1. Reading Rhythms Playing Percussion
Rhythmic Percussion
Reading Rhythms
Playing Percussion

2. Rhythmic Percussion: Types of Percussion
Percussion instruments are made up of both definite (pitched) and indefinite (non-pitched) instruments.
Name some definite pitched instruments.
Name some indefinite pitched instruments.
Percussion instruments are also classified into five smaller categories so that one can determine exactly how an instrument produces sound.

3. Rhythmic Percussion: Types of Percussion
Idiophones – produce sound when their bodies are caused to vibrate.
Crash Cymbals
Marimba
Wood Block

4. Rhythmic Percussion: Types of Percussion
Membranophone – produce sound when the membrane is put into motion.
Bongos
Snare Drum
Timpani

5. Rhythmic Percussion: Types of Percussion
Chordophone – produce sound when a stretched string vibrates.
Hammered Dulcimer
Piano

6. Rhythmic Percussion: Types of Percussion
Aerophone – wind instruments that produce sounds as air vibrates through a tube.
Siren
Samba Whistle

7. Rhythmic Percussion: Types of Percussion
Electrophone – all electrophones require a loudspeaker; this is sufficient to assign electrophones to the percussion family.
Drum Machine
Radio

8. Rhythmic Percussion: Terms
Accent – the emphasis placed on a musical sound.
Meter – the aural aspect of music in which a certain number of beats are grouped together.
Measure – the division of beats into defined groups separated by a bar line.
Time signature – used to specify how many beats are in each measure and what note value constitutes one beat.

9. Rhythmic Percussion: Accent the Beat
Can you accent some of the beats as you listen to “Melodies of Love” by Joe Sample? Perform the following patterns of accented (in black) and nonaccented beats (in white). Clap on the accented beats and snap your fingers on the others. a b c d
CD 3 #12: “Melodies of Love”
p. 77

10. Rhythmic Percussion: Count and Coordinate Rhythmic Patterns
Can you get your right hand, left hand, and right foot to perform different rhythms simultaneously? Listen to Marvin Gaye’s “I Heard It Through the Grapevine” and imitate the skills of a fine trap-set drummer. Follow these three steps:
Listen to the recording and establish the accent on beat one. Tap this accent with your right foot every time you hear it.
While your right foot continues to tap on one, use your left hand to tap regular beats of four. Tap these four even beats on your desk. Make sure you accentuate the first beat.
Now add your right hand. Use it to sound a beat at double the speed of your left hand. (You will play eight even beats.) Use your pencil as a drumstick, holding it lightly as you tap these eight beats on your desk. In your head, think the eight beats by counting to eight silently as you play. Do not speed up!
Play all three rhythms with the recording.
CD 2 #4: “I Heard it Through the Grapevine”
p. 79

11. Rhythmic Percussion: Metrical Patterns and Melodic Rhythms
Throughout the ages, mathematicians have sought out patterns of numbers. This is because we humans are drawn to patterns and find their regularity or repetition comforting. The same is true of musicians and the music they create or play.
Composers sometimes mix meters to create an interesting rhythmic organization in their music. This is true of some classical compositions and of the traditional and popular music associated with many cultures. Sometimes, two music categories merge. We can see this in the music of Russian classical composer Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Many of his pieces, which employ mixed meters, draw on the traditional music of his Eastern European homeland.

12. Rhythmic Percussion: Practice and Determine Meter
Perform duple and triple meter patterns to determine the meters in “Procession of the Nobles” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov. As you listen to the music, perform these duple- and triple-meter patterns. Clap on the accented beat (in black) and snap your fingers on the others (in white). Note that the vertical bars indicate the start of a new measure.
Count: | |
Count | |
Show that you can hear the changes in meter. Do this by clapping the
duple and triple meters in “Procession of the Nobles.”
CD 3 #13: “Procession of the Nobles” p. 80

13. Rhythmic Percussion: How We Hear

14. Rhythmic Percussion: Rhythms in Everyday Life
Did you know that rhythms can be sounded out using anything? You can use your body – mouth, hands, fingers, or feet – to capture a rhythm. You can also use found instruments – ordinary objects like your pencil, keys, backpack, or desktop.
One musical group famous for its use of found instruments is STOMP. This modern dance troupe combines exciting choreography with rhythms created from everyday objects. In the introduction to the video STOMP Out Loud, founder and dancer Luke Creswell states the group’s goal: to invite people to “listen to the world in a different way and hear music where maybe they didn’t think there was music before.”

15. Rhythmic Percussion: Identify Rhythm Instruments and Perceive Musical Events
Use your ears to tell you what ordinary objects are used as rhythm instruments. Listen to a segment from STOMP Out Loud, and write down the sounds you can identify. Then watch the video as the members of STOMP dangle from rock-climbing harnesses attached to a billboard on the Manhattan skyline.
How does the music of STOMP invite you to listen to the world in a different way?
Would you classify this performance as dance?
How is it theatre?
CD 3 #15: STOMP Out Loud
p. 83
Video, Stomp

16. Rhythmic Percussion: Bounce, Slap, Dribble, Move!
STOMP loves to demonstrate how everyday rhythms in our lives can have a powerful musical effect. A fun way to demonstrate these rhythms is to take an activity like playing basketball and show how the basketball itself can become a musical instrument.

17. Rhythmic Percussion: Analyze and Create Rhythms
Watch STOMP members perform their basketball street-scene rhythms, then create and perform a similar piece. Try the following:
1. As you watch the video, identify the meter of the piece performed by STOMP. How many different ways do they create sounds with basketballs? Use their performance as a basis for creating your own basketball rhythms that dance.
2. In sequential order, perform each part below. As you play, listen to Mickey Hart’s “Island Groove” to keep the tempo steady. 1. 2. 3. 4.
CD 3 #16: “Island Groove”
p. 84

18. Rhythmic Percussion: Note and Rest Values
Notes – actual pitches that are heard through the voice or an instrument in a specific amount of counts (durations)
Rests – silences between pitches that occur in a specific amount of counts (durations)
Whole Note/Rest – 4 beats
Dotted Half Note/Rest – 3 beats
Half Note/Rest – 2 beats
Dotted Quarter Note/Rest – 1 1/2 beats
Quarter Note/Rest – 1 beat
Eighth Note/Rest – 1/2 beat
Sixteenth Note/Rest – 1/4 beat

19. Rhythmic Percussion: Note and Rest Symbols

20. Rhythmic Percussion: Note Value Tree

21. Rhythmic Percussion: Subdividing Notes
The number plus the and equals ONE FULL beat.
Therefore, just the number WITHOUT the and will only equal HALF a beat.