The Boompah Band

Could there be a more perfect setting for Boomwhackers® than an oompah tune? We think not! Even if you just use the "ooms" (which we call "booms"), it's too much fun to resist. Accordingly, depending on how many of the layers of vocal and BW parts you choose to use, the song is either very basic or downright thick. Our recorded version is the latter. We performed all of the vocals and all of the BW parts. But as you will see on the music, this is optional. The piece works nicely with just one vocal line and one BW line.

At measure 22, BW players can continue to just play or they can also sing the "booms" indicated. They can either sing the pitch they play or all "boom" pitches. Your call. Or you could have the vocalists sing the "booms" while the BWs play. They could also sing the "pahs" (as we did). If you only want one note of the "pahs," pick one. The divisi is optional, too. And if you really want to spice it up, add yet more BWs playing the "pahs" - single notes or divisis. For proper oompah-ness, have bass BWs play the "booms" and regular or combined regular and bass BWs play the "pahs." So many choices. So much fun.

If you don't have B flat Boomwhackers® and you want to use BWs for the part that includes them (example: measure 24), substitute another note from the chord that you do have (example in m. 24: C).

And speaking of C's - it's always okay to add all the C's you have to any of the C's you see. (Did that make sense?) In other words, if you see a written middle C, let the kid with the high C Boomwhacker® play that note, too. If you want.

To really, really, really make this fun, consider adding a rhythm band to your Boompah Band. We have included a simple part (following) designed to capture the spirit of the piece and feature common instruments. You should, however, feel free to adapt this part in any way you like. Add instruments, substitute instruments, or lengthen the part by adding different parts for some sections of the tune. You might also consider just cueing players to enter and exit by hand. And always remember that Boomwhacker® parts can be played on many different instruments, including tone bells, Joia Tubes®, Orff instruments, or keyboards.

To help your boomers and your pah-ers, we have separated the vocal parts and put them on our web site. And just for the fun of it, we put them all together a cappella. To access them, see details following.

Online extras - The free, downloadable tracks mentioned can be found under the "Graphics and Extras" for Volume 17, No. 5 at MusicK8.com