Getting the Most Out of Your Beginning Percussionists Presented By, Timothy Bupp buppt@sgasd.

org Spring Grove Area School District 2013 PMEA Annual In-Service Conference April 18, 2013 10:45am

Session Objective: This session provides a systematic approach to starting percussionists off on the right foot for success in their development as percussionists. Special consideration is given to when and how to introduce the major instruments (snare drum, multi-percussion, timpani, mallets, and drum set). We will also focus on what a total percussion program looks like through a different school levels.

Setting up Your Program:

Recruitment: Make sure you are clear up front that they will be learning many different percussion instruments (and NOT the drum set in 4th grade). Instrument Interview/Test: When recruiting set time a side to have students try out the instruments. Use a metronome at 80bmp.

Percussion Interview
Student Name: _____________________________ Classroom Teacher:_______________________ Evident Not Evident

Task Student taps foot with a steady beat given by the director. Student claps steady quarter notes while tapping foot. Student claps steady eighth notes while tapping foot. Student recalls by patting the follow musical passages while tapping foot Quarter note pattern Quarter note pattern Quarter note pattern Eighth note pattern Eighth note pattern Eighth note pattern Eighth note pattern (syncopation)

Using a form similar to this will help assess their ability to coordinate hand and feet movement and feel rhythms. These are two cornerstone skills of any successful percussionists. What do you do if a student fails? I choose work ethic over ability any day. If a student truly wants to play percussion and nothing else, I let them. Why play an instrument they dont want to?

Now what do I do? A Program Overview

Formula of Success- Percussionists (or any student) needs to feel success from day 1. If not, interest declines which leads to drop outs, and problem drummers!

The Progression of Total Percussion

Snare Drum

Multi Percussion/Timpani

Keyboard

Single Drum Movement One line notation

Begin Lateral Movement Introducing melodic notation

Lateral Movement Continuing notation

Unit 1- Snare Drum: Starting on snare drum allows you to focus on the fundamentals of
percussion, the stroke. It starts with stepping up to the door and knocking on it with a nice fluid stroke from the wrist. Continue knocking down to the drum. Knock on the drum, insert a stick and you have a fluid stroke from the wrist. The key is from the wrist NOT the arm/elbow.

Unit 2- Multi Percussion: The next step in the progression is to begin lateral movement once the
stroke/vertical movement is WELL established. Lateral movement is controlled from the upper arm NOT the turning of the wrist. Start by teaching the snare lessons by putting the Right hand on one drum and the Left hand on another drum. Write out the notation to show the difference in drums (one high, one low)or, have your students do it as a practice assignment. They will already know how to count and play the exercises from the snare drum you and will give added reinforcement. Start with vertical movement and then progress to lateral movement once students can handle playing the line with the hands on separate drums.

Unit 3- Keyboard Percussion: Now that vertical movement has been reinforced through two
units, and lateral movement has been introduced through one unit, we can begin to add more melodic dictation through teaching keyboard percussion.

Percussionists vs. Wind Players THEY DO NOT LEARN MUSIC THE SAME WAY!
Percussionists thrive on repetition. Why are we teaching them keyboard percussion out of a flute book? Using the same lessons used to teach the snare drum and multi percussion units, adapt these exercises to include musical notation. I prefer to start with a C Major scale and then teach the C# Major Scale. This teaches students every note and introduces them enharmonics early on. The visualization of the keyboard makes this approach easier as opposed to a wind player who does not have knowledge or a constant visualization of the keyboard. What is covered in the mallet unit? This program is set up with the Learning Line in mind: It takes 1000 repetitions to gain mastery.

It takes 25-30 repetitions to develop 80% proficiency. In closing: If you continue to use the same rhythmic material introduced in the snare drum unit, you will continue to reinforce the rhythmic concepts and transfer that knowledge to other instruments in a sequential manner. This process continues through eighth grade using the same process with the new rhythmic concepts introduced on snare drum and reinforced through the other percussion instruments.

