Up in the Air: Juggling Rhythm and Meter in Akhnaten

Philip Glass’s music is often held up as an example of so-called minimalist music, a designation that references his supposedly minimal musical materials: diatonic scales and arpeggios, simple patterns, and extensive repetition. Yet this designation can make it easy to overlook just how complex this music can be. Under the music’s surface, we can hear a wonderfully intricate filigree of musical sounds as Glass juxtaposes, overlaps, and combines different rhythms and melodies.

This activity will help students engage with the ever-changing rhythmic and metrical patterns in Akhnaten through a physical exercise: juggling. The basic juggling moves have been supplied by Sean Gandini, the master juggler who appears with his juggling troupe in Akhnaten. Students will:

• Learn a series of simple juggling movements
• Practice connecting these movements to duple- and triple-meter musical excerpts
• Combine the simple juggling movements to make more complex juggling patterns
• Use these juggling patterns to analyze musical excerpts from Akhnaten

In this activity, students will learn a series of juggling patterns and practice performing these patterns in time with excerpts from several operas. Beginning with one-ball patterns, and then progressing to throwing two balls, students will explore how physical movements and visual cues can help us listen to and understand musical rhythms. Students will then use the juggling patterns they have learned to analyze and discuss selections from Akhnaten. Finally, students will be invited to respond creatively to their own favorite music by choreographing juggling patterns to a work of their choice.

Note for Educators: To make this activity as inclusive as possible, you may need to offer adjustments to the juggling movements in the following steps. Some options include:

• Holding a ball for the given number of counts (rather than throwing it up in the air)
• Throwing a ball and catching it in both hands (rather than catching it in one hand)
• Tossing a ball and having another student catch it (rather than throwing it up and catching it yourself)

You may also wish to invite students to suggest other adjustments that they or their fellow students can use.

Step 1
When you see an accomplished juggler, their ability to toss numerous balls in complex patterns may seem like magic. Yet the basic principles of juggling are very simple: To keep track of everything, jugglers just need to know exactly how long a ball will be in the air and where it is going to land when it comes down. Using this basic principle, students will learn a variety of juggling patterns and practice connecting these patterns to different musical meters.

Ask students to stand up and face the front of the classroom; alternatively, if the set-up of your classroom permits, you may wish to have them stand in a large circle facing inward. Distribute one juggling ball to each student, and explain that they are going to learn a variety of throwing patterns with the ultimate goal of choreographing a juggling “accompaniment” to Philip Glass’s score. Also explain that this activity is meant to be fun: Dropping balls is fine—in fact, it’s an inevitable part of learning to juggle, and even master jugglers drop balls from time to time! Students are expected to support and encourage each other during each step of this exercise.       

Now begin with a simple experiment. Ask your students to count together out loud, following a steady pulse. You may wish to use a metronome to keep everyone on track; quarter note = 120 is a good pulse for this activity. Count an intro to help students establish the rhythm (something like “1–2–3–4–5–6–ready–go”), then throw a ball in the air. When you throw the ball, students should start counting: “1–2–3–4–5 …” They should keep counting until the ball falls back into your hands. Throw the ball a few times at a very low height: Ideally, the throw will take two counts (throw the ball up on 1, let it land back in your hands on 2). After throwing the ball a few times for 2 beats, throw it for 3 counts (throw it up on 1, let it continue through the air on 2, and catch it on 3). Next, throw a four-beat pattern. Alternatively, you can ask one or more volunteers to throw the ball in front of the class. Conclude with a simple question: Does the ball go higher when you count more beats or fewer?

Now ask students to experiment with their own juggling balls. Ask them to throw a two-beat pattern: Stand at the front of the room and count “1–2–1–2 …” Students should throw the ball on 1 and catch it (with one or both hands) on 2. After students are comfortable with this, switch to a three-beat pattern (students throw the ball on 1 and catch it on 3). Four beats is more difficult, but invite students to try.

Step 2
Now it’s time to start linking this action with music. Students may already be familiar with the ideas of meter and rhythm, but it will still be useful to remind students that Western music is typically organized around a steady pulse. Musical meter arises from how these pulses are grouped: If the pulse is grouped into two- or four-beat patterns, we say the music is in “duple meter”; if the pulses are organized in groups of three, we say the music is in “triple meter.”

Tracks 1–6 feature short excerpts from a variety of operas. Each of these excerpts has a strong meter, listed below. Start by asking students to throw the balls up in the air for the number of counts indicated, keeping time with the music as you play each excerpt. (For now, students need only throw the balls up and down; more complex patterns will be introduced in subsequent steps.) You do not need to play all the excerpts in their entirety, but ensure that you play each excerpt long enough that students feel comfortable throwing their ball in time with the music.

