Drumline Club

Created Feb. 7, 2024 by NDE Digital Learning

Drumline Club

By: Jared Syed Noetzel - University of Nebraska-Lincoln & Paul Umshler - University of Nebraska-Lincoln - This Portfolio is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors Program at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Expanded Learning Clubs by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Copyright 2019 by Jared Noetzel and Paul Umshler under Creative Commons Non-Commercial License. Individuals and organizations may copy, reproduce, distribute, and perform this work and alter or remix this work for non-commercial purposes only.

NEBRASKA HONORS PROGRAM CLC EXPANDED LEARNING OPPORTUNITY CLUBS INFORMATION SHEET:

Name of Club: Drumline Club 

Age/Grade Level: Grade 6-8 

Number of Attendees: 5-15 

Goal of the Club: (learning objectives/outcomes) Learn how to read music, basic drumming technique, basic timing/technique exercises, and play one piece together. 

Resources: (Information for club provided by) Bucketdrumming101.com 

Content Areas: (check all that apply) 

  • ☒ Arts (Visual, Music, Theater &Performance) 
  • ☐ Literacy 
  • ☐ STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering &Math) 
  • ☐ Social Studies 
  • ☐ Wellness (Physical Education, Health, Nutrition &Character Education) 

Outputs or final products: (Does the club have a final product/project to showcase to community?) The final piece could be performed to the school 

Introducing your Club/Activities: In this club we will be learning all about how to play drums! We will learn how to read music and the basic technique of playing just like a drumline using buckets and drumsticks. You will also practice with basic exercises and games we come up with. Once we learn all the fundamentals, we will learn songs we can perform together as a club! 

General Directions: Most of the club can be played by ear, it all depends on how quickly the kids catch on to different exercises, how quickly the grasp the technique, etc. This can be applied to a varying level of skill. 

Tips/Tricks: Always prepare more things to have if you need more time, and plan for things to do when things take too long, or something you had in mind to teach was too complex or too simple. 

LESSON PLAN WORKSHEET:

Lesson Activity Name #1: Basic Reading Skills and Technique

Length of Activity: 60 minutes 

Supplies: 

  • Drumsticks 
  • Practice Pads
  • Whiteboard or Paper 

Directions: Start by teaching the children the basic technique of holding a drumstick and the basic wrist-heavy stroke. We started by teaching them the “8-on-a-hand” exercise where they just play 8 notes on each hand. You can also teach them the basic marching skills like listening to the tap-off, and putting their sticks in at the end of the exercise. Also, begin teaching them how to read music slowly by writing out whatever exercise you will play and by breaking down the aspects of reading music like the types of notes, time signature, measures, etc. Play along to music or a metronome to practice good timing. 

Conclusion of the activity: Have everyone play individually and help their technique/timing skills at the end. Give them tips to practice on their own. 

Parts of activity that worked: People generally enjoy drumming and playing along to music kept things interesting. 

Parts of activity that did not work: Sometimes basic technique and music-reading can be boring, especially for more experienced musicians. 


Lesson Activity Name #2: All about sixteenth-note timing

Length of Activity: 60 minutes 

Supplies: 

  • Practice pads 
  • drumsticks 

Directions: Begin this activity by warming up everyone’s hands by reviewing the technique from last week using 8 on a hand. Then introduce the concept of sixteenth notes by writing them out on a board and demonstrating them with a metronome. Have them play that for a while and then introduce timing exercises involving playing continuous sixteenth notes with different beats taken out (I.e., playing the off-beat or taking out the 1, then the “e” then the “and,” and then the “a.” Offbeats are generally a hard concept for new musicians to grasp, so you can help them by letting them think of it as playing continuous sixteenth notes but taking the right hand out. 

Conclusion of the activity: Play a game of rhythmic telephone by tapping a rhythm on someone’s shoulder and have them pass it down the line until the last person must write out whatever rhythm they felt on a white board. 

Parts of activity that worked: People generally enjoy the challenge of playing on offbeats, and it gives them something easy to practice at home. 

