The #1 question I get about bucket drumming is : "What stuff do I need?" The infographic below shows you: what to buy, how much it'll cost, and what to do with it once you've bought it. Stay tuned for an upcoming post about where and how to get buckets on the cheap. 

Click for a printer friendly version of the list
Click for a pdf of what the raw materials look like at the hardware store.

1. Drum Circle Spirit by Arthur Hull

I mentioned Drum Circle Spirit in my last post about improving your drumming skills since it approaches rhythm from a compelling viewpoint: somebody who wants to include all students in music making whatever the cost. This is not a technical read and is the easiest one on the list.

Syncopation is a classic drum text that contains almost no directions. Instead it serves as an encyclopedia of rhythms. Starting with quarter notes and eighth notes and progressing through all sorts of rests, syncopations, and triplets, this book can serve as a rhythmic ‘gut check’ for teachers who want to improve their sense of rhythmic feeling (see #3 below).

Take the time to turn on a metronome and play through the rhythms until they feel comfortable and really start to groove. That experience would no doubt improve your rhythm teaching come this fall.  Another similar text is Louis Bellson’s Modern Reading Text in 4/4 for All Instruments. 

3. A Sound Approach to Teaching Instrumentalists (2nd Ed.) by Stanley Schleuter

o book better describes how to teach students to play instruments. Chapter 4 alone, “Teaching Rhythmic Feeling,” is well worth picking up a copy.

In just a few short pages, Schleuter describes what initial reading content to include, how to build a rhythm pattern vocabulary in students, rhythm pattern teaching techniques and more. 

But the most notable take away is his definition and description of rhythmic feeling. This is Schleuter’s term which succinctly describes all of the cognitive and physical skills that are involved with the comprehension and performance of rhythm. The blending of the practical and theoretical had cemented this book as the foundation of how I teach rhythm.

Summer has finally arrived. Here in Minnesota, that means we are guaranteed at least 3 weeks of sunshine before it starts to snow again. 

If you are like me, during the school year you mentally keep a list of things you want to incorporate or improve in your teaching. Kind of a “music teaching related things I want to do but don’t have time to focus on because the school year is so crazy, so I’ll optimistically plan to do them this summer” type of list.  And if you teach K-12 general music, you invariably teach drumming of some sort during the year, so maybe you want to be a better drum teacher to your students come this fall. 

I’m good at making the list, but I’m less good at following through with all the goals on it during the summer. If getting more comfortable with percussion is one of your goals this summer, I’m here to help. Here are 5 free resources to improve your comfort level with drumming.

1. Play this. Get a pair of sticks, something to hit (a drum, phone book, pillow, mouse pad) and play along with this video.

When you are bored with that one, move on to these: 

Goal: Make your hands work better when playing with sticks. This will help you identify poor technique in your students and help to diagnose when technique is interfering with rhythm and vice versa.

Basic Composition Activity Outline
GOAL: Students compose a 30 second piece of music in small groups. 

1. Teacher gives students some parameters to focus their work (more on that below).
2. Students spend some time composing
3. Students perform for the class

I consider Junkyard Percussion to include any item which you can't buy in a music store. So if you want to use buckets this week, great. But maybe your patience is thin, or you just don't want to deal with possibly loud volume in the final weeks of the school year. 

Instead, why not find some super non-traditional items to make music with and then use the Basic Outline found above?

Last week's bucket drumming lesson plan worked because it reduced the content down to one single rhythm. 

This week we take it one step further and eliminate all teacher created rhythms. Instead, we ask the students to provide the rhythm content and the teacher simply provides the structure and shape. 

Here is how it works...

Junkyard Percussion Circle Activity

1. Students are seated (or standing) in a circle and each student has a junkyard percussion instrument. 
2. Pick one student and ask them to play a rhythm pattern on their instrument and keep playing it. Go easy on yourself and start with a student whom you know will play something steady. 
3. Ask the student next to them to add a different rhythm on their instrument. Proceed all the way around the circle until everybody is playing. 
   

Now it's your job to take this simple activity and make it musical. While students are playing:

• Solo certain instruments by yelling "Shaker solo!" or something like that
• Sculpt the piece by changing the dynamic with hand gestures
• Play a fake endings where you stop everybody and then start again 4 beats later
  
• Add accents by clapping; students play the accent when you clap 

Shaping and sculpting the music is essential, otherwise it just turns into a thunk-fest. I list a bunch of different ensemble shaping ideas in Chapter 3 of The Bucket Book.

