Your child comes home from music saying “ta, ta, ti-ti, ta” and clapping. Or their teacher mentions they’re “working on the beat”. What’s the difference between beat and rhythm, and what do those funny syllables mean? Here’s beat vs rhythm for kids in plain words, what ta and ti-ti stand for, what children learn in music at school, and six simple games you can play at home with nothing more than hands, feet and a saucepan.
What is the beat?
The beat is the steady pulse that keeps going underneath the music. The Australian Children’s Television Foundation’s music resource for teachers describes it beautifully: “Beat is the steady pulse that we hear or feel in music; it’s like a heartbeat, or a ticking clock.”
When you tap your foot or nod your head along to a song, you’re keeping the beat. It stays even, like footsteps on a walk. The same resource explains that, just like a heartbeat, the beat can only change by speeding up or slowing down, and “The speed of the beat is called its tempo.”
What is rhythm?
Rhythm is the pattern of sounds that sits on top of the beat. “Rhythms are made up of long sounds, short sounds, and the silences between these sounds,” the ACTF explains. Some sounds are close together, some are further apart, and some places have no sound at all.
The easiest way to hear a rhythm is in the words of a song. The ACTF gives this example: singing “hap-py birth-day to you” makes a rhythm with six sounds. Clap each syllable as you sing it, and you’re clapping the rhythm.
| Beat | Rhythm | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | The steady pulse | The pattern of long and short sounds and silences |
| Does it change? | Only faster or slower (the tempo) | Yes, it changes with the words and the tune |
| How to feel it | Tap your foot, march, pat your knees | Clap the words or syllables |
| Like… | A heartbeat or a ticking clock | The way the words of a song are sung |
What do ta and ti-ti mean?
Many Australian music teachers give each rhythm a sound to say. The Kodály Music Education Institute of Australia describes a set of “rhythm duration syllables commonly used by Australian teachers who employ the Kodaly concept”, and notes that “Some regional variations in the syllables do occur.” The approach is named after the Hungarian composer and educator Zoltán Kodály (1882–1967), whose ideas put singing at the heart of music education.
- ta is a sound that lasts one beat (in music notation, a crotchet).
- ti-ti is two quick sounds in one beat (a pair of quavers).
- sa is often used for a one-beat silence (a crotchet rest), though some schools use a different word.
So “ta, ta, ti-ti, ta” is four beats: one long sound, another long sound, two quick sounds, then one long sound. Saying the syllables helps children feel and remember a rhythm before they ever see it written down. If your child’s school uses slightly different words, go with theirs.
What children learn in music at school
Beat and rhythm are part of music from the very first year of school. In the Australian Curriculum, they sit under the element of music called “duration/time (beat and rhythm)”.
- In Victoria, Foundation (Prep) children “explore ideas for music through play” (VC2AMUFE02), for example by “playing games involving rhyme to explore beat and rhythm”. In Years 1 and 2 they “develop listening skills and skills for singing and playing instruments” (VC2AMU2D01), including games that repeat or extend a rhythmic pattern.
- In the Australian Curriculum, used in most other states, Years 1 and 2 include “moving with the beat and clapping rhythmic ideas” (an example under AC9AMU2E01), and “movement/body percussion games that develop skills relating to pulse, beat and rhythm” and “echo clapping” (under AC9AMU2D01).
KidStudy’s Year 2 Music lesson Ta and Ti-ti is about long and short sounds and clapping patterns, and the Year 1 lesson Keep the Beat is about the steady beat, like a heartbeat or a clock.
Six beat and rhythm games for home
- March to the beat. Put on a song and march around the room, one step for each beat. Then march fast, then slow, to feel the tempo change.
- Clap your name. Say each family member’s name and clap the syllables: “Ol-i-ver” is three claps, “Mia” is two, “Sam” is one. That’s rhythm.
- Ta and ti-ti cards. Draw cards with one long line for ta and two short lines for ti-ti. Lay four in a row and play them on a saucepan with a wooden spoon while saying the syllables.
- Echo clapping. Clap a short rhythm and ask your child to clap it back. Then let them be the leader and you copy.
- Freeze dance. Dance to the beat, and freeze when the music stops. It trains careful listening, and the silence is part of the music too.
- Body percussion. Make a pattern with your body: pat, pat, clap, click. Keep it going as a steady loop, then add your voice on top. Repeating patterns are a lot like the loops children meet in unplugged coding games.
Clapping syllables is also great for reading: hearing the parts of words is part of early phonics, as our post on phonics at home explains. And slow, steady music can help a busy body settle, which you’ll find in our calm-down strategies for kids.
Questions parents ask
What is the difference between beat and rhythm?
The beat is the steady pulse that stays the same, like a heartbeat or a ticking clock. Rhythm is the pattern of long and short sounds and silences on top of it, like the way the words of a song are sung.
What is beat in music for kids?
The beat is the steady pulse you can tap your foot or march to. It only changes by getting faster or slower, and that speed is called the tempo.
What is rhythm for kids?
Rhythm is a pattern of long sounds, short sounds and silences. Clapping the syllables of a song, like “hap-py birth-day to you”, is clapping its rhythm.
What does ta and ti-ti mean in music?
They’re rhythm names many Australian music teachers use, from the Kodály approach. Ta is one sound lasting a beat, ti-ti is two quick sounds in one beat, and sa is often used for a one-beat silence. Names vary a little between schools.
What is tempo?
Tempo is the speed of the beat. A song can have a fast tempo or a slow tempo, but the beat stays steady at whatever speed it’s going.
How can I teach rhythm at home?
Clap the syllables of names and songs, play echo clapping, march to the beat, and make ta and ti-ti cards to play on a saucepan. Short, playful games of a few minutes work best.
Sources
- Lah-Lah’s Adventures: Music for Everyone, Unit 1 (Rhythm), Australian Children’s Television Foundation
- Free resources: rhythm guide and rhythm sets, Kodály Music Education Institute of Australia
- The Kodály concept, Kodály Music Education Institute of Australia
- Victorian Curriculum F–10 Version 2.0: Music, VCAA
- Australian Curriculum v9.0: Music, Foundation, ACARA
- Australian Curriculum v9.0: Music, Years 1 and 2, ACARA
