Drums are probably the most popular choice among young people when choosing an instrument. Everyone wants to be a drummer. But you can’t have a band full of drummers. In our program, as is the case with most, we don’t have enough equipment for any more than about 12 percussionists.
My partner would tell you that percussion is the toughest instrument to learn. I wouldn’t necessarily disagree, except of course for vocalising. But that’s a post for another day. There are a lot more different techniques to learn, and multiple instruments. It definitely takes dedication and an attention to detail that is difficult for many beginning students. This is why it’s important to evaluate your beginning musicians so that students who are best suited to play percussion will have the experience.
I am a member of the Music K-8 mailing list, and the question was raised there recently about evaluating percussion. I asked Steve to write it all down for me, and he obliged. However, the post was so detailed it was too big to post there. So I will copy it here, for “listers” and anyone else who might be interested can take a look at how we evaluate students for percussion.
Evaluating Students for Percussion is a two step process. Once narrows the field from wanna-bes and the second actually gets to the heart of the matter.
Round 1: Given to all students
- Setup
- Small group format.
- Set up 4 practice pads on one side of the table and me on the other
- All with sticks
- Clapping
- I start clapping, about 120 beats per minute
- I have them clap along with me, matching my tempo
- I say “I am going to stop clapping. You keep clapping. Don’t speed up.”
- Results: I have planted the seed of speeding up in their minds on purpose. Much like any crowd, they will start to rush. A prospective percussionist is one who doesn’t necessarily not speed up at first, but one who realizes that the tempo has changed and tries to return to the original tempo and maintain it in the face of the opposition.
- Clap Group patterns
- Clap a series of quarter/eighth note patterns
- One measure each. Whole group repeats
- I use a fairly standard set of patterns: 1,2,3+4; 1,2+3+4, 1+,2+,3+,4, 1+,2,3+4
- Results: I am looking for how quickly they can repeat my pattern. I am testing their short term rhythmic dictation ability. Prospective percussionists will repeat the pattern in time without any significant break between my pattern and theirs. They will maintain tempo.
- Individual clapping
- Similar to procedure above, but I will introduce dotted rhythms
- Again, no more than one measure
- Results : I am confirming the individual conclusions I have come to. Prospective percussionists will do this very well. This is the largest predictor of a student who will move to round 2, but more on that later.
- Stick demonstration
- I model correct hand placement.
- Specifically: All fingers on stick, thumb tucked in against hand, but on stick. First finger curled around, not sitting up on top (biggest issue students have is with this one!) and about 1-2 inches hanging out of the end. I am a firm believer in matched grip, so both hands are the same.
- I flip my hands down and tell the students to make their hands look exactly like mine.
- Results: I am looking for students who take direction about proper hand technique. This will be important later as I will have to give instructions from the podium and I want them to be able to move from the abstract to the concrete. Students will put their fingers on top (like they are hunting/pecking on a keyboard). Prospective percussionists will demonstrate proper hand technique.
- “Free play” (This is the part they have been looking for!!)
- I demonstrate that good stroke technique comes from the wrist (I strike my drum pad several times)
- I demonstrate that good technique does not come from the elbow (show them bad technique) or the shoulder (they like this because every once in a while, I accidentally hit the wall behind me).
- I once again confirm that both hands are played the same way.
- I ask them to try to hit the very center of their drum pad without hitting the edge.
- I say go.
- Results: Prospective percussionists will have a relaxed stroke using mostly wrists. Both hands will be the same and they will only be playing stick heights of 3-4 inches. They will maintain a similar tempo to the one I used when demonstrating and when their classmates are misbehaving, they will remain focused. Bad percussionists will use mostly elbow and lock their wrist. They will “drumset” play or use only their dominant hand. Their stuck heights will be around their eyeballs and there will be no attempt at tempo.
- Group paradiddle
- I will say “I am going to tap a pattern. I want you to tap it back.”
- I say “R-L-R-R”. I play it backwards becuase they are going to mirror me. This is an important step. Prospective percussionists will focus on my stucks and not try to memorize what I am saying.
- I count it off and then they tap with me. I don’t make any corrections.
- I say “Watch me again” and repeat the process. Agian, I make no corrections.
- I say “Now, I am going to switch it.” I I say/do the opposite: “L-R-L-L’ again, playing in mirror.
- I count off and we tap it in unison.
- I then say, “Ok, now I am going to combine them. R-L-R-R-L-R-L-L”
- I count off, we tap it together.
- I repeat this process.
- I then tell them they are going to do it individually.
- I tap it one more time and then go right into a couont off. I keep tapping my right hand while they attampt to play. I move from one student to the next with only one measure of tapping in between.
- Results: Most students will not be able to remember thepattern and play it correctly. That is not what you are looking for in this step. You want to see if they have a good concept of left and right, can maintain solid tempo and stay focused, even if they mess up the pattern. Prospective percussionists will demostrate all of this. Others will get frustrated, tell you they can’t rememebr, lose all sense of tempo, ask to start over, have their hands revert to bad technqiue, etc.
- I can do four students in about five minutes time, covering an entire class of 5th grade students in about 40 minutes total. I do this during class. I face the general class and have the students tryng out face me. That way I can monitor the room. I have done this so many times I can do it on autopilot in case there is a discipline problem in the room.
- Students are scored 1-10. Any student who scores a 9 or a 10 is called back for round 2.
Round 2: The cream will rise to the top.
These are indivudal assessments instead of groups. Each takes about five minutes, so this can take several days if you have a lot of students to weed through. I usually have about 100 who have made the first cut (out of 350 total 5th graders) This is very similar to the above method, but the clapping rhythms are harder. I do two measures at a time and use more dotted rhythms. I will clap in a wider variety of tempos to see if they can maintain the various tempos. I will actually write out several stick patterns and let them read them while tapping on the pad. Students are given higher marks if they have taken private piano lessons. I take notes on each of the students in addition the their score. In the end, I take the top 10% of my band numbers into the percussion section. I have had as few as seven percussionists and as many as twelve. They play bells, timpani, and auxilary instruemtns for the first semester. They don’t touch a snare drum until after the holiday concert and we do not do drum set at the beginning level at all.
I can’t say that I have always gotten it right. I have one student this year who I thought was going to be great, but has been significantly lacking in this area and will not be continuing as a percussionist in 7th grade. But otherwise, I have been very successful with this and we have a very strong group of percussion students to show for these efforts.
Tags: Attention To Detail, Clap, Crowd, Dedication, Drummer, music, Musicians, Percussionist, Small Group, Tempo
