202 | Top 5 Songs to Teach Tika-Tika Rhythms with Confidence

In this episode of That Music Podcast, Bryson dives into one of his favorite rhythmic concepts to teach, tika-tika (four sixteenth notes), and shares five of his go-to songs for making this rhythm come alive in the elementary music room. With an eye toward thoughtful repertoire choices, he explores how to move beyond outdated or problematic songs and still bring the fun with engaging, student-approved activities. From play parties to original compositions, Bryson highlights ways to keep tika-tika practice meaningful, musical, and inclusive.

Episode Chapters:

• 0:00 Introduction
• 2:41 Introducing TikaTika
• 4:03 Paw Paw Patch
• 5:48 Flying with a Bee
• 7:40 Fire in the Mountain
• 8:31 Tide-y-O
• 9:16 Old Brass Wagon
• 9:54 Takeaways

Links and Resources: 

• The Elementary Music Summit®
• Elementary Newbie Guide
• Disabilities Guide
• Steady Beat Survival Guide
• Join Elementary Music EDGE™
• Join the Repertoire Detective Challenge

Have questions or want to share feedback? Reach out to us at hello@thatmusicteacher.com - we’d love to hear from you!

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 2:41 Introducing Tika-Tika
• 4:03 Paw Paw Patch
• 5:48 Flying with a Bee
• 7:40 Fire in the Mountain
• 8:31 Tide-y-O
• 9:16 Old Brass Wagon
• 9:54 Takeaways

