ABSTRACT

This study investigates how Wuhan dialect children’s rhymes can be transformed into rhythm teaching materials for Chinese primary music education. This issue is significant because, although Chinese curriculum policy encourages the use of local and culturally responsive musical resources, a clear pedagogical pathway from orally transmitted rhymes to sequenced classroom rhythm instruction remains underdeveloped. Adopting a qualitative framework design, the study documented 74 orally transmitted rhymes in Wuhan in 2025 and selected 30 representative examples for transcription and analysis. Guided by Kodaly-inspired principles of sound before symbol, rhythmic preparation, cultural authenticity, and sequential development, the analysis examined meter, rhythmic patterns, rhythmic structure, type, and text. Four representative lesson plan exemplars are included to illustrate how the analytical framework may be applied in practice. The findings show recurring reliance on stable duple meter, quarter-note and paired-eighth-note patterns, short symmetrical phrases, and embodied play structures that support a progression from steady-beat internalisation to rhythm-syllable application and early notation reading. The study therefore positions Wuhan children’s rhymes as culturally grounded and instructionally usable resources for early rhythm literacy in Chinese primary music education.

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