CONTENTS 16 pages

Introduction		2
I	Alpha Four (4/4)	4
II	Alpha Six (6/8)	5
III	Alpha Three (3/4)	6
IV	Dolphinarts Rondo (4/4)	7
V	Las Vegas Rondo (4/4)	8
VI	Red Hot Rondo (6/8)	9
VII	Dolphin Band is the Greatest Ever (4/4)	10
VIII	Cape Canaveral Rondo (4/4)	11
IX	San Francisco Rondo (6/8,3/4)	12
X	Palm Valley Rondo (4/4)	13
XI	Syncopation Celebration (4/4)	14
XII	The Mixed-up, Irregular Rondo (5/8,6/8,3/4,7/8)	16

12 easy to challenging body percussion rondos for rhythmic study; delightful for students and teachers! Even the easy pieces are musical and fun because of the skillful rhythmic combinations. Includes multi-meter and syncopated pieces.

RONDO: a musical form based on alternation between a recurrent section and contrasting episodes. The recurrent section must be stated three or more times. There is great variety to be found within the rondo form. ABACA is the simplest. The pieces included in this study are either ABACA or ABACADA. They can be extended by improvising further sections.

The Body Rondo Book is comprised of twelve body percussion rondos for rhythmic study by upper elementary school through adult age students. The first three pieces, the Alpha Rondos, are the easiest. They include a lot of repetition, which makes them more quickly accessible to fourth and fifth grade students. The Alpha Rondos are also appropriate for a group of teachers to learn in a short time (15 to 30 minutes) at a workshop.

The levels of difficulty proceed in general from simple to more complex. There is no age level marking for each piece; some of the more complex pieces have been taught to younger students. Number XI, Syncopation Celebration, was taught to a group of sixth graders by a teacher who spread out the teaching over much of the school year and introduced each section with accompanying speech phrases. Numbers VIII, X, Xl and XII have been taught to teachers over a period of one week in Orff Schulwerk Training Courses.

TEACHING SUGGESTIONS:

Teach the A section first, and spend enough time on it to ensure proficiency before presenting the B section. Teach the B section and practice ABA. When that is secure enough, teach C and perform ABACA. Apply the same process to the D section if there is one. Depending on the difficulty of the rondo and the ability of the performers, this process may take one practice session or it may be extended over many days (see PACING).

Whenever there are two parts to a section, teach the top part first. When the group has achieved proficiency with that, perform the bottom part while the group performs the top. Then teach the bottom part. When the group has achieved proficiency with that, perform the top part while the group performs the bottom. Divide the group and have them play respective parts.

The instructor should perform the totality of each section before breaking it up into short phrases and echo playing. After the group performs the short phrases well, then echo longer phrases, etc., until they can perform the whole section.

Use a variety of teaching techniques along with rote echo play, i.e., speech phrases, rhythm syllables, scat, notation, locomotor body movement (hear the rhythm while walking the beat, say the rhythm while walking the beat, play the rhythm while walking the beat), etc. Isolate a particularly difficult pattern and work on it at the beginning of each practice session, then perform it within the context of its section. It is especially helpful to have the performers create their own speech patterns for the rhythm patterns or sections that are giving them difficulty.

As cited above, reading notation is only one of the many appropriate techniques for teaching this collection of rondos. Since rhythm reading is an important skill to develop, use of the notation will be valuable as long as it is balanced with other teaching techniques. The use of these other techniques will stretch our abilities on many different levels. Learning by ear (auditory), by feel (tactile) and through movement (kinesthetic) all help to make our musicianship more complete, more grounded in our total beings.

You may wish to teach only the A section of a piece and have your students create the B, C, etc., sections. There are several options here. The new sections can be planned and written out or, after a bit of practice, they can be improvised by individuals or small groups on the spot. It is important to practice improvisation in advance so that students may get ideas regarding the feel, the sound, the length of time they have to improvise, etc. Another option is to have question/answer led by the teacher or a capable student in the new sections. An example of a student-planned section can be found in the C section of number VII. It is comprised of ostinato patterns that the students created. We layered the patterns in and extended the length of that section. The performers benefit greatly from having the opportunity to participate in this creative process because it is an extended application of their musicianship, and the music will then become their own.

Present each section at the correct tempo. This will build in a feel for the proper tempo of the piece. Difficult parts can then be slowed down and practiced before bringing them back to tempo at the end of each practice session.

Use good clapping technique. Hold one hand relatively steady. Avoid excessive motion and constant loud clapping.

Add vocal sounds, dramatic motions, locomotor body movement, unpitched percussion, etc., for special effects if you or the group feel the inspiration. Group involvement on this level also helps to make the music "belong" to the group that is performing it.

Some "helpful hints" pertaining to certain sections will be found following many of the rondos. The section(s) under scrutiny is (are) specified, then ideas suggested.

PACING:

With adults, you might wish to learn one section per day of the more advanced pieces, numbers VIII-XII. After reviewing the known section(s) and learning the new section, always practice them with the correct form, alternating A with the contrasting sections, before the end of the practice session. Practice sessions should be 5 to 30 minutes in length.

In most cases, junior high and high school students can learn by rote one section per day of numbers 1-VII. This process greatly helps their rhythmic memory. Reading will speed up the process.

The rate of learning is, of course, slower with elementary school children, whom you may see only once or twice a week, than it is with adults, so be sure to make the A section thoroughly ingrained before proceeding to the other sections. If you are practicing a more difficult piece, spend a few minutes a day over a longer period of time.

Strive to make every practice and performance a musical experience.