of rhythm for children:

Cello Suite No.1 in G Major – Prelude - by J.S. Bach

– It is in common or 4/4 meter with repeated sixteenth-note pattern.
Concepts of rhythm to teach: sixteenth note pattern or ti-ri-ti-ri.

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Largo from “The New World Symphony” – by Antonin Dvorak

– In 4/4 meter of common time, a slow tempo due to largo. Prominent rhythmic pattern is tim-ri ta tim-ri ta.

Concepts of rhythm to teach: tim-ri, a bit more complex with its addition of phrasing but doable considering the piece is just full of tim-ri, ta, ti, and ta-a. Dotted eighth with sixteenth notes, eighth notes.

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Cello Suite No.1 in G Major – Minuet II – by J.S. Bach

– It has ¾ meter, moderate tempo. Prominent rhythmic pattern is just eighth notes throughout with instances of quarter and half notes.

Concepts to teach: ti-ti, recurring eighth notes, quarter notes.

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Suite for Strings by John Rutter - Dashing away (4th movement)

– It has a 6/8 meter with a tempo of presto, meaning to say fast. Its prominent rhythmic pattern is syncopated and serves as a theme.

Concepts to teach: Syncopated rhythm pattern.

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Album for the Young – Chorale – Robert Schumann

– Meter is cut common time. Prominent rhythmic pattern is the half note, all throughout.

Concepts to teach: Half note throughout.

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Swan Lake, Op.20 – Waltz – by Pyotr Tchaikovsky

– Has a ¾ meter in waltz tempo. Two prominent rhythms can be heard from the start, the steady beat of the waltz by quarter notes and the theme that is a dotted quarter note, an eight, and a half followed by a quarter.

Concepts to teach: More complex rhythms due to the syncopation, the quarter rest, the slight difference of a normal three beat rhythm from one that’s a waltz, and the steady rhythm keeping the waltz style.

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Brandenburg Concerto No.2 in F major, BWV 1047 – Allegro – by J.S. Bach

– In common time or 4/4 meter, its prominent rhythmic pattern is an eighth followed by two sixteenth which is repeated again.

Concepts to teach: Eighth and sixteenth note rhythm patterns.

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'Ode to Joy' – Symphony No.9 – by Ludwig van Beethoven

– In 4/4 meter, prominent rhythm pattern of steady quarter notes.

Concepts to teach: 4/4 meter, quarter notes, dotted quarter notes, half notes.

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The Typewriter – by Leroy Anderson

– Meter of 4/4, prominent rhythms of eighth and quarter notes.

Concepts to teach: Rhythm with silence (rest), quarter, eighth and half note rhythm with syncopation.

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Salut d’Amour – by Edward Elgar

– In 2/4 meter with prominent eighth note and quarter note patterns.

Concepts to teach: Two-beat pattern, eighth and quarter note rhythms. With syncopation in the accompaniment (piano).

This was an old assignment that I went across the other day, one that I did for elementary methods class...
Those were the days... of tons of music assignments...

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