1Short Answer
A warm-up clapping pattern has 6 beats in the first phrase and 8 beats in the second phrase. What is the total number of beats?
2Word Problem
A drummer practices 12 minutes in the morning, 15 minutes after school, and 9 minutes at night. How many minutes does the drummer practice in all?
3Short Answer
A composer writes four measures of a rhythm. The measures contain 4 beats, 6 beats, 5 beats, and 7 beats. What is the total number of beats in the rhythm?
4Word Problem
During rehearsal, a choir sings three sections of a song. Section A lasts 3 minutes 45 seconds, Section B lasts 4 minutes 20 seconds, and Section C lasts 2 minutes 55 seconds. What is the total rehearsal time for the three sections?
5Multi-step Word Problem
A student counts the notes in two practice lines. Line 1 has 18 notes, Line 2 has 24 notes, and a final ending phrase adds 17 more notes. The student wants to know how many notes are in the full exercise. Then they decide to repeat the entire exercise one more time. What is the total number of notes played across both full performances?
Answer Key
Teacher Notes:
Learning objectives: Students will apply addition in musical contexts, including beat counts, measure totals, tempo changes, and practice-time calculations. Suggested classroom use: Warm-up, independent practice, or formative assessment. Skills practiced: multi-step addition, estimation, interpreting music notation, and problem solving. Differentiation: For struggling learners, allow counting aids, beat grids, or calculator support for total-sum checking. For advanced learners, ask students to explain their strategy or create a similar music-based addition problem. Extension activity: Have students compose an 8-measure rhythm using totals from their answers.
| # | Answer | Explanation |
|---|
| 1 | 14 beats | Add the two phrases: 6 + 8 = 14. |
| 2 | 36 minutes | Add all three practice times: 12 + 15 + 9 = 36. |
| 3 | 22 beats | Add the beats in each measure: 4 + 6 + 5 + 7 = 22. |
| 4 | 11 minutes 0 seconds | Add the seconds first: 45 + 20 + 55 = 120 seconds, which equals 2 minutes. Then add the minutes: 3 + 4 + 2 + 2 = 11 minutes. |
| 5 | 118 notes | First find one full exercise: 18 + 24 + 17 = 59 notes. Since it is repeated once more, 59 + 59 = 118 notes. |