Rhythm is hard to explain and easy to play. The eight games below come from our school workshops and have been in use there since 2006. They drill timing, listening and coordination — and nobody notices.

All of them use three sounds: kick drum b, hi-hat ts, snare k or ksch. If your class does not know them yet, start with the first lesson — it takes ten minutes.

Before you start

Some games stall at first. Do not let that put you off. Usually the rule was explained in too much detail, or the class has not found the flow yet. Both sort themselves out after two rounds.

Three things apply to all eight: start slowly, demonstrate once yourself, and do not talk the flow to death.

The eight games

1. Class metronome

The simplest game and the most instructive. The class stands in a circle and plays the sound ts one after another, round the circle. A metronome sets the tempo, 65 beats per minute to begin with.

ll:  ts - ts - ts - ts  :ll        65 BPM

It sounds trivial. It is not. Within a minute the class works out how hard it is to hold a tempo together — and that is the lesson. Later raise the tempo, then drop the metronome and see how long the group stays together.

Watch for: Point at whoever is next in the first round. After that it runs itself.

2. Train beat

The class forms a train, in a line or a circle. You set a beat, and each child takes one sound from it in turn.

ll:  b - ts - k - ts  :ll

After a few practice rounds, anyone who plays the wrong sound drops out and sits down. The game can be run several times and gets faster each time.

Watch for: If the same children keep getting the same sound, join in yourself — that shifts the order and everyone practises everything.

3. Beat ball

The class stands in a circle and throws a soft ball to each other. Whoever throws makes a sound at the same time — the first person b, the second ts, and so on. A beat travels around the room.

ll:  b - ts - b - ts  :ll

It works without a ball too, with the throw only mimed. What matters is not the ball anyway, but the eye contact before it.

Watch for: Establish eye contact before every throw, keep the circle small, and step in immediately if throws get hard.

4. Dynamics and tempo

You set a beat and conduct. Opening your hands means louder, bringing them together means quieter. Hands towards the head means faster, hands towards the feet means slower.

Then four or five children take over the conducting. The game makes it obvious what dynamics in music actually are — a term that otherwise stays abstract.

Watch for: Do not start too loud, and step in if the conducting gets crude. The fine hand movements are the point.

5. Copy game

The class stands in a circle. You demonstrate a beat with a body movement and everyone copies it. After a while you clap towards one child — now it is their turn to invent a beat with a movement. They pass it on by clapping towards someone else.

The game keeps itself going once it has been started. That is exactly why it works.

Watch for: Show the hand-over clearly, otherwise nobody knows who is leading.

6. Beat chain

Like a word chain, but with beats: the last sound of one beat becomes the first of the next.

ll:  b - ts - b - k  :ll    →    ll:  k - ts - b - ts  :ll    →    ll:  ts - b - ts - b  :ll

This demands real attention — you have to hear the previous beat out before you can start your own. Works well in a circle of chairs.

Watch for: Start slowly and help out in the first round.

7. Secret beat

Chinese whispers with beats. One child invents a beat, writes it on a slip of paper and whispers it to their neighbour. It travels round the circle. At the end you compare what arrived with what was written down.

The realisation at the end is the actual gain: reproducing a rhythm exactly, having heard it once, is considerably harder than it looks.

Watch for: The slip of paper is not optional. Without it even the first child forgets the original beat and the game has no resolution.

8. Beat robot

Everyone stands in a line, one child conducts. ts means one step forward, b means left, k or ksch means right. The class moves through the room as one.

As a one-on-one variant: set a start and a finish, and the conducting child steers a classmate to the goal using sounds only. With a blindfold it becomes a trust game. Two teams can compete.

Watch for: Start slowly and demonstrate which sound means which direction.

Which game for what

When the class is wound up, the class metronome settles it — it forces concentration on a slow tempo. When they are flat, beat robot or beat ball gets them moving. For the last ten minutes of a lesson, secret beat works well: quiet, and everyone is still involved.

And if you have prepared nothing at all: the copy game runs itself once started.

Games that need materials

The teaching concept behind these exercises was developed jointly by Thomas Rieder and Werner David Wiechenthaler and tested in workshops since 2006. It also produced ”The Real Beatbox School”, published by Doblinger Musikverlag Vienna.

More exercises

All exercises at a glance: Beatbox exercises for groups.