Today's One Bucket Groove Today I started the bucket drumming unit at New City School for grades 4/5. Reality is almost always different than theory, so I thought I'd post what I actually did for this lesson plan compared to what I might have written in The Bucket Book.
23 Students, 7 buckets, enough sticks for every student.
This took 35 minutes of class time. We also covered resting, relaxed, and ready position. Placing the sticks on the carpet is a good relaxed position while sitting on the floor. I don't often spend an entire class period on buckets, but this was the introductory class, so I wanted to budget enough time for teaching routines such as holding sticks and resting position.
The rationale for only 7 buckets for 23 kids is mainly volume and classroom management. I teach in the student's homeroom classroom (so not a music room) and it's pretty loud acoustically. Fewer buckets = less noise. We made 7 buckets work by sitting in a circle and rotating the buckets around every 30 seconds or so. It also controls off task behavior because students don't have a bucket right in front of them to distract them. And yeah, it's easier for the teacher to haul them in and out of the classroom. Always a plus!
23 Students, 7 buckets, enough sticks for every student.
- Intro: I performed a bit to hook the students
- How to Hold Sticks
- Stick Mirror
- Echo patterns on floor and legs
- Floor Leg Chair (we sit on the carpet, so I changed it to: Floor, Leg, Air)
- Unison #4
- One Bucket Groove (see below)
This took 35 minutes of class time. We also covered resting, relaxed, and ready position. Placing the sticks on the carpet is a good relaxed position while sitting on the floor. I don't often spend an entire class period on buckets, but this was the introductory class, so I wanted to budget enough time for teaching routines such as holding sticks and resting position.
The rationale for only 7 buckets for 23 kids is mainly volume and classroom management. I teach in the student's homeroom classroom (so not a music room) and it's pretty loud acoustically. Fewer buckets = less noise. We made 7 buckets work by sitting in a circle and rotating the buckets around every 30 seconds or so. It also controls off task behavior because students don't have a bucket right in front of them to distract them. And yeah, it's easier for the teacher to haul them in and out of the classroom. Always a plus!
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