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 Suggestions for drum kit "games" ?
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mully
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United Kingdom
23896 Posts

Posted - 08/06/2012 :  10:31:28  Show Profile  Reply with Quote

I'm trying to think of a few simple drum kit games that might make practice and tuition a bit more enjoyable and fun for very young (i.e. 5 - 8 years old) students. The only things I've really come up with are things like "How many eighth notes (or quarters, or 16ths, or flams) round the kit can you do in 30 seconds"...very simple, but not very imaginative.

Does anyone have any kit games they use to help their younger students stay interested? I'm thinking along the lines of things that help them improve in some way without realising they're working at it!

Thanks for any suggestions.

Stephen

MD Fount of All Wisdom for Life and Extraordinary Amusement Officer of the forum's Sonor Delite Appreciation Society.

"Jayz mully, you're like the Django of the internet!" - scottser on the Drumming Ireland forum

StormBlast
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United Kingdom
1506 Posts

Posted - 08/06/2012 :  10:33:35  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by mully


The only things I've really come up with are things like "How many eighth notes (or quarters, or 16ths, or flams) round the kit can you do in 30 seconds"...very simple, but not very imaginative.





You mean black metal?
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mully
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United Kingdom
23896 Posts

Posted - 08/06/2012 :  10:42:27  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by StormBlast

quote:
Originally posted by mully


The only things I've really come up with are things like "How many eighth notes (or quarters, or 16ths, or flams) round the kit can you do in 30 seconds"...very simple, but not very imaginative.





You mean black metal?





Stephen

MD Fount of All Wisdom for Life and Extraordinary Amusement Officer of the forum's Sonor Delite Appreciation Society.

"Jayz mully, you're like the Django of the internet!" - scottser on the Drumming Ireland forum
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gaz farrimond
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United Kingdom
11055 Posts

Posted - 08/06/2012 :  10:45:22  Show Profile  Visit gaz farrimond's Homepage  Reply with Quote


I saw Julian teach a young lad triplets at speed by having him play along to a spoken story. He has a few tricks like that I reckon he can explain better.


The Waterboarders

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crafty
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United Kingdom
7748 Posts

Posted - 08/06/2012 :  11:06:27  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
'Stomp-Clap' - you give the kids instructions in numbers (eg '4, 4, 4, 4' or '2, 2, 2, 2' or '4, 2, 4, 2') and they respond by following the instructions with alternating stomps and claps. If you have a hall at your disposal, you can change the stomps to steps. As the kids get the idea you can make the numerical instructions more complicated. This really gets group tutorials off to a good start. Alternatively, you can replace the stomps and claps with bass drum hits and snare drum hits.

Also, 'Copycat' is great too. You play a student a simple phrase on a snare drum and they respond by copying the phrase on their snare drum. This can get more complicated too. Also, you can swap roles with the student leading.

Ed

Super cool - and bongos too!

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mully
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United Kingdom
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Posted - 08/06/2012 :  11:07:30  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by gaz farrimond



I saw Julian teach a young lad triplets at speed by having him play along to a spoken story. He has a few tricks like that I reckon he can explain better.




Ah, good, I hope he pokes his head in to this thread.

Stephen

MD Fount of All Wisdom for Life and Extraordinary Amusement Officer of the forum's Sonor Delite Appreciation Society.

"Jayz mully, you're like the Django of the internet!" - scottser on the Drumming Ireland forum
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OriginalAnimal
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United Kingdom
19302 Posts

Posted - 08/06/2012 :  11:21:55  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
So this isn't about throwing your drum keys into a bowl then?


I have no time to practice, I'm gigging. Leicester Drum Sniffers Anonymous. #17 of the 582 & 17 0f the 798 World Record Holders.
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MGM
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United Kingdom
3820 Posts

Posted - 08/06/2012 :  11:23:49  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Originally posted by crafty

Also, 'Copycat' is great too. You play a student a simple phrase on a snare drum and they respond by copying the phrase on their snare drum. This can get more complicated too. Also, you can swap roles with the student leading.

Ed



^^ This !

I've done entire half-hour lessons with students playing short phrases on any sound source (snare drum, floor tom, djembe, etc.), and they play it back on the kit. If you start simple they tend to get into it pretty quickly, and then you can introduce the idea of playing the rhythm using any combination of elements on the kit. You can do 1, 2 or 4 beat phrases, at any tempo you like.

Another idea is a simplified version of Craig Blundell's "playing telephone numbers" exercise. Take the student's telephone number and assign numbers to different parts of the drum kit, then get them to play it ! You can then get them to come up with random strings of numbers and work out how to play these too.


The Mighty Handful - www.mightyhandful.com
Praying Mantis - www.praying-mantis.com
Drummer, teacher, and occasional doughnut fiend
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dibs
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United Kingdom
856 Posts

Posted - 08/06/2012 :  11:45:06  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Ring around the drum kit? Hide and seek (the drum kit always loses).

I take a simple semi quaver note based phrase (like an alligator xxxx or a raspberry X xx) and challenge them to move the first beat away from the snare drum and onto a different voice - we then rename the phrase accordingly eg crashigator/crashberry or bassigator/bassberry etc. Daft but they seem to love it and it gets them exploring different ways you can take a very simple phrase and make dozens of different sounds with exactly the same thing.

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