Teachers, did you know that you can teach math through music using concepts they have likely learned in their music class? Teaching math through music can be a great way to reach those students in your class who just have a hard time understanding math! I’ve talked before about how music can be used to teach creativity, but today we’re going to use music to teach your math standards.
Music incorporates so many subjects! You can use it to teach just about anything, from science (sound waves and physics), history/social studies (music teaches us about cultures around the world and in different periods of time), language (music is a great way to learn a new language!)
I always tell my students about the little girl who was about their age who didn’t feel like she was very good at math. She loved music class though, and always knew that she would become a music teacher. So why should she pay attention in math class? Little did she know, that she would be teaching fractions every year using rhythms! The students always smile and yell out, “Hey, that’s YOU!” Yep, you got me 😉
We’re going to talk about using music in your room to teach math. We’re going to use rhythms that your students have probably already learned in music class, which makes adding and subtracting whole numbers or fractions much more relatable.
Understanding Rhythms
It’s first important to understand rhythms yourself! Most music is based off of a whole note, which looks like this and is worth 4 beats:
Next up is the half note. It is worth 2 beats (HALF of a whole note).
When you want to have two notes that are of equal value that add up to a half note, you get quarter notes. How many quarters are in a dollar? Four. How many quarter notes are in a whole note? Four. Quarter notes are worth 1 beat each, and are 1/4 of a whole note.
Next up are eighth notes. It takes eight of these to add up to a whole note, hence why they’re called eighth notes. Each individual eighth note looks like a quarter note with a flag on top, and when we combine two of them to equal one beat, it looks a little like headphones.
Next, if you want to really get into fractions, we have sixteenth notes. There are sixteen of these in a whole note, and four in a quarter note. Each individual sixteenth note has two little flags at the top. When you combine four of them, it looks like this:
Okay, I know that was a lot of information. To help, I have a handy little guide to show you the relationship between all of the notes, which you are welcome to print and use in your classroom! To get this guide, fill out this form:
Now that you know the value of the rhythms, in part two of this series we’ll talk about teaching math through music. If you’re ready to take the plunge and use these rhythms in your classroom, check out these task cards!