Here is what our class sounded like last week:

Ideas to lengthen student attention span:

• Rotate instruments every 30 seconds so kids can play different instruments. Just say, "pass your instrument to the right."
  
• Start over but have students add just one note (or two notes or whatever)
• Change the meter to triple or even 5/8 or 7/8 

Why will it work during the final months?

Student based compositions are always a good idea, but they are especially useful during the final weeks of school since you don't have to convince students to play a certain rhythm. Students are always motivated to play rhythms that they naturally play well or simply have an affinity for. 

Also this activity is student centered, with students making meaningful choices. Those two things will help to keep your blood pressure low during the last weeks of school.

Good luck and don't forget to subscribe to the The Bucket Book blog to receive email updates with more lesson plan ideas!

Summer is coming. I can feel it. And so can the students...

Teach this Piece: One Bucket Groove - Theme and Variations

Another idea is to only teach the first groove and then have students come up with their own variations. If an Admin walks in the room, explain that you are teaching a "Theme and Variations" lesson with student composition. Smile and give yourself a high five for being awesome in the month of May.  

Why will it work during the final months? 

It only uses one rhythm pattern which:

• simplifies student focus
• reduces the number of things students have to attend to at once
• reduces the number of things the teacher has to attend to 

Learn other survival skills at the Summer Junkyard Percussion Workshop. An all-day professional development workshop that shows you everything you need to teach bucket drumming. 

Mistake #1: Focusing on novelty instead of music
         
It is unique and unusual to use a bucket as a musical instrument. Use this novelty to grab the attention of your students but don't over do it. Don’t waste too much time marveling with your students about how unusual it is that a bucket or chair leg can make a great timbre. In other words: Ignore the instruments and focus on the music.  

FIX: Instead, focus on the timbre each instrument creates. Emphasize the character of the sound, while de-emphasizing how strange the instrument is. Capture the attention of your students by performing different timbres on the same instrument.  

Mistake #2: Getting students hopes up by showing Stomp at the beginning of the unit

Don’t get me wrong: Stomp is great. But it’s a theatrical show performed by adults, so don't show it at the beginning of the unit. The danger is that your students could be disappointed when they realize their performance isn't as fully choreographed or sophisticated. 

Fix: Show stomp when you need to increase the creativity in class. Manage student expectations by showing videos that are similar to what will actually happen in their class, especially videos with performers close to the students' actual age. 

Or better yet, at the beginning of the unit, YOU perform for the students. You don’t need a masters degree in percussion to sound like a boss on a bucket. Just practice two or three fancy sounding things; students will assume that you can play 100 fancy things(even if you can't!). More importantly, performing for your students shows that you are competent and capable. And nothing is more realistic or motivating than live performance. I will perform for two or three minutes at the beginning of the first class to prime student interest. Which leads me to #3...

Mistake #3: Thinking you can't do it because you're not the drumming type

Just because you aren't a card-carrying drummer, doesn't mean you should be intimidated by bucket drumming. I'm not the world's greatest singer, but I sing in my class because my students need to sing in order to learn. Your students also need to drum, so pick up those sticks and fake it until you make it.   

Fix: Even if you’ve never touched a pair of drum sticks in your life, you simply need a little practice(maybe 5 minutes) and you will be more awesome at drumming than a 3rd grader (or whatever grade you teach). Maybe attend this workshop and keep your goal realistic: "I just need to drum two grade levels about my students. I don't need to be a pro."

Mistake #4: Using too many buckets

Big Classes + Buckets are loud = Cacophony (and maybe hearing damage)

FIX: Have students work in partners. Both students have sticks; one drums on the bucket, the other drums on their legs. This cuts your bucket count in half. Your ears will thank you.

Mistake #5: Forgetting about movement

Fix: Get those students out of those chairs and moving around the classroom. Here are some ideas to start with:

Also check out this post for another example of bucket movement: Chaotic But Awesome Bucket Movement Activity

Learn how to avoid these mistakes and a lot more by attending the Summer Junkyard Percussion Workshop. Hands on experience, lesson plans, and food!

