Teaching percussion groups
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by Simon B » Fri Mar 19, 2004 9:43 pm
I work as an English teacher ('high school' for you Americans, 'secondary' for wandering Brits), but I want to set up an after-school percussion group - I'm new to my present school and have sat in on congas with the school big band and many pupils now approach me wanting to learn about Latin percussion. What advice can people give me for the actual teaching of Latin percussion in the group situation? The school at present only has one pair of congas, bongoes, timbales, and assorted percussion such as triangle and guiro. I'm wondering whether it would be useful for me to actually teach basic patterns on these instruments, e.g. martillo, individually so that then pupils could come the club with an elementary idea of what I might want them to play.
Simon B
Simon B
- Simon B
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by congastu » Sat Mar 20, 2004 10:31 pm
Hi Simon,
Ive been teaching percussion in the north of England for a number of years now [sometimes Yorkshire] so I just thought Id send you a basic format I use for working with schoolchildren.
1- start with some fun and games using hands, feet and any other part of the body: it helps to demystify the music, promotes the link between movement and rhythm and gets them working as a team straight away.
2- demonstrate the instruments: it does no harm to show what can be achieved with the drums you are using. Its also a good chance to talk about historical/geographical significances.
3- do some warm-ups: wrist exercises, breathing, stretching, independence techniques.
4- start the drums off with a call and response session. This can mean getting the kids to copy the phrases you play, or perhaps working on a break. Phonetics and chanting are really good ways of building up understanding of tones and dynamics.
5- Build up, instument by instrument, the groove you want to play with them, making sure youve got intros, outros and breaks so that they get an idea of composition. Although I do teach Cuban rhythms, I find West African music and samba are perhaps more accessible to start off with [samba-reggae in particular seems to work a treat for getting things off to a good start!].
If you like, I can reach out next time Im up your way, although Im mainly taking classes in Merseyside at the moment. However, a good friend of mine, Gafro, teaches a lot up in Yorkshire, and is great to learn from [hes been running workshops for about twenty years now!]. You might even recognise him- hes been a regular performer with the likes of Inner Sense, Magatte Dieng and the Real Maccaws for time and a half!!
Good luck and remember- if theyre smiling youre winning
Congastu:D
Ive been teaching percussion in the north of England for a number of years now [sometimes Yorkshire] so I just thought Id send you a basic format I use for working with schoolchildren.
1- start with some fun and games using hands, feet and any other part of the body: it helps to demystify the music, promotes the link between movement and rhythm and gets them working as a team straight away.
2- demonstrate the instruments: it does no harm to show what can be achieved with the drums you are using. Its also a good chance to talk about historical/geographical significances.
3- do some warm-ups: wrist exercises, breathing, stretching, independence techniques.
4- start the drums off with a call and response session. This can mean getting the kids to copy the phrases you play, or perhaps working on a break. Phonetics and chanting are really good ways of building up understanding of tones and dynamics.
5- Build up, instument by instrument, the groove you want to play with them, making sure youve got intros, outros and breaks so that they get an idea of composition. Although I do teach Cuban rhythms, I find West African music and samba are perhaps more accessible to start off with [samba-reggae in particular seems to work a treat for getting things off to a good start!].
If you like, I can reach out next time Im up your way, although Im mainly taking classes in Merseyside at the moment. However, a good friend of mine, Gafro, teaches a lot up in Yorkshire, and is great to learn from [hes been running workshops for about twenty years now!]. You might even recognise him- hes been a regular performer with the likes of Inner Sense, Magatte Dieng and the Real Maccaws for time and a half!!
Good luck and remember- if theyre smiling youre winning
Congastu:D
- congastu
- Posts: 155
- Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2004 2:31 am
by Simon B » Sat Mar 20, 2004 11:37 pm
Thanks for your reponse Congastu. I teach in Sheffield - are you or your pal from Innersense (saw them perform in Sheffield a few years ago - fantastic) in South Yorkshire any time soon? I'd really like to observe one of you taking a workshop to pick up tips.