Parts of activity that did not work: Off-beats are a very hard concept to grasp 


Lesson Activity Name #3: Sixteenth Note Review and Triplet Timing Introduction

Length of Activity: 60 minutes 

Supplies: 

  • Drumsticks 
  • Practice Pads
  • Whiteboards 

Directions: Always start each week by playing 8 on a hand to warm up. Then start reviewing the sixteenth note timing exercises learned from the previous week. This is a major concept, so it can often take multiple weeks for them to grasp it. If some students are getting a better grasp on it than others, have them split off into pairs (one person who gets it with one person who does not as well), and then move back to the large group once you have noticed improvement. If you have time, introduce the concept of a triplet and begin to play just “straight,” triplets. 

Conclusion of the activity: Listen to each of them play a sixteenth note timing exercise on their own and give them individual things to work on. 

Parts of activity that worked: Most of the time was taken up by still going over sixteenth note timing, which was helpful, and significant improvement was found. 

Parts of activity that did not work: Triplets are a hard concept to grasp, and having the beat alter hands every time is confusing for some students.


Lesson Activity Name #4: Triplet Timing

Length of Activity: 60 minutes 

Supplies: 

  • Drumsticks 
  • practice pads
  • whiteboards 

Directions: Begin by playing 8s, then reviewing sixteenth-note timing exercises, and finally by reviewing the concept of a triplet. After enough proficiency is reached playing “straight” triplets, begin by introducing triplet timing exercises. These are essentially the same as the 16-note ones before, but this time instead of a 16-note grid, it is a triplet grid. Again, playing the triplet “offbeat” is often the most difficult part of these exercises. Pairing students up again (same as the 16th -note one) can be helpful for this. 

Conclusion of the activity: Listen to everyone play the exercise individually and then give them feedback to work on throughout the week. 

Parts of activity that worked: Triplets are a fun change from the normal sixteenth note grid. 

Parts of activity that did not work: Triplet off beats are often one of the hardest things for a new percussionist to grasp


Lesson Activity Name #5: Triplet Review and Accent Timing

Length of Activity: 60 minutes 

Supplies: 

  • Drumsticks 
  • practice pads
  • whiteboards 

Directions: Begin this lesson as usual by playing 8’s and then begin to review sixteenth note timing, and the proceed to triplet timing, spending as much time as needed, as this is a concept that can take multiple weeks to grasp. Start to introduce the idea of an “accent” stroke versus a “tap.” Make sure to emphasize that the velocity of the stroke does not change, but just the height does. Do some basic accent exercises (i.e. Bucks), and then introduce the 4-2-1 accent timing exercise (where the accent moves from the 1 to the E, the E to the and, etc., in a sixteenth note grid). Start with just the “ones,” (one measure of each accent “beat”) then do the “twos” (two measures of two beats for one accent “beat”) and then the “ones” (four measures alternating the accent every beat). 

Conclusion of the activity: Have everyone play 4-2-1 individually and give critiques and feedback to help. 

Parts of activity that worked: Doing accent timing often solidifies timing in the other timing exercises. 

Parts of activity that did not work: The off beats in 4-2-1 are typically hard for new students.


Lesson Activity Name #6: Review of everything

Length of Activity: 60 minutes 

Supplies: 

  • Drumsticks 
  • practice pads
  • whiteboards 

Directions: Take this week to just go over the many exercises you have taught in the prior weeks by first giving a written list of everything that has been worked on in previous weeks. Ask the students what they are struggling most with and go over those things as a group. 

Conclusion of the activity: Give general technical or timing feedback that can be applied for everyone and to everything you worked on. 

Parts of activity that worked: An overview/review week is nice for people to see all that they learned. 

Parts of activity that did not work: N/a


Lesson Activity Name #7: Yuck! Sheet Music – Week 1

Length of Activity: 60 minutes 

Supplies: 

  • Drumsticks 
  • sheet music 
  • practice pads 
  • whiteboards
  • buckets 

Directions: For this week as usual, begin by playing 8’s at various tempos to warm up. Then proceed to begin to learn the Yuck! Sheet music. This is a bucket drumming piece that incorporates some aspects from previous weeks as well as introduces some new concepts like playing on buckets, “splitting” parts between people, and many others. 

Conclusion of the activity: Do a run through of at least the first page of Yuck! 

Parts of activity that worked: Playing on buckets is a nice change of pace and it is fun to play an actual piece that is not just exercises. 

Parts of activity that did not work: It can be difficult to teach the same piece of music to people of varying skill levels. Thankfully there are many variations to this piece that are written out in the music that can offer challenges to more skilled musicians and others can stick to the “skeleton” part. 


