Also, did you notice where I hit the sticks together?
My left stick hits the right stick about halfway down or even closer to my hand.
This is something to pay attention to because it’s more challenging to a moving stick.
Just be careful not to hit your hand. 🙂
Try this out and comment below to let me know how it goes!
A call and response, like the one above can be used in a couple different ways.
AKA twofer- two for one 🙂
First, teachers/group leaders can use this call and response to get attention/focus.
This is super helpful when there are many people playing instruments or talking at the same time.
You will play the first part and they will answer with the second part.
If they miss it the first time around, play it again.
As you know, it’s best to have everyone’s attention before you move on to the next thing.
Also, this is a lot more fun than telling people, “Shhhh.”
The other way you can use this is in performance pieces.
Either, you can play it or your can invite your audience to join you on the familiar part.
Since this is a famous rhythm, [I think the original from the song “Let’s Go” by the cars, please comment below if know other wise] it helps you connect to your audience.
As audience members, we like familiarity. If we recognize something and it feels right to join in, we will.
This raises with the engagement factor.
Do you know any other famous call and responses?
(hint, I’ve named a few on a different post)
I’d love to hear how and if you use call and responses.
If you’re creating music for a bucket drumming performance this idea is so simple it’s often over-looked.
I don’t blame anyone though, it’s called, ‘bucket drumming’ right? Not, ‘stick drumming.’
Adding stick clicks is easy to do! Let’s get started…
In this video, we put both the sound of the bucket and sticks into one rhythm.
There are several ways to break this rhythm down.
I broke it down by starting with quarter notes on the dominant hand (right hand but you can use your left). Then, I added the 8th note part with the left hand afterwards.
You could also break it down by doing the first two beats of the measure by itself.
Then, the second two beats. Then combine them together. This might be easier for you.
As you know, it’s important to learn how to break things down in many different ways.
Everyone learns differently and seeing multiple perspectives will give you a deeper understanding.
OK! How did it go for you?
Is this really easy? Or are you having a challenge on a specific part of the rhythm?
I’d love to hear how it goes! Leave a comment.
Also, be sure to let me know what you’d like to learn next.
Without stick control you’ll end up saying more words like…
“Oops.” “Whoops! “Arg!”
Not fun.
However the more control you have over your sticks the more
likely you’ll be able to play what you want to play.
Stick control = YAY!
The rhythm for this exercise never changes.
What we’ll be changing is the sticking pattern- which hand plays when.
There’s 5 different sticking patterns we’ll work on and we’ll play them
8 times each.
For example, the first pattern is RRR
It will sound like this…
RRR, RRR, RRR, RRR, RRR, RRR, RRR, RRR.
LLL, 8X’s
RLR, 8X’s
LRL, 8X’s
and the last one is…
RLR, LRL, we’ll play it four times so it will equal the same as the others.
The sheet music provided can be downloaded so that you can print and play along.
After you feel comfortable playing this exercise with me,
see if you can play these patterns with your favorite music.
This is a great daily bucket drumming warm-up too!
Having multiple people playing one part is the basics to bucket drumming performances. However, adding another part to the mix creates a whole ‘nother dimension. This makes bucket drumming more challenging to play and more fun to listen to (when it works).
Here is where this video came from. Many more like it inside.
In the tutorial video above, I breakdown the two rhythms into smaller chunks to learn.
Once you’re able to play each part comfortably, then, try having both parts play at the same time.
The KEY to making this work is that each person can play their own part without having to use a ton of brain power.
If they’re having to REALLY concentrate on what exactly they’re playing, then, they won’t have enough mental space to listen and play along with the other part at the same time.
It’s kind of like muscle memory. The more you play the rhythms, the less you have to think about them.
And the less you have to think about them, the more brain power you have to listen to others. So, get VERY familiar with the rhythms before putting them together.
At first look at the two bucket drum rhythms, it seems like the second part is easier. However, this part can be more challenging because there isn’t a steady rhythm the whole time like the first part.
Experiment with who in your bucket drumming ensemble gets what part. It’s beneficial to have both groups of people familiar with both parts though.
You can even experiment by having the first group play constantly then count the 2nd group in for their first measure. Then stop the second group and repeat until they can play that first measure together. Then do the same process for the second measure; starting and stopping the second group until they’re comfortable playing their part with the first group.
Then of course, have them practice the second part all together with them.
Then BOOM! You now have a 2 part groove sounding like butter 🙂 (that’s a good thing).
Please let me know how it goes or if you have any questions.
