PURPOSE:
This movement activity breaks the ice and allows students to be creative with their bodies while learning key elements of basic music theory. Students must pay attention and express themselves in order to complete this exercise. Students learn to count bars or measures of four beats which they will use later when writing their own rhymes.

STUDENT OBJECTIVES:
● Learn how to count bars or measures of four beats in music
● Create “B-boy” and “B-girl” stances

BENEFITS FOR STUDENTS
● Kinesthetic and visual demonstration of the basic musical concept of bars/measures in music
● Helps relieve stress and inhibitions associated with writing creatively in front of an audience
● Engages and unifies the group through creativity and hip-hop culture

Materials:
● Sound system with upbeat hip-hop music (an iPod or phone hooked up to speakers will do!)
● An instrumental video such as “The Hustle BAR Count” found here:
babagotbars.bandcamp.com/track/the-hustle-15-min-BAR-count-video

Time Needed:
10 minutes

Set-up
Students are spread out in the classroom with enough space to move around.

Introduction
Teaching creative writing through hip-hop allows the teacher the wonderful opportunity to incorporate other elements of hip-hop culture to educate, entertain, and boost self-confidence. A great way to do all three at once is through the “Breakdance Freeze Dance.”

No matter what style of popular American music (ragtime, blues, jazz, funk, bluegrass, house, country, R&B, gospel, rock, etc.) it is most likely counted out in even measures or bars of 4. A typical hip-hop chorus is 16 measures or bars, while the typical chorus is 8 bars. This exercise gets the students up and moving, while giving them the structure they will be using to complete their song writing in bars. Though the majority of the exercises in this workshop are very specifically about reading, writing, and comprehension, this introduction allows students to connect these skills with elements of dance. Use this to get your students up and moving to a hip-hop beat:

The game we are going to play is called Breakdance Freeze Dance. Breakdancing began in the early 1970’s in the Bronx, New York as part of hip-hop culture. The name “breakdancing” comes from how the DJ’s used to extend the “break” in music using turntables and a crossfader. This is when people would dance in this style.

Much of the music from this time period’s most famous artist, like James Brown and George Clinton, would have short segments during their songs where all the singers and other instruments stop playing except for the drums and maybe the bass. This segment of the song was called “the break”. The break was often many people’s favorite part of the song. After the cross-fader was introduced to hip-hop dj’ing, DJ’s developed a way to make that short part of the song last as long as they’d like. They would take two copies of the same vinyl record, and put them on both of the turntables and alternate between the two using the cross-fader in order to lengthen the time of the break. Through this technique, the DJ could make the break last as long as he or she would like. During these hip-hop parties, people would get up and start dancing over the break. We call those dancers “break dancers”. Here is an example of breakdancing.

Play the dance scene from Bomani’s “Late Shift” video with the Lions of Zion dance crew.

CHALLENGE 1: Counting Bars

The leader’s job is to:
1. Demonstrate counting bars

The follower’s job is to:
1. Make the BAR count his/her focal point.

Now we will learn a skill important to DJ’s, breakdancers, and MC’s- how to count measures, or what we call in hip-hop, “bars.” Almost every style of U.S. pop music (from ragtime, blues, jazz, rock’n’roll, R&B, hip-hop, country, Baltimore house, DC Go-Go etc.) is measured by counting to 4 over again in consistent intervals. Each count of 4 is called a BAR. To begin, let’s listen and look as this video plays.

Play Bomani’s “Hustle BAR Count” video.
babagotbars.bandcamp.com/track/the-hustle-15-min-BAR-count-video

As you will notice, there is counter going in time with the music from 1 to 4 and then repeating. That is the BAR. Many times the drums repeat the same pattern over the BAR. Let’s count a BAR together.

Lead class in counting one BAR.

Good job! When we want to count two bars, we start back again at one after we count four. Let’s try that.

Lead class in counting two and then three bars.

You guys are catching on quick. Let’s try a different exercise to see how well you can count bars. Everyone move away from your desk and ready to move and push in your chairs!

Wait until everyone is standing or in a space where they can do as much movement as possible.

Challenge 2: Breakdance Freeze Dance

The leader’s job is to:
1. Demonstrate counting bars.
2. Tell the participants how many bars to dance and stance.
3. Encourage the students to let loose and express themselves.

The follower’s job is to:
1. Make the BAR count his/her focal point. Follow the leader’s directions on how many bars to dance and stance.

Say:

We are about to play “Breakdance Freeze Dance”. In order to play this, everyone needs to know how to do a B-boy (break boy) or B-girl (break girl) stance. Everyone follow me: Put your right hand in the air. Now put your left hand in the air. Now cross your arms and angle your body to the side like this:

Show them your B-boy or B-girl stance.

Great job! Let’s try another one. Everyone get as low as you can and make the peace sign!

Model and then have them imitate.

Another great one! Now, let’s add something to the first one. Everyone cross your arms in the original B-boy/B-girl stance, except this time stand back to back and lean against a partner!

Accessibility Highlight: In some of this packet we are using “language with open possibilities” (see Inclusive Language section at end of packet). For instance in the above paragraph it says “this time stand back to back to back and lean against your partner.” By simply omitting the word stand and changing it to “this time get back to back and lean against your partner” you have opened it to students who do not stand unassisted. Additionally you can simplify that to either “this time lean against your partner” or in the case of students who do not like to be touched, “this time get back to back.”

Again, if there is an aide present, depending on the abilities of the child, either they can get the child into position with their partner or act as their partner. In some situations, aides allowing the student to do their own thing is the best course of action, but when the aide needs to be very involved in the student's participation, empower them to become part of the exercise as well.

Model with a student or fellow teacher.

Great job! Okay, now to play you must follow directions:

Model this movement while explaining.

We dance for a BAR, then freeze for a BAR (a count of four). We dance for a BAR, then freeze for a BAR. Does everyone understand? Make sure spread out so you have space, and stretch out so you can move your body as much as possible. Lastly, make sure to listen because the instructions will change as the song goes on.

Note to Teachers: The Hustle BAR Count video alternates 8 bars with the horns and other instruments, then 8 bars with just the drums. Use this pattern to help guide the students as you have them do 8 bars of alternating; “dance and stance” every BAR, then every two bars, then ever 4 bars, then every 8 bars. Repeat this process as long as you’d like, if you do it one time through it should take less than 15 minutes from when you first played the break dance video.