Could you tell me more about the first point you mentioned? What exactly might this involve?
Simon B
Could you tell me more about the first point you mentioned? What exactly might this involve?
1- start with some fun and games using hands, feet and any other part of the body: it helps to demystify the music, promotes the link between movement and rhythm and gets them working as a team straight away.
Simon B
- Simon B
- Posts: 316
- Joined: Sun Mar 31, 2002 8:17 pm
by congastu » Sun Mar 21, 2004 12:54 am
Hello again Simon,
Heres a few examples of rhythm games. Most of the best ones Ive learned actually came from working with dancers, who all seem to spend a lot of time
on this kind of thing. Apart from any thing else, theyre usually a good laugh!
1- standing in a circle, introduce a 4/4 count and get participants to stamp a foot on the one. When they can do this in time [without speeding up!] get them to stamp on another beat too. Depending which beat you or they choose, they will need to move their bodies in a certain way. You can quickly build this up into a groove by then introducing clapping etc to give a sense of tone. "we will rock you" is always a winner. Try varying the tempo as you go along. It may sound simple but it focuses attention on listening and staying in time with one another.
2- Use a count of 3, alternating between yourself and the class. On each beat, introduce an action [ eg, on 1: hands on head, 2:finger on nose 3: spin around].
3- everybody stamps feet 1-2-3-4, then the leader does an action plus rhythm for one bar [eg, 1e, 2e, 3e 4 clapping whilst jumping E/S/W/N]. Everybody stamps 1-2-3-4 again, followed by children imitating rhythm/action.
4- all stamp feet 1-2-3-4 then try clapping on the offbeat. If they get this, introduce a chant as well [eg "one...samba-one...samba-reggae-one" etc]
5- Divide pupils into pairs . One claps laterally on 1 and 3 while the other claps vertically on 2 and 4. See how fast they can get it!
Hope all this is helpful- Ill check with Gafro when hes next up your way and let you know. As for Inner Sense, theyre not so busy nowadays, but weve got a new bateria with some of the old members- "BeatLife"- and are on tour later this summer. Dont know about Sheffield yet, but we're definately doing Leeds Carnival.
All the best with your drum class,
love and peace- stu
Heres a few examples of rhythm games. Most of the best ones Ive learned actually came from working with dancers, who all seem to spend a lot of time
on this kind of thing. Apart from any thing else, theyre usually a good laugh!
1- standing in a circle, introduce a 4/4 count and get participants to stamp a foot on the one. When they can do this in time [without speeding up!] get them to stamp on another beat too. Depending which beat you or they choose, they will need to move their bodies in a certain way. You can quickly build this up into a groove by then introducing clapping etc to give a sense of tone. "we will rock you" is always a winner. Try varying the tempo as you go along. It may sound simple but it focuses attention on listening and staying in time with one another.
2- Use a count of 3, alternating between yourself and the class. On each beat, introduce an action [ eg, on 1: hands on head, 2:finger on nose 3: spin around].
3- everybody stamps feet 1-2-3-4, then the leader does an action plus rhythm for one bar [eg, 1e, 2e, 3e 4 clapping whilst jumping E/S/W/N]. Everybody stamps 1-2-3-4 again, followed by children imitating rhythm/action.
4- all stamp feet 1-2-3-4 then try clapping on the offbeat. If they get this, introduce a chant as well [eg "one...samba-one...samba-reggae-one" etc]
5- Divide pupils into pairs . One claps laterally on 1 and 3 while the other claps vertically on 2 and 4. See how fast they can get it!
Hope all this is helpful- Ill check with Gafro when hes next up your way and let you know. As for Inner Sense, theyre not so busy nowadays, but weve got a new bateria with some of the old members- "BeatLife"- and are on tour later this summer. Dont know about Sheffield yet, but we're definately doing Leeds Carnival.
All the best with your drum class,
love and peace- stu
- congastu
- Posts: 155
- Joined: Tue Jan 06, 2004 2:31 am
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