Kids in Brazilian Beat at Delridge Community Center

[Eduardo Mendonca]

I set my goal to have these kids learning Ijexá, an ancient Brazilian rhythm. The agogô-bells pattern is a challenging for young children, and the strategy that I always use is playing games using content to achieve my goals. This way, the learning process became fun, and we can get extraordinary results.

Enjoy the video:

[Eduardo Mendonca]

Hello Jamie:

The game I am playing is a Brazilian traditional game called “Vivo ou Morto” that literally means “Alive or Dead” – but it is about when the leader call: “VIVO”, all kids must to stand up, and “MORTO” on their knees. It is fun, and later we add the arms giving the instructions together with your voice command.
Trick: Your arms sometimes give wrong instructions. The kids must to follow your voice command and “keep their eyes opened” to exercise the independence about what they see, and what they hear.
The connection with the rhythm is introduced with the movement – highs and lows – advancing them to better understanding when they get the instruments to play.

[Jamie Topper]

This is great Eduardo! I have taught the Cuban Iyessa, but with high school kids! It took a lot of timing and listening exercises but they rocked it! Would you share the games you are playing here with the little ones?