Call and response
A game of taking turns. The teacher claps a short rhythm, then the student answers: by clapping it straight back, or with a rhythm of their own. You take turns, again and again, while Pulse keeps the beat for you.
Why it helps
We learn rhythm the way we learn to talk: by ear first, by copying. To clap a rhythm back, the student has to listen closely, hold it in their memory and play it in time, all without the beat stopping. Rhythms they can copy by ear are the ones they’ll find easiest to read later, and answering with a rhythm of their own is a first step towards improvising.