... 3rd GRADE ...

Movement in the Music Room : Body Percussion

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Body Percussion is a wonderful and fun way to practice and improve upon so many musical concepts in 3rd Grade.  Everyday when the 3rd Graders come to music specials we always warm up our musical brain with about 5 minutes of moving.  There is a routine (see below) that students must follow, but at the beginning and end of the routine, students are allowed to "freestyle."  This means they may move freely to the music from their knees up to the top of their head but feet must stay "glued" to the floor to help us practice the concept of personal space.  Also, at the very beginning when the music starts, students must remain perfectly still in "popsicle stick position" to work on self-control which is so important in a performance situation.  They are allowed to wiggle their fingers and/or their toes, as asking a 7-8 year old to remain perfectly still while a great techno beat is playing, is all but impossible. During our body percussion, we work on attention/listening skills by listening for certain commands and cues such as "red, yellow, and orange," which means any student standing on those color spots may dance while other student "freeze."  We also work on gross motor skills by doing various dance movements at a variety of speeds.  While we are actually clapping, snapping, patting, and stomping, students are exposed to thinking about patterns and steady beat. It's great physical exercise also. Click on the music player below and have your 2nd grader show you how we do body percussion in the music room.
Some of the dance moves we do in the middle are:
  • Cool Cat
  • Jelly Roll
  • Wash the Windows
  • Slow Swim (don't want to attract the sharks)
  • Windshield Wipers
  • The Disco and Double Disco
  • The Twist
  • Paint the Fence (side to side OR up and down)
  • The Lasso
  • Rollercoaster
  • Spiderman
Here's the music we use for our routines.
You can go back to the 1st/2nd grade pages to see progressions of patterns we have completed.
Most Third Grade classes are on Level 7 and are getting ready to start some completely new Body Percussion routines they've never seen before.
...Level 6 Pattern ...
...Level 7 Pattern ...