Track 1 | Verdi, Il Trovatore, "Anvil Chorus"
Meter: 4/4
Counts per throw: 2

Track 2 | Mozart, Le Nozze di Figaro, “Non più andrai”
Meter: 4/4
Counts per throw: 2

Track 3 | Verdi, La Traviata, “Brindisi”
Meter: 3/8
Counts per throw: 3

Track 4 | Bizet, Carmen, “Pres des remparts de Seville”
Meter: 3/8
Counts per throw: 3

Track 5 | Wagner, Die Walküre, “Ride of the Valkyries”
Meter: 9/8
Counts per throw: 3

Track 6 | Verdi, Aida, “Triumphal March”
Meter: 4/4
Counts per throw: 4

Step 3
Now let’s make things a little bit more complicated. Instead of simply throwing the ball up for three counts, let’s divide that three-beat pattern into a 2+1 pattern:

Pattern 1

Beat 1                   Throw the ball up from one hand

Beat 2                   Catch it in the same hand

Beat 3                   Pass it across to the other hand

Count a slow “1–2–3–1–2–3 …” for the class, and ask your students to count out loud with you while they juggle this pattern. After a few seconds, ask them what they notice about this pattern. Accept all answers, but draw their attention to the fact that each three-beat group starts in a different hand (i.e., if the first group of three starts in the right hand and passes to the left, then the second group of three will start in the left hand and pass to the right).

Once students are comfortable juggling this pattern, play Verdi’s “Brindisi” (Track 3) again, and ask them to juggle this pattern in time with the music’s three-beat structure. Keep in mind that the higher the ball is thrown, the longer it will take to land back in your hand; since the tempo of this excerpt is relatively quick, students will need to keep their throws small. Next, try juggling this same pattern to Bizet’s “Près des remparts de Séville” (Track 4). If you and your students wish, you may also try juggling this pattern to Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries” (Track 5).

Step 4
Now let’s move on to some four-beat patterns. Patterns 2 and 3 have both been designed for juggling in 4/4 time. Introduce Pattern 2,below, and have students juggle this pattern to Verdi’s “Anvil Chorus” (Track 1) and Mozart’s “Non più andrai” (Track 2). (Note that right and left hands may be switched in any of the following directions to suit individual students’ preference.)

Pattern 2

Beat 1                   Throw the ball from the right hand.

Beat 2                   Catch the ball with the right hand.

Beat 3                   Pass the ball to the left hand.

Beat 4                   Pass the ball to the right hand.

Now introduce Pattern 3, and play Tracks 1 and 2 again as students practice this new pattern

Pattern 3

Beat 1                   Throw the ball from the right hand (it will need to be thrown high enough that it remains in the air through Beat 2 and lands in the left hand on Beat 3).

Beat 2                   (The ball is still in the air.)

Beat 3                   Catch the ball with the left hand.

Beat 4                   Pass the ball from the left to the right hand.

Finally, divide your students into two groups; ask one group to juggle Pattern 2 while the other group juggles Pattern 3; they should juggle these two patterns simultaneously as they listen to the “Anvil Chorus” (Track 1) one final time. You may wish to start by having all students on one side of the room juggle Pattern 2 while students on the other side juggle Pattern 3. You may wish to alternate patterns (so the first student in the circle will juggle Pattern 2, the second Pattern 3, the third Pattern 2, etc.). Or you may wish to start by dividing the class into two large groups, and then shuffle students so that the patterns are alternating.

If you have a means of making a video of the class, do so now. Play the video back for students, and ask them to describe the effect of having two different patterns happening at the same time. Does it change the way they hear the music?

Step 5
Now let’s turn to the music of Akhnaten. Invite students to put down their balls and simply listen as you play Track 7 through once. Prepare students for the excerpt by asking them to identify the meter of this piece (the answer is duple meter).

Play Track 7 again, and ask students to throw their balls up and down in time with the meter (throw on beat 1, catch on beat 2). Next, invite students to throw each of the four-beat patterns introduced in the previous step as they listen to this track.

