Week 2 — Drill Plan · Pulse in the Body
Course: MUS 155 Aural Skills I · Kenosis College
Instructor: Professor Hemsworth
Unit: Learning Unit 2 of 15 (Week 2) · two sessions per week
Objectives: SLO 3 · SLO 4
Sessions: session 1 · session 2 (Skills Check 2 in the last quarter hour of session 2)
Instructor-facing. This file is excluded from the student cartridge. Every stimulus named below is notated, with its performance script, in
_keys/KEY-stimulus-sheet-week-02.md— nothing musical is spelled out here.
Named in Music Theory I: note and rest values, the dot, ties, simple meter, time signatures, barlines, "1 e & a" counting, anacrusis, beaming — the page side of the pulse this room has kept since day one.
First time teaching this
The point of the LU: everything the class did with the pulse last week gets its written face this week. The rhythm echo ladder adds the divided beat; the counting system arrives out loud; twos and fours become duple and quadruple — and threes join them; and in session 1 the class takes its first rhythmic dictation, taught as a fixed ritual (hear–tap–count–write) that will run unchanged through the final.
The one thing that must land: the dictation ritual. Not the answer — the procedure. A student who taps through hearing one, counts through hearing two, and writes only on hearing three owns a machine that will carry every dictation this semester. Guard the protocol fiercely; never let anyone write during a hearing.
The most common way it goes wrong: treating the counting syllables as the content. They are the handles on the content. Every counting moment in this plan is attached to clapping, hearing, or writing sound — if the room is chanting strings without a pulse in the body, stop and put the clap back in. Division stays at the "&" level this week; the full "1 e & a" string is named (the theory class handed it over this morning) but its quarter-beat positions wait for Unit 4 material.
The do ritual
Open both sessions with the do ritual as defined in Unit 1's plan — I–IV–V–I, sing "do," the class sings the home-tone arch back on "loo" — then keep pitch alive with the two maintenance stimuli (T4, N1) mid-session. The syllable system is still two weeks out; everything sung stays on neutral syllables.
Drill sequence
Session 1 — minute markers, stimuli by keys-sheet name, tempi, repetitions, and the words to say.
| Time | Segment | Stimulus / tempo | Reps | Words to say |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00–0:03 | The do ritual | ritual, 76 BPM | 1 cycle | "Same door, every session." |
| 0:03–0:18 | Rhythm echo ladder, rungs 1–5 | R1–R2 at 76 BPM, R3–R4 at 76→84 BPM, R5 at 84→92 BPM | 2 clap–echo cycles each; from R3, cycle two is echoed while counting aloud | "I clap, you're my echo. Second time through: clap AND count — the numbers ride the claps, never replace them." |
| 0:18–0:26 | Counting aloud from the page | P studio lines 1–2, 66→76 BPM | 2 passes each | "This is the string the theory class named this morning. Count the printed line, clap it, then do both at once." |
| 0:26–0:38 | Meter by ear — the words arrive | M1, M2, M3 at 92 BPM | 2 hearings per answer | "Last week you showed twos and fours on your fingers. As of this morning those have names: duple, quadruple — and here comes a third one. Call what you hear." |
| 0:38–0:56 | First rhythmic dictation — the ritual, taught | D1 at 76 BPM, three hearings | full protocol, twice if needed | "Here is how dictation works in this room, forever: hearing one, pens down, tap. Hearing two, count along, softly. Hearing three, write. The pattern is short on purpose — the ritual is the lesson." |
| 0:56–1:04 | Pitch-matching maintenance | T4 (60 BPM pulse), N1 at 76 BPM | 2 rounds | "Two minutes for last week's skill. Any octave that fits, on 'loo.'" |
| 1:04–1:15 | Close + assignments | — | — | "Practice page: one drill a day, ten minutes. Tutorial before session 2 if you haven't run it. Session 2: ties — one attack that rides across the barline." |
Session 2 — ties across the barline, dictation in 3/4, partner sheets, then the check.
| Time | Segment | Stimulus / tempo | Reps | Words to say |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0:00–0:03 | The do ritual | ritual, 76 BPM | 1 cycle | "Home first." |
| 0:03–0:14 | Echo ladder, rungs 6–8 (R6, then ties) | R6 at 84→92 BPM, then R7 at 84→92 BPM, R8 at 92→100 BPM | 2 cycles R6; 3 cycles each tie rung | "Rung six first — quick bar, eighths up front. Then the ties: one clap in bar one is still sounding when bar two starts. Don't re-attack — let the count carry you over the barline." |
| 0:14–0:24 | Dictation, second pass | D2 at 76 BPM, three hearings | full protocol | "Same ritual, new meter. Tap, count, write. Notice what the last note has to be to fill the bar." |
| 0:24–0:44 | Partner sheets A/B | card sets A and B, 80 BPM | 3 cards each way | "A claps, B writes — three hearings, the ritual way. Then swap sets. Sign the attestation line when both of you have written honestly. Your partner's steady 80 is a gift; give it back." |
| 0:44–0:52 | Meter by ear, mixed + maintenance | M1–M3 shuffled at 92 BPM; T4 | 1 hearing per answer | "One hearing. Commit. Then one tone to keep the ear warm." |
| 0:52–0:55 | Check setup | — | — | administration script, keys sheet |
| 0:55–1:10 | Skills Check 2 | Stimuli 1–8 per script, 76–92 BPM | scripted | script only — identical administration matters |
| 1:10–1:15 | Close | ritual, once | 1 | "Two weeks in, you can hold a pulse, name its grouping, and write down what someone claps at you. Recordings and practice close at the end of the week." |
When they miss it
Per drill: what the miss sounds like, and the immediate corrective — a specific next sound, never a re-explanation.
