Fun, Easy Rhythm Playing
For Young Children - Part 2

Jim Greiner at a recent workshop

In Part 1 of this series, I covered some very basic warm up games (like clapping exercises, singing, how to listen, getting attention and focus) and simple concepts I've found useful in helping young children. In this part, I will add variations to those patterns as well as add new instruments and patterns that will work with those to create a percussion ensemble. Reading Part 1 before this article will help you obtain a good foundation.

First, I will reiterate some fundamental concepts that are important to making the playing of percussion instruments fun and easy. They are:

• Talk about people who originated the instruments.
• Start at slow tempos, provide a steady pulse to follow.
• Demonstrate all parts before having them play together.
• Sing their parts with them before they begin.
• Emphasize the importance of staying relaxed and not hitting too hard.
• Play the rhythm for as long as possible so that they experience a groove state.
• Sing songs that they know so they feel comfortable with the rhythms.
• Work out cues for starting and stopping before you begin.
• And last but not least KEEP IT FUN!

Hand drums: I start with small frame drums and have the kids play quarter notes with open tones (tips of the fingers on the edge of the drum head) as they sang their part ("boom, boom, boom, boom"). Then add larger hand drums ( congas, djembes and ashikos) to these drums using open tones and bass sounds. First, demonstrate how to make an open tone by hitting with the full lengths of all four fingers of the dominant hand on the outer perimeter of the drum head. Be sure to demonstrate how to hit the drum and not the hardware, if any. Then show them how to make a bass sound by hitting with a flat hand near the center of the drum head. Teach them how to say the sound as you teach them the sound. I use "Oh" for the open tone and "Dun" for the bass sound. Their part will be to play the "Dun" on the 1 and 3, and the "Oh" on the 2 and 4 so their song will be, "Dun, Oh, Dun, Oh". One of the most profound things I learned about learning and teaching percussion during my two years in Africa was the importance of singing the part before playing it. If you can say it, you can play it!

Shakers:: I started with playing eighth notes in a simple back-forth motion with the down beat on the out stroke. We will now add a variation to this pattern by changing the motion so that we make a "C" shape in the air as we play the same eighth notes. This will place the accents on the 1,2,3, and 4 of the pattern. I've found that kids are delighted by the change in the sound that this simple change in movement makes.

Bells:: Any LP cowbells or agogo bells, etc. will do. This is a great time to also teach them about the relative pitches of instruments as they relate to their relative sizes. I will play a large bell, then a small bell and ask them which bell had the higher sound and which had the lower sound. I then have them sing "high" in a high voice and "low" in a low voice. Exaggerate the two pitches, they love to play with their voices in this way. Tell them how large instruments generally make lower sounds than small instruments. I use other examples as well such as the difference between a trumpet and a tuba, a violin and an upright bass, a small drum and a large drum. Have the kids play the large bells on the 1 and 3 and the small bells on the 2 and 4 after they sing their parts. I use "Bee" in a high voice for the high bell and "Boo" in a low voice for the low bell.

Tambourines:: Very young children do not have the strength, endurance or motor skills to play a tambourine for very long in the traditional side-to-side motion so I have them play them as they would a drum. If the tambourine has a head they can hit it in the same manner as I demonstrated for the frame drums in Part 1. If the tambourine is headless have them hold it parallel to the ground and hit it on the rim on the 2 and 4, being careful not to hit the jingles which could hurt their hands.

This is very basic instruction to playing percussion as an ensemble with children. I also use some of these concepts in my work with seniors and physically or mentally challenged people. It is the simplicity, the singing, the repetition and the fun that makes it work. As you progress with a group over the course of weeks and months this foundation will serve well as the jumping off point for adding more complex techniques and patterns to their repertoire. Bless the children!

Jim Greiner is an LP Clinician and Product Specialist. He teaches percussion in schools and universities around the U.S., plays percussion in the Bill Hopkins Rockin' Orchestra at corporate parties and resorts around the world, leads team-building drum circles for corporations throughout North America through his company "Hands-On! Drumming", and is very active in the recording scene (CD's film and T.V.) in the San Francisco area. For more information on Jim please visit his website at: http://www.handsondrum.com.