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I am currently teaching a student who is in AMEB 3rd grade, and for aural tests she will be played a passages and need to distinguish whether it is in duple or triple time.

is there any way to teach this?

Um, am I missing something, as this seems very easy?

Identify the beats in the music, identify the strongest beat (i.e. first in the bar) and count if it goes POM-pom-pom POM-pom-pom or POM-pom POM-pom. To teach it, get your student to clap the rhythm out, emphasising the first beat of the bar.

I'm sure you're asking something more difficult than this - maybe compound vs simple?

without the stresses played. apparantly a few of my fellow collegues are having the same problem. the children just can't do it if the beat isn't stressed for them.

without stresses played? I too am confused. There is always some kind of pulse in any meter, that is how you can identify the meter....I agree with johnEB...do you mean teaching something like compound vs. simple? For isnstance simple duple as in 2/4 and compound duple as in 6/8 ?...

A few suggestions:

Like JohnEB said: clap various metered rhythms. Also I would add the following...

Listen to LOTS of repertoire with your student. Have them clap the pulse (or steady beat), help them find the downbeat...where does the emphasis fall every 2 or 3 beats?

move to some music...play a few songs with a very obvious meter, and have your student move to the music...some children are very natural at moving to music in a rhythmic fashion.

hope this helps

Triple is easily distinguished since it is
"waltz-like." Everything else is duple.

Betcha I can play Brahms Capriccio Op 76 No 5 so you can hear it either way. It seem be simple with simple music but it isn't.

I have students conduct the piece and see which way feels the best.

I teach them simple conducting patterns for duple and triple, and I make sure to use music that is obviously one or the other. (In other words, no 6/8 or fast 3/4, since a slow 6/8 can sound triple and a fast 3/4 can sound duple.)

My favorite practice pieces are the minuets and finales from Haydn sonatas. His minuets are perfect - not too fast, not too slow, very obviously in 3/4, and his finales are often 2/4 dances that bounce along in a nice duple time.

thanks for the suggestions!
i'll try it out.

i agree that conducting (motor skills) will help the auditory senses in distinguising between 1-2 3 and others ... i've read somewhere that it's the learning integration "thingy" of the brain ...

i would play up to 15 simple pieces in triple time and count aloud to help the child conduct and recognize the "triangle" - graded exams learners to me are mostly visual learners. i'm one of them !!

i would then contrast it with another 15 simple pieces in other time signatures to aid the student's "distinguising" skills.

the average mind takes 15 repetition to really get something down.

Oh very interesting... shall try that out too!! 15 times - never tried that !! I hope my students could concentrate!!
Thanks!

I play recordings of music for them and we try to identify the meter. I give them rhythm instruments, and they test the beat and then I count out loud as we listen a little longer and they tap the beat.

Duple they can march to, and triple is like a waltz, but since kids don't really know waltzes anymore, I have them tap their legs, then snap twice or clap twice to get that "Down-up-up" feel. If they're a bit older and more coordinated, you can have them walk across the room in duple while bending one knee lower and then the other leg up on tip toe, then in triple bend the knee on one beat lower then two beats on tip toe.

edit: Of course, this works best with students who are more kinesthetic in their learning style. Ones who are more aural will do well with counting out loud or saying a two-syllable word or a three-syllable word. Visual learners may need to see the score while listening but have the time signature covered up and bar lines eliminated.

I'm glad I'm not the only one with a conductor's baton in my studio! I approach this similarly to sarabande and Kreisler.

The trouble with the aural test Lisa is referring to is that it is played, single line, on the piano. And only played twice. The manner of playing really affects how easy it is to grasp the metre. If absolutely NO beats are stressed then theoretically it could be anything, but I think they generally play it without *undue* stress on the beats.
Some really good ideas here to help, however! I've used conducting, but didn't think to use a baton.

PS Lisa, not sure why your name comes up in the quote as Iwon4792 instead of Lisa1000. Your alter ego I suppose

One method (which must be used with other methods, as it is one way to NARROW DOWN your choices, not answer your question) is to point out what rhythmic values are characteristic in duple vs. triple.