Move on to Track 8. This track starts at the beginning of the Prelude, but it continues for longer than Track 7. Play 15 to 20 seconds of the track, and then pause it; ask students if they noticed anything about the meter of the piece. You may wish to repeat this track again, playing only the first 15–20 seconds, before inviting students to share their observations. Does it still feel like the piece is in duple meter? Does it feel like it changes at some point? (The answer is that after eight bars, it switches to triple meter. If your students are advanced, you may also point out that the four-note arpeggio pattern has now become a three-note arpeggio pattern to accommodate this change of meter.)

Track 9 begins where the triple meter section of the Prelude begins. Play this track, and have your students practice juggling the three-beat pattern introduced in Step 3 as they listen to this excerpt.

Finally, return to Track 8. There are eight bars of 4/4 music before the 3/4 section begins. Have students choose their favorite four-beat pattern (different students can juggle different patterns) and perform it eight times. Count the bars out loud as your students juggle. Then, when the 3/4 section arrives, have students start juggling the 3/4 pattern. Is it easy to make this transition? Why or why not?

Step 6
Now play Track 10, and ask students to listen with their eyes closed. As students listen, they should imagine how they might throw their ball in time with this music, using any of the patterns or techniques already studied. At the end of the clip, start the track again, and have students open their eyes and throw the ball in whatever pattern they imagined. If possible, make a video recording of the result. How many patterns did students come up with? What does it look like when everyone is throwing the ball according to whichever pattern they feel most strongly?

Step 7
In the final step of this activity, students will progress to juggling with two balls. Distribute a second ball to each student. (If students feel more comfortable still using a single ball, that is fine.)

Introduce students to Pattern 4, and then immediately play Track 11, an excerpt from the Funeral of Amenhotep III. The entire excerpt features a steady 4/4 pattern, so students will be able to focus on handling two balls rather than trying to keep up with changing meters. Nevertheless, as students become more comfortable with the two-ball patterns, invite them to listen carefully to the music and pay attention to how the musical and juggling patterns interact.

Pattern 4

Beats 1–8            Hold one ball in each hand and count out loud. On odd counts, toss the ball in the right hand up a few inches and immediately catch it in the right hand; on even counts, toss the ball in left hand up a few inches and immediately catch it in the left hand.

Once students are comfortable with Pattern 4, introduce Pattern 5. (It may help to watch the video accompanying this exercise, in which Sean Gandini performs this pattern.) Again, invite students to try juggling the pattern to Track 11.

Pattern 5

Beat 1                   Toss one ball from the right hand to the left; at the same time, pass the ball in the left hand to the right.

Beat 2                   Catch the ball tossed by the right hand (on beat 1) in the left hand.

Beats 3–8              Continue as in Pattern 4.

Introduce Pattern 6; you may also wish to give students time to experiment with variations on this pattern.

Pattern 6

(Similar to Pattern 5, but doubling the quick toss at the beginning)

Beat 1                   Toss one ball from the right hand to the left; at the same time, pass the ball in the left hand to the right.

Beat 2                   Catch the ball tossed by the right hand (on beat 1) in the left hand.

Beat 3                   Toss one ball from the right hand to the left; at the same time, pass the ball in the left hand to the right.

Beat 4                   Catch the ball tossed by the right hand (on beat 3) in the left hand.

Beats 5–8            Continue as in Pattern 4.

You can also invite students to try repeating the toss from right to left three or even four times in a row. Alternatively, they can toss the ball from right to left anywhere in the eight-beat structure. (Students may also find it easier to count 16-beat patterns—instead of eight-beat patterns—since this will give them more “rest” time between tosses from right to left.)

Play Track 11 again, and let students practice whichever version of the above pattern they like most. Encourage them to try several different patterns. Then move on to Track 12. Again, encourage students to juggle whichever pattern they like most; if they prefer, they may also juggle a one-ball pattern at this point.

Step 8
If possible, make a video recording of students performing their favorite juggling patterns as they listen to Tracks 11 and 12. Then play this video back for the students. Bring the activity to a close with a class-wide discussion about the activity. The following questions will help guide students’ responses:

• What did it feel like to juggle these patterns? Did it help you follow along with the music? Why or why not?
• What did it look like when those around you were juggling these patterns? Did it help you follow along with the music? Why or why not?
• What are some other ways you might be able to express this music through physical activities? Dance? Jumping rope? Meditation?
• If you had to describe Philip Glass’s music to someone who had never heard it before, what would you say?

Invite students to work in small groups to develop juggling choreography for a song of their choosing. If students wish, they can try throwing larger balls, like beach balls or basketballs, to one another for a different visual result. Give them some time in class to develop this choreography, or assign it as a homework assignment. Then invite them to perform their selections for the class. Did this activity give them new insight into their musical selection?