For Grown-Ups

A beat is the basic time unit of music, the pulse of the mensural level, also known as the beat level. However, since the term is in popular use, it often connotes the tempo of a piece or a particular sequence of individual beats, the meter, rhythm or groove. In hip hop music it may refer to the entire instrumental, non-vocal layer of the song, which is frequently based on a looped recording of a drum-rhythm. It may also refer to particular beats in the measure. Much music is characterized by a sequence of stressed and unstressed beats (often called "strong" and "weak") organized into measures and perhaps indicated by a time signature and tempo indication.

Educational Elements:

• Singing in unison-harmony and pitch
• Collaboration
• Improvisation
• Tempo-adjusting the beat, being “behind the beat”
• Environmental sound as music-musical texture
• Timbre through the unique sound of the sousaphone
• Texture, through multiple instruments with the sousaphone taking the lead. A difference in texture is noted when Ella is unable to play
• Phrasing, through the shared and distinctive elements of the songs