Transcript

Bryson Tarbet: 0:00

Let's talk about the ticket ticket in the room. You are listening to that music podcast with Bryson Tart, the curriculum designer and educational consultant behind that music teacher in the elementary music summit. Each week, Bryson and his guest will dive into the reality of being an elementary music teacher and how music can truly be transformative in the lives of the students you serve. Show notes and resources mentioned in this episode. Can be found@thatmusicteacher.com. Welcome back to that music podcast. Today we're diving into one of the most exciting and sometimes tricky rhythmic concepts, in my opinion, at least for elementary music students, and that is Ticka Ticka, our beloved four 16th notes. So tick a ticka opens up a new world of rhythmic complexity, right? That's a fancy way of saying it. It makes it new, right? We've been stuck in, you know, TAs and tee tees and things like that. Ticket. A ticket. It really is interesting. I love using ticket ticket because. That's what my, my students just light up because it's something. Really new, and I think that it's a real key stepping stone into a lot of the more advanced rhythms. So we want to do it right. Um, today we are going to be talking about my five favorite songs to use for ticket ticket. So I wanna be really clear, which is, um, ticket a, ticket songs for whatever reason. Um, they tend to, first of all, they're just, they're, you know, in the grand scheme of things, there's not a lot of ticket ticket songs that are, are, that are widely circulated, right? Like, if you want a song for Todd and Titi. Ba, Jillian, there's so many. Um, but take a take. There's just not as many or not as many that are engaging and fun and things like that. Um, and then taking it a step farther. Unfortunately, a lot of the songs that were used for Take a Ticket for a long time, um, have kind of surfaced on these songs with the questionable past list, um, where a lot of them are coming from. Um, hateful, racist, um, blackface, minstrel show roots. Um, and I think that. First of all, I, I think there's really no reason to use those songs in your curriculum once you know better, do better. Um, but also we still have to teach ticket tickets. So what do we do instead? So I'm gonna teach a few of my favorites so that you can give you some new ideas and hopefully, uh. Be able to kind of start building up the world of ticket ticket. So some of the songs are exactly how I learned them. Um, one of the songs I kind of tweaked a little bit and one of the songs is a brand new composed piece that I use that I know I'm the code, I'm a code A person showing you a composed song. Don't tell the code a police, it's gonna be okay. So let's dive right in. Alright, before we get any farther, let's make sure we're all on the same page on what a Ticka Ticka is. So it's four sounds on one beat. Um, ticka Ticka. So four 16th notes. Tka tka. Cool. Sounds good. Uh, so this is a really cool jump from Quarter Note and eighth notes. Um, and like I said earlier, the payoff for students is really huge.'cause it really, it lets them. It kind of unlocks a whole new area of listening for them. Um, and quite frankly, a lot of the, the things that I'm gonna share with you have really cool games that the students really engage with. Um, so for me, ticket ticket always showed up in third grade. I know some people are getting it. As you know, late second grade, some people are doing fourth grade. Whatever works for you is working for me. Let's talk about how we do this. As we've discussed in previous episodes, the repertoire that we choose for our students is incredibly powerful and how it holds a lot of weight. It shapes their musical experience. The understanding of the cultures that we're representing and whether they see themselves or not in our music. A lot of us grew up with songs like Chicken on A Fence, post Dyna. Um, those are all, both ones that I've used in my classroom to teach Tick Ticka. Um, unfortunately both of these songs are not things that we should be, we should be continuing. Um, both of these songs come from incredibly hateful pasts and there's no reason that we need to keep them going. Um, so what do we use instead? Let's talk about it. So the first song is Paw Paw Patch, and this is a play party. And honestly, it's one of my favorite play parties. The song originally starts off by going, where, where is pretty Little Susie and I got in a conversation when I was doing Kodi with, with some of some of the women that I was doing my levels with. And I was just like, how do we feel about that opening line? Like I, I don't, I don't know. And someone. Someone mentioned like, I'm not really sure I would like my classmates to be calling me pretty. Or, or to basically just thinking like, I, I feel like it's, it's, it's a little icky. It's a little, it's not great. So for me, I kind of took that to heart. Um, and I changed the words, I changed the, the song a little bit. I know, again, I'm ako person changing songs. Ah, so the version that I did, uh, and that I use in my classroom is a little bit different. And it actually takes out a lot of ticket tickets. Because it's changing pretty little Suzy to my friend Susie. Um, but honestly, I like that better because it makes the, um, the ticket ticket that remains a little bit more present. So this is the version that I teach in my classroom where, oh, where is my friend Susie? Where? Oh, where is my friend Susie? Where? Oh, where is my friend? Susie, wait on yonder and Pop, pop Patch. Come on friends, let's go find her. Come on friends, let's go find her. Come on friends. Let's go find her. Wait on yonder in a Paw Paw patch. Picking up Papa's, put 'em in her pocket, picking up Papa's, put 'em in her pocket, picking up Papa's, put 'em in her pocket. Wait on yonder, in a paw patch. So that's the version I use in my classroom. It's a play party. It's really cool. It's a long way set, which with a little bit of peel the banana here, peel the banana here, going under the bridge. It's a lot of fun. My students really love this. And we do this every year at our family folk dance night. Um, and I would actually create one giant long way set with all of my third graders. Probably should have split it in half, but it was a lot of fun. So the next song that I have is actually one that I composed. Um, so the game goes like this essentially, students are scattered all the way around the room. Um, and I use beanbags or, or something else that I had that are just kind of scattered around the room. That's the nectar. Um, so while students are singing this song, um. There's gonna be a few students that are, that are kind of chosen as bees. Um, and during the B section, see what I did there, um, they're basically trying to catch, run around the room, grab as many of these as possible. So I would pick, pick like three to five depending on how big the room was. Um, and everybody else is, is standing there, um, being. Flowers, or I don't know, nature things. Um, so the b section has it's body percussion. Um, and I'm going to clap it, but I would actually pat it on my legs so it goes like this. So there's a lot of ticket tickets in the right. So it's ta ta ticket tick. Ta ticket. Tick tt tick tick. Ta ticket. Tick. Ta tick. Tick ta. Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick to, um, so that's what would, would be going on when students, when the bees are flying around collecting the nectar. Um, so I would do this A, B, a, right? So the A section goes like this, flying like a B, and flying all around the bees. Make sure our world goes round, flying like a B, and finding on the flowers. Then we all fly home. Flying like a bee and flying all around the bees. Make sure our world goes round, flying like a bee and finding on the flowers. Then we all fly home and then you would count and see who has the most nectar. Again, it's a composed song, but it's okay. And the students love it. Up next is a song called Fire in the Mountain. So there is a teat in here, but just ignore it. I promise it's gonna be okay. Um, because I think it really, this is a really good way to just practice ticket Tika. Um, even if you're not necessarily like getting in the weeds and extracting it. So the song goes like this, fire in the mountain run, boys run you with a red coat. Follow with the drum. The drum shall beat and the beach shall run. Fire in the mountain. Run boys Run. Run boys run. I like this one. The game, it's basically having somebody in the middle with a two bono or a gathering drum and they're keeping the beat and basically they just keep singing the song over and over and over again while everyone's walking in the circle. Um, and then when they stop, it kind of turns into musical chairs moment, right? You're trying to find a partner. Um, and then. Have an odd number. So as someone always ends up on the drum the next time around, um, again, it has a tea ticket in it, but it's gonna be okay, I promise. Up next is Tio, another one that I used a lot, um, for my family. Folk. Dance Night, it goes like this. Pass one window, tidy. Oh, pass. Two windows, tidy. Oh, pass three windows ti Oh, jingle at the window. Tidy. Oh, tidy. Oh, tidy. Oh, jingle at the window. Tidy. Oh, tidy. Oh, tidy. Oh. Jingle at the window. Tidy. Oh. So this is another movement game. Um, so you have two to circles with kind of facing each other, everyone as a partner, um, and then on the word, every word pass, everybody rotates around the circle. So pass moving, pass one window, Tio pass one window, Tio, and then on Tio, you're getting. You're hitting your, your legs tie. Clap the out. Oh, tidy yo. Tidy yo. Jingle out the window. Tidy yo. A lot of fun. And last but certainly not least, is old Brass Wagon. This is one that I would use for, um, the opening of my Family Folk Dance Night. And I would actually invite our families, um, to come up with us, um, and the song goes like this. Circle to the left old brass wagon circle to the left old brass wagon circle to the left old brass wagon. You are the one, my darling. And you can change it up right circle to the right old brass wagon or up and down or in and out or things all around, whatever. Um, I like this one because again, it's easy. It's a great movement activity. It's really easy. It's, it, it tells you exactly what to do, um, and has a lot of ticket tickets in it that can be easily pulled out. So there you have it. My top five songs for Ticket Ticka, offering a new perspective potentially, or maybe some new ones in there at least. Um, to help you make sure that you are giving ticket ticka the time it deserves because it's important, um, but also making sure that we're including things that are worth including in our curriculum. So let's continue to be repertoire detectives. Let's ensure that our curriculum is set up in a way that we have high quality music that ensures that every single one of our students feel heard, seen, and valued in our classroom. Um, and until next time, thank you so much for joining us for this episode of That Music podcast. And as always, thank you so much for making a difference in life lives of the students that you teach.