The Percussion Lesson: Getting the most out of what little time you have!
Percussionists are high active and need to be put to given a task as soon as they walk in the door. Set high expectations that they can work for and be sure success is achieved throughout the lesson. Be consistent, be specific, and be highly organized with your delivery of your material. Build relationships with your percussionists and make them look good in front of their peers. This will go a long way down the road! Each lesson is split into 3 distinct areas 1. Beginning of lesson a. Post and share the objectives

b. Warm up c. Review previous lesson material 2. (a) Closure- (mental process of sharing what was learned= writing a composition) (b) Home practice- (should be started during the lesson!) 3. Teaching objectives for the day

A 2

5 min.

15 minutes

10 minutes

Beginning of Lesson: Post your objectives for the students and have them read them as they enter the room. Once they are done setting up their instrument, have a question or musical example (from a previous lesson) ready for them to keep them occupied until your entire lesson group is ready to go. Teaching the Objectives: Have two exercises for each objective; one to play in class and one to use as home practice. Teach each objective, play the exercise and repeat it 5-8 times giving specific feedback each time. A simple good job is not specific. You can use it, however, what can they do to make it better? Repeat for the number of objectives you have. Closure: Have students compose a short four measure composition using the objectives they learned. This is a good indicator for whether or not they understand it. This becomes part of their home practice, gives ownership to their learning, provides an assessment, and allows you to use it as a warm up and performance at the beginning of the next lesson. Close your lesson by reviewing the objectives and playing the other exercises for your objective. *Home Practice* Practice by repetition NOT minutes for percussionists. Going back to the learning line, the more repetitions you performer, the closer you get to mastery.

Beginning of Class- First Year Objectives Snare Drum Objectives Lessons 1-12
Upon completion students should: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. Demonstrate the correct way to assemble your snare drum Be able to identify parts of your snare drum, stand, and sticks Demonstrate correct posture Demonstrate correct matched stick grip in both right and left hands Demonstrate proper hand and stick placement on the drum Demonstrate proper drum strokes from the wrist in the right and left hand Demonstrate four full strokes in the right and left hand Demonstrate an understanding of staff, measure, and bar line Understand the concept of beat Read, count, and perform quarter notes and quarter rests Understand and define the percussion clef Understand and demonstrate the function of a time signature (4/4) Identify and perform a rudiment: Single Stroke Roll Read, count, and perform half rests Read, count, and perform whole rests Understand and demonstrate the function of a time signature (2/4) Understand and demonstrate the function of a time signature (3/4) Understand the feel of a meter in one (3/4) Identify and perform a rudiment: Single Stroke Four Identify and perform a rudiment : Single Stroke Seven Identify and understand double bar and repeat sign Read, count, and perform eighth notes in groups of two Understand and demonstrate the function of a time signature (Common time) Read, count, and perform eighth notes, and eighth rests Understand and perform an accented note Identify and perform a rudiment: Single Paradiddle Understand first and second endings Identify, define, and perform the following dynamic markings: forte, piano and their corresponding stick heights. Read, count, and perform dotted quarter/eighth note rhythms Define and perform tempo markings: Andante, Moderato, Allegro Identify and perform a rudiment: Double Paradiddle Read, count, and perform sixteenth notes in groups of four Identify and perform a rudiment: Triple Paradiddle Identify and perform a rudiment: Paradiddle-diddle Identify and perform a rudiment: Multiple Bounce Roll

Multi-Percussion Objectives Lessons 13-17

(In addition to reviewing objectives 1-34 from snare drum)

36. 37. 38. 39. 40. 41. 42. 43. 44.

Demonstrate the proper placement of drums when using more than one drum Be able to identify parts of a tom-tom drum Demonstrate correct posture when standing behind more than one drum* Demonstrate proper hand and stick placement on two drums when each hand places on a different drum* Demonstrate proper hand and stick placement on two drums when both hands play on the same drum (different) Identify and perform a rudiment on two drums: Single Paradiddle* Identify and perform a rudiment on two drums: Double Paradiddle* Identify and perform a rudiment on two drums: Triple Paradiddle* Identify and perform a rudiment on two drums: Paradiddle-diddle*

