Submitted by Rhonda Schilling, Madison, Wisconsin

Idea posted March 24, 2005

Here are a few successful things I do to teach drumming:

What's for dinner? - I play this phrase, and we go around the room and the kids drum their response (i.e., hamburger, french fries, hot dog, chicken burrito, Chinese food, etc.). We've expanded this to: "What's for lunch?," "What's for breakfast?," "What's for dessert?" They BEG to play this. I've expanded on this idea by incorporating facts that they are working on in class like times tables, names of Presidents, name that state, state capitals, etc.

Messages - I play a message (a rhythm pattern) on my drum. The kids watch what I do and practice doing it ABOVE their drum (not touching). They watch and listen for the rhythm, the sticking (hand pattern), and the tone sequence. I only teach song and bass tone. When I see that everyone looks ready, I play the break (in 4/4 it is q e q q e q e e q rest). This is the signal to start playing the message. We play the message over and over, and when it is time to stop I play the break again and that means to stop. The break in 3/4 is q q q (slap tone is easier to hear for this break).

Boom Tinky Tink is a favorite ensemble that we do:
Tumbas:
1 2 3 4 5 6 Boom Tinky Tink
e e e e e e q e e q
b b b b b b b s s s (b = bass, s = song tone)
Conga (Kunga): Boom Tinky Tink (like the 2nd half of the Tumba)
Quintos: Boom rest Tinky (ends up sounding like Tiny Boom rest, due to the rest)
q q rest e e
B rest S S