One of the focuses in 2nd grade music is learning to play a percussive pattern while keeping the beat of the music going. A percussive pattern is a sound pattern made by clapping, stamping or hitting a body part. The 2nd graders learned the Cups Song (video below), also known as When I’m Gone from movie Pitch Perfect. The students then learned a clapping pattern that is typically done with a cup to the beat of the song. Then, instead of using cups, the pattern became body rhythms:

Clap, clap,
Pat your legs and
Clap up down.

Clap, sweep,
Top, shoulders and
Turn around.

Learning to perform this pattern to the song was quite challenging for the students but they all had a lot of fun and rose to the challenge with much success. They did a fabulous job singing the song and performing the pattern on the correct beats!