Use Rote Learning to Teach Rhythm

This is the fifth entry point in our series—How to Teach Rhythm Using Multiple Entry Points, a Seven-Part Series. To read an introduction to multiple entry points and why music teachers should use them, please see our article “How to Teach Rhythm Using Multiple Entry Points”.

Musical instruction practices throughout the world use oral traditions, such as rote learning, with proven success. Yet, in recent decades within Western systems of education, memorization is an unpopular learning practice regarded as lacking the opportunity for the development of critical/analytical skills required for a deeper understanding of subject matter. However, rote learning, in music education specifically, is a strong and effective approach to learning within a larger framework of multiple entry points.

 

What is Rote Learning

Before we boast about the benefits of rote learning in the music classroom, let’s look at some of the negative connotations embedded in definitions of the term rote. Note that the following definitions apply to the use of rote learning in subjects other than music. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines rote as “the use of memory usually with little intelligence” and “mechanical or unthinking routine or repetition”. And the APA Dictionary of Psychology defines rote learning as “memorization by repetition without any elaboration or other deep processing of the material” and it “uses strict memorization without comprehension, which tends to result in poorer retention than occurs with strategies that reply on higher level cognitive mechanisms”. These definitions of rote learning, however, do not apply to the learning of music technique. Read on to discover the benefits of rote learning when applied to music education especially when used in a holistic learning environment where students are given more than one entry point to study music.

 

Rote Learning is a Natural Approach to Music Education

Since music involves the sense of hearing, along with elements of rhythm, repetition, and pitched notes, rote learning is a natural and logical approach. It is popular approach to learning music around the world with a long—probably the longest—history as a methodology. There is much more going on when applying rote learning to music rather than math.  Students are listening to pitch and rhythm changes, deciphering accents and dynamics, understanding and feeling repetitions and patterns. Rote learning, when applied to music methodology, has the additional benefit of offering a mind-body experience.

Rote Learning is Inclusive

Rote learning is making a comeback as an inclusive and effective way for students to learn music. Some learners naturally learn music by ear. And for some of these learners, learning music by ear is a much more accessible entry point than the use of musical notation. Learning music by rote, along with other entry points such as visual cues (notation) is part of holistic approach to the study of music.

 

Modifying Rote Learning for Inclusivity

Teachers can modify ear training lessons for students who are deaf or hard of hearing by making use of visual cues. For students who struggle with memorization, teachers can break down tasks into small manageable chunks, ensuring goals are set so that students can achieve success easily.

Since rote learning is a traditional practice in music education cross-culturally and with a long history, our students are connecting to their cultures and ancestors when they engage in learning music by ear and by memory. Rhythm learning lends itself naturally to a call-and-response methodology with a high engagement level for our students.

 

Rote Learning Used With “Higher Level Mechanisms”

Along the way, teachers can engage with their students in “higher level cognitive mechanisms” by discussing dynamics, the purpose and meaning of repetitions (for example, the use of louds to create a feeling of excitement or the use of softs to offer a sense of closure), the significance of key signatures, time signatures, and tempo changes as they relate to the song they are studying. Rote learning can be a holistic and successful part of a larger learning routine.

 

Rote Learning as Holistic

Sometimes visual and/or vocal cues are added to support the call-and-response exchange between the teacher and students. Teachers can add that take away visual cues from a call-and-response lesson. Visual learners who are most comfortable learning music through notation will benefit from the challenge of rote learning as they make connections between what they see, hear, and feel.

 

Rote Learning Allows for Creativity

While the presence of a musical score is always handy and welcome, students who have memorized their pieces are free to focus on conducting cues and expression rather than the notes on a page. Teachers will notice that students play with more confidence when they have memorized their songs. Students who know their pieces by heart, can offer the music more heart through dynamics and technique. Our step-by-step teacher’s resource Dragonfly Drumming for Primary Students makes it easy for students to learn music using a system of rote learning with audio supports, word cues, and notation cues.

 

Rote Learning for Success—How to Teach Using Rote Learning

Music teachers often see immediate results using a rote learning methodology with their students. Ready to help your students memorize a piece of music? Here are a few tips for using rote learning in your music classes:

• Use a call-and-response method to teach rhythmic patterns. The teacher plays a rhythm, and the student plays it back. It’s that simple.  

• Be sure to break down a rhythmic pattern into manageable chunks or parts.

• Teach the first chunk and repeat it four times. Teach the second chunk and repeat it four times. Then teach the first and second chunks as one whole and repeat it four times. 

• Teach sequentially from beginning to end. Do not move forward in the phrase or phrases until the smaller chunks are played with confidence. 

• Use a trusted resource, such as Dragonfly Drumming for Primary Students or Bucket Music for Intermediate and High School Students, that makes use of rote learning, in addition to audio and visual supports, to teacher students music with great success.