| Drill | Error mode — what it sounds like | Immediate corrective |
|---|---|---|
| Echo ladder | Rushing the eighths — the divided beat crowds forward, R3's pairs land early | Halve the material: clap one bar of quarters, then the same bar with ONE beat divided. You keep the count aloud; they clap into it. Rebuild the rung. |
| Echo ladder | Rests swallowed — R2's silent beats get filled or clipped | Count the rest aloud together, hands open and still on the silent beat — the gesture keeps the silence the same length as a clap. Replay. |
| Counting aloud | The count speeds up when the notes divide — "1 &" spills faster than "1" | Put the metronome on 60, audibly. Speak only beat numbers against it; add "&" back one bar at a time. The click owns the tempo, not the mouth. |
| Meter by ear | Triple heard as duple (or quadruple) — fingers show two on M1 | Exaggerate: replay with the bar-first attack nearly banged, the rest whispered, and walk the room's feet on the strong beat only. Then normal weight. |
| Dictation | Writing during hearings — pens move on hearing one | Stop mid-hearing. Restate the ritual in six words — "tap one, count two, write three" — and restart the stimulus from the top. Never negotiate this one. |
| Dictation | The dot heard as a longer new note plus something — D2's final bar comes back as half-plus-quarter attacks | Clap the bar both ways: dotted half, then half-plus-quarter. Ask which had two attacks. The ear separates them instantly once it listens for attacks, not length. |
| Ties (R7–R8) | Re-attacking across the barline — the echo claps on the downbeat that should be silent-but-sounding | Sing the tied note on "loo" while clapping only the attacks — the voice holds through the barline while the hands prove where attacks are. Then clap alone. |
Escalation path
If a drill fails room-wide: drop one rung — the echo ladder falls back to R1 at 76 BPM, meter-by-ear falls back to Unit 1's G1/G2 with exaggerated weight (the grouping skill under last week's rules), dictation falls back to echo-then-write: the class echoes the pattern first, then writes what it just clapped. Re-establish the pulse the same way every time: metronome on, audible, eight clicks, everyone walking it, resume. Abandon criterion: if a segment still fails after two escalated attempts, bank it — "your hands know it; the page will catch up next week" — and log which drill you banked. The named pick-up hook: every Unit 2 drill returns inside Unit 3 — the echo ladder returns as compound echo, meter-by-ear becomes the duple-vs-triple room split (the Unit 3 centerpiece), and the dictation ritual runs unchanged on 6/8 patterns. A banked Unit 2 drill re-enters there at floor difficulty; nothing is lost.
Tempo table
| Drill | First pass | Target |
|---|---|---|
| The do ritual | 76 BPM | 76 BPM (never varies) |
| Echo ladder R1–R2 | 76 BPM | 76 BPM |
| Echo ladder R3–R4 | 76 BPM | 84 BPM |
| Echo ladder R5–R6 | 84 BPM | 92 BPM |
| Echo ladder R7 (tie) | 84 BPM | 92 BPM |
| Echo ladder R8 (tie) | 92 BPM | 100 BPM |
| Counting-aloud studio lines | 66 BPM | 76 BPM |
| Meter-by-ear M1–M3 | 92 BPM | 92 BPM |
| Dictation D1–D2 | 76 BPM | 76 BPM (fixed by ritual) |
| Partner cards A1–A3, B1–B3 | 80 BPM | 80 BPM (fixed on the card) |
| Pitch maintenance T4/N1 | 60 / 76 BPM | 60 / 76 BPM |
| Skills-check stimuli | as scripted, 76–92 BPM | fixed by script |
Rotation note (P states it to students): solo hearings continue inside the echo ladder and the counting-aloud segment — 6 to 8 students heard individually per session keeps every student heard solo roughly every two and a half weeks at a full section of 36; in a small room, everyone, every session. Keep the ledger current; the Unit 7 check assumes the rotation has touched everyone twice.
~ Professor Hemsworth's edition · Kenosis College · built with thecoursemaker.com