And don't forget to subscribe to this blog to receive email updates! Just click below:

Here is one of my favorite bucket movement inventions from the past few years:

The best part about this thing is that I have no idea how it was created because the students figured it out on their own. The steps that led up to it's creation were pretty simple: I showed the students a basic movement groove(Click here for video), how to slide the buckets, and I explained the safety rules involved (no buckets getting thrown over other students etc...) Then I just told them to take 10 minutes and compose something. Anything.  

Then the students did what all middle school students tend to do with an open ended idea: they took it to the next level. In other words, they composed something far more fascinating than I ever could AND they were into it because it was their idea. 

But even more than that, the students rehearsed themselves. This isn't a positive because I'm a lazy teacher, it's a positive because students tend to communicate with each other far more effectively than a teacher can. 

Even if I wanted to rehearse this piece myself, I couldn't. The students were the insiders who contained all the experience and information on how this thing worked. Just now, 2 years later, it took some effort for me to even figure out how to explain it.

The diagram of this piece looks like this:

The thing that kills me is how simple the rhythm is:


And yet the end musical result is complex and the performers have an exciting and engaging time. The students even figured out a contingency plan for what happens when there is a bucket collision: chuck your bucket in the middle. Piece over. 

Give your students some experience moving buckets. Feel free to try some of the ideas from these videos(Click Here). Then try giving your students an open ended composition assignment and see what happens. If we get out of the way of our students, they sometimes create music far above their current achievement level.   

Happy chaos!

Most of the time I stick to the core group of instruments when teaching bucket drumming. But sometimes I'll mix it up and have the students compose music with a completely different set of instruments. 

Tossing a pile of bizarre instruments in front of students and asking them to compose is an appropriate challenge. Students must closely listen to the timbre of each instrument and then make effective compositional decisions based on what they hear. In other words, students have to use their musical skill set in an unfamiliar context. That's a good thing for a lot of reasons.

The metal collection shown was put together at a thrift store for about $30. It includes tin cans, frying pans, pipes, a wok, the broiler pan for a toaster oven, a trash can lid, and a tissue box cover amongst other things. There is also a commercial shaker, ribbon crasher, and African gankogui bell, but you don't have invest in those percussion instruments, I just happened to already have them lying around. 

How To Teach It
Random Instrument Composition (15-20 minutes) Note: once students get the hang of this procedure it only takes 5-10 minutes. We often use this format to generate new ideas when we get stumped on what to play next. 

Objectives:
By the end of this activity, students will be able to:

1. Compose and perform a 3 person groove on metal instruments
   
2. Explain the reasoning behind their musical decisions (usually about rhythm and timbre)

Assessment: Students perform for the class, then answer questions from other students. 
Procedure:

1. Teacher tells students: "It's your job to create a groove that sounds musical. Each person must play a different instrument and a different rhythm. That means it can't be random noise; It must have a steady beat and be organized in some way."
2. Students select instruments and split into groups of 3 (2 is too boring, 4 makes group dynamics too complicated)
3. Students get 3 minutes to work on rhythms using body percussion. No instruments yet. This keeps volume down. 
4. Students then transition to experimenting and composing with instruments for 3 minutes. 
5. Teacher tells students: "You have 3 minute to rehearse your piece. Make sure you know how to start the groove." (If this gets too noisy, have one or two groups use instruments and everybody else use body percussion again. Then rotate who gets to use instruments.)
6. Students then take turns performing for the class.

When I first started teaching composition like this, I felt like it was chaos and that I was abdicating control of my class. I also felt like I should be giving super rigid instructions for composition. But giving away some power actually makes students more productive and increases motivation. If students get stumped, they'll come back with questions like "How are we supposed to do this?!" and "are we doing this right?" Which is great since you can respond "on demand" to students and answer specific questions. This is much more effective than me lecturing on "how to compose" at the beginning of the lesson.

Also keep in mind you'll hear a lot of grooves that are offbeat, disorganized, or just plain boring. In The Bucket Book I explain how to avoid unmusical results and how to teach students to thoughtfully organize their compositions.

You can extend this lesson by combining the individual student grooves into a massive groove. This doesn't always work, but when it does, it's very cool. Below is an example: