When I play In the Hall of the Mountain King from Peer Gynt Suite by Edvard Grieg for my 3rd, 4th and 5th graders, they immediately start singing "ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ta, ti-ti ta, ti-ti ta..." because they remember doing that in 2nd grade.
I show the 2nd graders this sheet:
We say the rhythm, then listen to the song and say the rhythm quietly. We discuss what changed as the song progressed (faster, louder, higher, etc.)
Then... I get out "Trollee," my puppet. While we listen again, Trollee goes around the room and bounces to the rhythm. ;-) This is what my Troll by Folkmanis looks like. Cute, isn't he? (Listen.)
Simple: Put the kids in two groups. As they listen, point to one group, then the other. (Whisper the rhythm as you conduct the groups to whisper it also.) The nice thing about this activity is the kids can actually feel how fast it gets, because they have trouble keeping up.
Complex-bordering-on-dangerous: Put the kids in two concentric circles, one smaller circle inside the other. They stand up and hold hands. When one theme starts, the middle circle walks (or runs as the music gets faster) to the right. When the theme repeats, the outer circle walks or runs. The reason I stopped doing this was kids pulling each others' hands and falling and getting hurt.
I'm not a fan of the Peer Gynt story; it's long and sordid. So, I tell the kids this very short version to explain In the Hall of the Mountain King.
"There is a fairy tale from Norway about a little boy named Peer (which is their version of Peter). He lived with his mother and didn't always make good choices. One day he decided to run away from home. He ended up running into a cave, where he met some trolls. For awhile he thought it was fun living with the trolls away from responsibility, but the trolls decided he should become a troll if he was going to stay. When he decided to leave, they began to chase him to make him stay. Here is the piece of music that goes along with the chase. See if you can guess if he got away or not." (He does.)
On another day, we listen to Morning from Peer Gynt and note the differences from In the Hall...
I tell them that Peer decides to go to a few different countries in the world, and one day he watches the sun rise, and this is the music that goes along with it. (The end of my version of the story is that even though Peer enjoyed traveling around the world, he decided that going home and living with his mother - and the responsibilities that go along with that - was more fun than adventure.)
There's also a puppet version of the story that they can watch.