Keyboard Objectives Lessons 18-27

45. 46. 47. 48. 49. 50. 51. 52. 53. 54. 55. 56. 57. 58. 59. 60. 61. 62. 63. 64. 65. 66. 67. Demonstrate the correct way to assemble your keyboard percussion set Be able to identify parts of your keyboard percussion instrument, stand, and mallets Demonstrate correct posture while standing behind the keyboard percussion instrument Demonstrate correct matched mallet grip in both right and left hands* Demonstrate proper hand and mallet placement on the bars* Demonstrate proper strokes from the wrist in the right and left hand* Demonstrate an understanding of the following music theory concepts: treble clef, time signature, line and space notes, sharp, flat, natural signs and functions Review meter (4/4) and quarter note/rest rhythms* Learn a new note (C) Learn a new note (D) Learn a new note (E) Learn a new note (F) Learn a new note (G) Read count and perform half notes and half rests* Learn a new note (A) Learn a new note (B) Review meter (2/4) and eighth note/rest rhythms* Learn a new note (C 8va) Understand the concepts of scale and octave Perform a Concert C Major Scale Understand and perform enharmonic notes Identify and understand an accidental Learn a new note (C#/Db)

68. Learn a new note (D#/Eb) 69. Identify, define, and perform the following dynamic markings: mezzo forte, mezzo piano and their corresponding stick heights* 70. Learn a new note (E#/Fb) 71. Learn a new note (F#/Gb) 72. Define and perform tempo markings: Maestoso* 73. Learn a new note (G#/Ab) 74. Learn a new note (A#/Bb) 75. Review meter (3/4) and sixteenth note (groups of four) rhythms* 76. Learn a new note (B#/Cb) 77. Review the concepts of scale and octave 78. Learn a new Note (C#/Db 8va) 79. Review Concepts of scales and octave 80. Perform a Concert C#/Db Major Scale 81. Understand and perform a one octave chromatic scale

When teaching the objectives use as many senses as you can and incorporate as many repetitions as possible. When learning new rhythms, this process helps to internalize the rhythm sets up a foundation for identifying and writing them as well: 1. Body Percussion- perform rhythm for students, have them echo using body percussion 2. Drum Speak- using body percussion, use drum speak and have students echo using body percussion 3. Rhythmic Syllables- using body percussion, replace drum speak with rhythmic syllables and have students echo 4. Repeat Step 3 with sticks/mallets and drum/keyboard 5. Show students notation and perform on instrument 6. Have students write in the correct counting 7. Perform for repetition and memory *Periodically insert a review to bring the end to an objective. Studies show that with more beginnings and ends in your lesson will aid retention.* A simple example is to tell your group, Take 30 seconds, turn to your partner and demonstrate. This allows you to do a quick check, students to work together, and students perform for one another.

Closing the Lesson

A. The mental process of sharing what was learned. I stay kid focused as much as possible. Have students take 45 minutes and share one thing with a partner that they learned to day. Be able to demonstrate their knowledge for the class (extra reps from hearing/seeing the objectives performed again!) Another important component to my lessons is composition. One of the exercises assigned for homework is a brief four measure composition that must include one of the objectives learned for the day. These compositions should be started in class (a measure) and work well as a warm up to the next lesson. B. Homework/Practice: Dont assign an entire page! It is not a marathon to get through a book as quick as possible! Research shows assigning anything over 4 will lead diminished returns. Focus on repetitions and your compositions! I assign 2-3 exercises and the composition. If you want them to practice it dont assign a lot but repeat often!

Other Tidbits
Suggested 1st Year Gear: Essentials- Snare Pad (Pearl, Yamaha, Remo, CB) Or, splurge with on Kieffa Practice Pad. I usually do not recommend the actual drum. Its loud and more expensive. If students stick with it to year 2, then I have them trade the pad in for the drum. (Or keep the pad as a mobile device and keep the drum set up at home) Snare Sticks- Vic Firth SD1 or 2b wood tip drum sticks Mallet Keyboard- 1Pearl, Yamaha, Innovative Percussion, Vic Firth Steel Bell Set w/ Vic Firth M6 Unwound American Custom Keyboard Mallets OR 1 Korogi EKO32 2.6 Octave Desktop Padouk Xylophone w/ Encore 103B Mallets feature Black 1" Oval Hard Rubber Heads and Birch Handles. The Pearl, Yamaha, Innovative Percussion, Vic Firth, Bell Kits with pad all have what you need. I swap sticks and mallets out with our local dealer.