• A bucket drumming curriculum set up like a video game. YouTube Playlist with all the videos (click me!)
• 6 Levels of increasing tempo and difficulty
• A final Boss Level with all 30 grooves in a row
• A bunch of distracting backgrounds
• Probably best for grades 5 and up (I tested it with my 7th and 8th graders)

• Just turn it on and play along, use the notation or just copy what you see
• Start with Level 1 and progress to Level 2 etc...
• Once you/students are able to play all the videos, have them play the Boss Level
• Post it for your students on Google Classroom, Schoology, etc. 

• Students can post a video of them drumming along to a level on Flipgrid
• Have them create a "how to" video breaking down and teaching a specific groove
• Students can compose new grooves to the existing backing tracks
• Give out Badges online and a Certificate of Completion (just like recorder karate but louder and more awesome!) Download the badges and a certificate template by clicking this link Edit the template to add student names and your signature or just print and write by hand

• Too difficult?
  • Slow down the playback speed using the youtube gear icon
  • Pick one groove and use the corresponding backing track to practice (⬅️click here)  until comfortable
• Too easy? 
  • Speed up using the youtube gear icon
  • Play a groove with a different backing track (ex. Groove 3 with the 184 bpm track)
  • Use one hand
  • Play with your eyes closed

• Students don't need buckets. I've had students use yoga blocks, a Halloween pail, and a laundry bin. Wooden spoons, pencils, or cardboard tubes work for sticks.
• You might also be interested in:
  • Seven: a drumming duo designed for remote learning
    
  • Home Bucket Drumming for Beginners:  6 sequential lessons for bucket drumming beginners. Sheet music included as well as playing along with real  musicians. 
    

UPDATE: April 26, 2024 - The Home Bucket Drumming for Beginners Series is now retired. More info here. 

Hello music teachers and parents and students!

I've created a short, online bucket drumming course for your students to use while we're all distance learning/teaching due to Covid-19. The goal is to get your students making music and have some fun while doing it.

The curriculum is hands-off for teachers and hands-on for students and includes some 'greatest hits' from my 15 years of teaching bucket drumming to students ages 8 to adult. It's all road - tested and ready to go; these are all activities I've used with countless students between grades 3 and adult. I've included a lot of play-along/backing tracks in the videos so students get the feel for playing with musicians. Many of the videos even have a Jam Session with my musician buddies who are stuck at home. 

Honestly, just send these videos to your students and they'll do all the work for you. I even include pdfs notating some of the material in the lessons if you'd like your students to read.

Here is the playlist containing all the videos (with more on the way!)

The course runs itself: just have the students get a bucket and sticks and play along with the videos. But here are some ideas to increase student engagement and interaction.

Post individual videos to Seesaw, Google Classroom, Schoology, Veracross, or whatever learning management system your school uses. Or post the entire playlist and have students work at their own pace. 

Give students a chance to prove that they are learning by providing prompts for your students to respond to. They could respond with a comment on your LMS, or better yet audio or video. My favorite option is have students post performance videos on Flipgrid. If you haven't used Flipgrid before, it's awesome. It's a site where your students can share videos with you and other students in your class and students respond with videos of their own. It's worth your time to check out.

Here are some prompts you might use:

• Lesson 1 - Submit a selfie of you with your bucket and sticks
• Lesson 2 - Submit a video of you playing "8 on a hand"
• Lesson 3 - Submit a video of you playing one of the grooves
• Lesson 4 - Submit a video of you playing along with a song of your choosing (school appropriate!)
• Lesson 5 - Submit a video of you playing the bucket song
• Lesson 6 - Submit a video of you teaching how to do one of the things you’ve learned to a family member OR submit a video of a groove or unison that you composed
• ANY Lesson - Have students perform from the included pdf sheet music 

Think of each video like a workout or better yet: a rehearsal for a performance. Students should play through each video several times to build their skill level.

​You could set a requirement such as: "Play with this video three times between now and next week." I've tried to keep the videos on the shorter side (2-10 minutes) so students would be more apt to repeat. them

Students can speed up or slow down the tempo by clicking on the gear icon on YouTube.

Too easy? Tell them to speed it up Too hard? Slow it down.

​ Just like you would do in an actual rehearsal. 

The videos are designed for rote learning AND I've included PDF sheet music for most of the videos. Below are the links:

Feel free to get in touch with any feedback, ideas, suggestions, or problems (or successes!). Stay tuned for the 15 - Minute Bucket Drumming Challenge, which is a video series for older students. 

TWITTER: @DavidBirrow
EMAIL: [email protected]

Well, here we are: distance learning until at least the first week of May. 
​
Maybe this can help: 

I created two videos that teach your students how to play a bucket drumming duet. The duet is called Seven which is a piece I composed last spring. This new duet version has a break down of how to play it and then has students rehearse the piece along with a recording in a virtual duet.

How to use this for distance learning:

Send your students one of the videos and have them learn it. Maybe you could pair students up and after they can play it, have them record themselves and share the video with their partner. They can then play along with their partner's video like an in person duet.

Or take it a step further and challenge students to edit the two videos together to make it look like they are playing together. Maybe edit together an entire class to create a virtual percussion ensemble. Make sure to let me know if you try this!

Recording tip:

​Tell students to wear headphones when they record and to play along with the video or have them play to a click at 120 bpm. That way all the recordings will be at the same tempo.

Below are the two videos along with a link to the parts and a full score. Let me know how else I can help. I plan on posting a full distance bucket drumming unit in the coming weeks, so stay tuned and subscribe to receive email updates.

And don't forget to cross your fingers: maybe you will even get a chance to rehearse them in person sometime soon. ????????????

Ok ok, you'll need to do a little teaching. But that's about all the energy I have left this time of year: a little. You can tell it's spring because the students start acting a little more wild, a little shorter on attention span...a little more squirrely. Add in concerts and grading and it's amazing any of us are still standing.

So you might be in the market for a lesson plan that works in just a single period and one you can use with multiple grade levels. And maybe one where you don't have to sweat too hard.

Maybe this groove can help...Below you'll find a lesson plan, play along track, video and song suggestions.

Turn on the video and have the students play along by watching their part on the screen and playing along. This is great because it's sometimes difficult to model more than one part at a time.

Next, turn on this play along track and have students play along. Download it here (don't forget to download the printable Lesson Plan too!)​

Then find some tunes and have the students play along with the music. They'll love it and offer a bunch of song suggestions. Once you 'safety check' their suggestions, turn on the song and play along.

​The tunes in the video include:

• We Found Love - Rihanna and Calvin Harris
• Hey Boy Hey Girl - Chemical Brothers
• Outside - Ellie Goulding and Calvin Harris

All are at 128 bpm, but this groove works at slow, medium, and fast tempo. Here are some other suggestions:

• I Feel Good - James Brown (kind of quick, but fun)
• Happy - Pharrell 
• Oye Como Va - Santana version