Lesson Activity Name #8: Yuck! Sheet Music – Week 2

Length of Activity: 60 minutes 

Supplies: 

  • Drumsticks
  • sheet music
  • practice pads
  • whiteboards
  • buckets 

Directions: Start with 8’s and continue learning the Yuck! Sheet music. You can spend more weeks on this if needed, but try and get through all 3 pages of it, because there are many fun variations that students enjoy. 

Conclusion of the activity: Do a mini performance of yuck having students play different variations at the same time. 

Parts of activity that worked: This piece is very fun and students at many different skill levels can enjoy it . 

Parts of activity that did not work: It may take longer/shorter than 2 weeks to learn, but that is fine!


Lesson Activity Name #9: Introduction to Double-Stroke Rolls

Length of Activity: 60 minutes 

Supplies: 

  • Drumsticks
  • sheet music
  • practice pads
  • whiteboards 

Directions: Start by playing 8 on a hand, and then begin to introduce the concept of what a double-stroke roll is. Many beginning percussionists think that rolls are just “playing as quickly as you can,” and they do not realize that there is just a bounce/double stroke that makes it sound “fast.” Start by demonstrating at a normal speed, and in “slow-motion” what a roll looks like to get the concept in their heads. Then start by doing basic double stroke exercises to build up their chops so that they can eventually play a roll. Some exercises that you can play are “A/B,” or just playing double strokes on a 16th note grid with alternating stroke check patterns in between. 

Conclusion of the activity: Have each student play the exercises individually or in small-groups to give individual feedback. 

Parts of activity that worked: People generally want to learn how to roll. 

Parts of activity that did not work: Proper double-stroke rolls can take a painstakingly long time to build. 


Lesson Activity Name #10: Roll and Yuck! Review

Length of Activity: 60 minutes 

Supplies: 

  • Drumsticks
  • sheet music
  • practice pads
  • whiteboards
  • buckets 

Directions: Start by playing 8’s on practice pads, and begin to review the double-stroke exercises that you worked on last week. If you feel like your students have improved their technique enough, feel free to start to have them do actual double stroke rolls, gradually building up tempo. If not, just continue with the exercises. For the second half of the time, review the Yuck! music again and challenge people to try out parts they have not previously. 

Conclusion of the activity: Play yuck again, and encourage people to practice their double-stroke technique at home to improve quickly! 

Parts of activity that worked: Yuck is a very fun piece to play. 

Parts of activity that did not work: Double-stroke rolls take a long time to learn.


Lesson Activity Name #11: Roll Exercises/Watching Experts

Length of Activity: 60 minutes 

Supplies: 

  • Drumsticks
  • sheet music
  • practice pads
  • whiteboards 

Directions: THIS IS ONLY TO BE DONE IF THE STUDENTS ARE READY TO START ROLLING. Start with 8’s as usual and begin to introduce some roll exercises (i.e.) triplet roll, two-height roll, etc. Try to have people play the exercises together. To help, use videos of drumlines playing roll exercises (like from DCI or WGI) to show them what a “clean”/together roll should sound like versus “dirty” rolls. 

Conclusion of the activity: Have them play exercises in small groups to give them individual feedback. 

Parts of activity that worked: Watching good drumlines is always fun. 

Parts of activity that did not work: Playing rolls with cleanliness is one of the hardest thing for even experienced drumlines to do. 


Lesson Activity Name #12: Drumline Preparation Day

Length of Activity: 60 minutes 

Supplies: 

  • Snare drum
  • tenor drum
  • bass drum
  • optional: cymbals 

Directions: This day just use to show your students how to play things on actual drumline drums instead of practice pads and buckets. There are a lot of different things you can teach, like how to do the different drums on the tenors, and how to do bass technique. You can also bring in a drumline to play for the club!

Conclusion of the activity: Wrap up the club by telling everyone how they should continue playing music or drumming after this club ends. 

Parts of activity that worked: Playing on real drums is super fun! 

Parts of activity that did not work: N/A


Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/honorshelc 
Part of the Higher Education Commons, and the Music Pedagogy Commons
This Portfolio is brought to you for free and open access by the Honors Program at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Expanded Learning Clubs by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Noetzel, Jared Syed and Umshler, Paul, "Drumline Club" (2019). Honors Expanded Learning Clubs. 29. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/honorshelc/29

Return to top