Drum Circle 12 12 2018

Experience Design: 30 Minute Drum Circle Designers: ​Mitchell Evans, Sophie Harrison, Rebecca Kenaga, and Sydney Seed Summary/Overview: The purpose of this activity is to guide an experience where students can explore bucket drumming. The focus will be on imitating rhythms and playing along with popular music. Learners will have the opportunity to express their feelings about this experience with instructors and peers. Rationale: We have decided to go to a non-traditional classroom because we have already had several K-12 public school teaching experiences. Also, we think bringing music to a space that currently does not teach music will be a positive experience for everyone involved. The bucket drums are the perfect medium for a singular informal experience, because they are easy to play, versatile, and enjoyable. Additionally, JMU has enough bucket drums for everyone to participate at the same time. Some of us have prior bucket drumming experience, but there is still a lot for us to explore. For this experience design, we are adapting a music methods informal learning activity on non-traditional instruments to be appropriate for learners at Second Home on bucket drums. Standards: ● VA SOL 6.4 - The student will perform rhythmic patterns that include whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, and corresponding rests. ● VA SOL 6.7.2 - Identify ways in which culture and technology influence the development of music and musical styles, including the ways in which sound is manipulated. ● VA SOL 6.10.3 - Explaining the value of musical performance to the school community I Can Statements: ● I can play a rhythm by myself ○ Wound forward: I can incorporate multiple parts of the bucket to diversify timbre in my rhythm (top, side, etc.) ○ Wound back: I can hit the drum by myself ● I can convey ways technology influenced my drumming (spoken, written, drawings, or other) ○ Wound forward: I can describe specific musical choices I made on the buckets due to the background music on the speakers (spoken, written, drawings, or other). ○ Wound backward: I can convey that using technology made a difference in the drumming activity (spoken, written, drawings, or other).

●

I can convey why this drumming experience was valuable to the classroom community (spoken, written, drawings, or other) ○ Wound forward: I can additionally convey how drum circles have the potential to make larger scale impacts such as at the local community or national level (spoken, written, drawings, or other). ○ Wound backward: I can convey how this drumming experience was valuable to me (spoken, written, drawings, or other).

Materials: ● Buckets ● Drum sticks ● Speakers ● Phone/device to play music from ● Prepared playlist ● Paper ● Writing utensils Detailed Process: 1. Instructors will set-up buckets and drum sticks prior to the learners arriving 2. One instructor will greet the students at the door and ask them to find a seat in front of a bucket, while the other instructors are playing on the buckets or cuing the background popular songs on the speaker. 3. At 4:30 the instructors will introduce themselves, and ask the learners to sit with their sticks in their laps when someone is talking throughout this drumming experience to maintain respect for others. [1 minute] 4. Sydney will demonstrate the predetermined rhythm: quarter note, quarter note, quarter note, quarter rest (or cheese, cheese, cheese, rest), and the learners will join in playing that rhythm when they are comfortable. [1 minute] 5. Sophie will demonstrate the predetermined rhythm: eighth note eighth note, eighth note eighth note, quarter, quarter (or apple, apple, cheese, cheese), and the learners will join in playing that rhythm when they are comfortable. [90 seconds] 6. Rebecca will demonstrate the predetermined rhythm: [insert rhythms] (or macaroni and cheese), and the learners will join in playing that rhythm when they are comfortable. [90 seconds] 7. Learners will be split into three groups, and led to layer the three rhythms all together, so they can practice playing their part simultaneously with different rhythms being played. Sydney, Sophie, and Rebecca will continue to model the rhythms they taught throughout this process. Learners will also be told they are welcome to play an easier rhythm than the one they were assigned if they want to. [90 seconds] a. If it is before 4:42 the learners will rotate parts to experience the same three part layering activity, but on a different rhythm. Sydney, Sophie, and Rebecca will continue to model the rhythms they taught.

8. At 4:45 Mitchell will begin cuing popular songs for learners to play on over top of. He will advisor the learners to use any of the three rhythms we taught them, or make-up something new. a. We will do this for three different songs, or until 4:52. 9. Sophie will led the students in a reflective activity where learners will write, or draw an indication of how they felt about this activity. “What did you learn?” “What did you like/dislike about this experience?” [5 minutes] 10. Rebecca will collect drum sticks, Sydney will collect buckets, Sophie will collect learners written or drawn reflections, and Mitchell will direct traffic to commence a quick and orderly clean up. [3 minutes] Assessment: ● Instructors will informally assess for complexity of rhythmic patterns as learners play with the group, and when the learners solo. ● Instructors will make note of patterns in responses to how the learners feel technology influenced their drumming experience. ● Instructors will make note of patterns in responses to how the learners feel drumming is valuable to the classroom community. Adaptations: ● Size/Shape- ​Learners can play on the floor instead of the buckets, or with their hands instead of sticks. If needed, learners with very limited mobility can sing their rhythms to the instructors, or to their paraprofessional. ● Color- ​Since visuals are not being used (i.e. no notation, no fingering charts, etc.), and since we are not directing a specific part of the bucket to be hit (if we were we could place a colored sticker on the specific spot for clarity), there is no need to incorporate a color adaptation. ● Pacing- ​Learners are welcome to choose the rhythm that is most comfortable for them during the layering activity (probably Sydney’s instructed rhythm, but maybe not), and can play whatever rhythm they want during the popular songs activity. ● Modality- ​Students with any visual impairments may need assistance in getting set up in front of a bucket drum. It also may be useful for them to play on the floor. Students with any auditor impairments will be placed closer to the speakers, and a JMU student leader will sit across from them and indicate pulse through a discrete head bopping or leg tapping, so the learner can play within the audiated pulse. They might even be able to feel the vibrations from the drums since all of the students are sitting on the floor together. Extension: Our extensions are written into our procedures. We have subparts for how to extend the first activity until 4:42 in the case that we finish more quickly than anticipated, and the second activity will take a predetermined amount of time due to the length of our playlist. However, if

we notice students are bored, we will incorporate partwork to further challenge those learners (e.g. “maintain a steady beat with your foot while you play your rhythm”), or an instructor will give the advanced learner(s) a hard rhythm to practice.