Why chose group drumming?

(excerpt from Eduardo Lis upcoming book "Motivating Students with Drumming and Body Percussion")

Movement, Sound and the Power of Rhythm

Body percussion and drumming can be used to help the development of musicianship, coordination, concentration, and teamwork in the music class. With this book teachers and students will learn about rhythmic patterns and music form. Moreover, body percussion and drumming are a known vehicle to improve students’ behavior because it helps with relaxation, self-confidence, self-awareness and empowerment.

Students will learn first by copying, imitating, and following a model, then by modeling for others, and finally by experimenting and creating new rhythms with their body or with percussion instruments. The goal is the have students participating and interacting as a community of rhythmic learner

Why Focus on Body Percussion and Drumming

Body percussion and drumming will provide all children an empowering and safe space that will motivate them to come to school every day. They will come to a fun group activity, and they will learn how to make music using their bodies and drums.

The use of body percussion and drumming are a great addition not only to learning music skills, but to give students the “superpower” of feeling validated as an individual and as a contributing member in a group (class) that is part of a larger learning community (school).

Playing percussion requires coordination and active participation. It has been proven to make changes to the neural pathways (creates new connections in the brain - become smarter!), increase dopamine in the body (without taking medication!), and help concentration, satisfaction, self-awareness, memory and mood. (See bibliography and quotes.)

Unlike learning piano or guitar, drumming is most effective when played as part of a group. The group experience enhances the power of percussion making the sound of the whole bigger than the sum of its parts.

Do All Students Have a Sense of Rhythm?

All children have beat and rhythm inside of them. There is no such thing as “bad rhythm” when it comes to teaching children to “find their inner rhythm.” It might be different for different abilities, but there is a rhythm that can be used to increase participation and enjoyment in the classroom.

Children feel beat and rhythm in their bodies from birth. They learn about rhythm inside the womb: the regular pattern or “beat” of the mother’s heart, the “rhythm” of her breathing, and the bumping of the mother’s footfalls.

Teaching about beat and rhythm starts with experiencing and discovering the connection between sound and movement. First, the beat of the heart, regular and steady (even though it might get faster when agitated or slower when sleepy, it remains at regular intervals). Second, the rhythm of breathing or footsteps that can be controlled and made longer or shorter at will (see bibliography and quotes for research on this).

Also, there is a difference between the rhythm of the body (instinctive response to sound or movement) and the rhythm in music (rhythm “created” with a purpose).

Rhythm is a unifying factor for children of all ages and abilities. The success of this project is measured by two elements: first, the students’ response, and their learning and mastering of skills; and, second, their level of engagement. Therefore, there will be a difference in the response and level of skills learned from students who are mainstreamed and those who require modifications due to a special need (children with an IEP for ASD, OI, OHI, etc.). The objective, however, is not a performance, but the student’s level of reaching their rhythmic potential and their optimal participation (see rubric).

Feeling the BEAT starts in the body. The heartbeat is at the center. The heart is to the body as the BEAT is to music. Feeling the beat is the foundation for the activities in this book. Focusing on feeling the beat, students start to explore different activities with body rhythms and then apply their knowledge to the drums. Students will learn the difference between beat and rhythm in their exploration