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