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World Music Drumming Teacher's Book

World Music Drumming is designed as a flexible curriculum for use in upper elementary grades 3-5, middle schools grades 6-8, or in elective high school classes. The curriculum of thirty lessons is divided into seven units, each of which culminates in an ensemble. Teachers can use several or all of these units as time permits.

An elementary general music teacher might use some of the drum activities such as Echoing or Question and Answer as part of another class
An upper elementary teacher might use Ensembles 1 or 2 with the songs or activities which surround them
A sixth-grade general music teacher might teach the early part of World Music Drumming in a 6-week unit on the wheel
A seventh- or eighth-grade general music teacher might follow up the sixth-grade activity with review; then teach later units later in
the book
A high school general music teacher could include all of this material in a semester elective

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Pacing

During our 18-month pilot project, we found that pacing of this material varied considerably according to these factors:

Student readiness and musical sophistication
Age and maturity (e.g. it moves much faster with eighth graders than sixth graders)
Students’ physical coordination
Students’ impulse control and class discipline
Teacher energy and metabolism
Teacher’s desire to talk vs. nonverbal teaching
Teacher’s need to achieve perfection before moving on to the
next activity
The degree to which a teacher chose to integrate lots of activities from other subject areas

Each of the thirty lessons has reinforcement built into its structure. For example, many of the lessons begin with a drumming activity like Echoing, Question and Answer, or Call and Response. These activities are a fine way for the class to warm up and focus in, and their repetition ensures that students will gradually improve over a number of lessons. It is a big mistake for the teacher to spend too much time at first trying to achieve perfection.

Oral Tradition

Since World Music Drumming is based primarily on the drumming traditions of West Coast Africa and the Islands of the Caribbean, it is meant to be taught orally/aurally. Students and apprentices in these traditions learn through imitation and aural modes. Teachers actually do what the dictionary defines as teaching — “to show, demonstrate.”

When music is learned in this fashion, it is much more circular and holistic. A double bell rhythm cycle has a beginning, and the end is seen as circling right back into the start of the cycle in a seamless way. Learning the same bell cycle from notation (whether notes or numbers) is experienced as a linear sequence of events which feels much more disjointed and rarely has a seamless return to the beginning.

When students learn orally/aurally, they are free to watch and imitate the physical approach to the instruments. How a drum, rattle, or bell is held or struck has a lot to do with its sound. For this reason it is a good idea for teachers to learn from and practice with the video tape.

In 1972, when I studied African drumming with Ghanaian master drummer Abraham Kobena Adzinyah at Wesleyan University, I remember wanting to write down every new rhythm he taught. At one point he came over, feeling genuinely sorry for me, and put his hand on my shoulder saying, “It’s alright, just put the pen away, you’ll remember it in time.” I had to learn to trust my aural memory. Both you and your students will benefit from the aural training that is part of this curriculum. Students will learn how to focus their listening and remember better — a skill that may profoundly affect how well they learn in other classes.

The World Music Drumming DVD

Because oral tradition is so important to the African and Caribbean traditions you will be teaching, you will want to feel comfortable with the music in this Teacher’s Book before teaching it. The World Music Drumming DVD will help you:

Know how to hold and play all of the instruments used in the curriculum
Practice parts in the context of the full ensemble
Get a sense for the whole

You may also wish to show sections of the DVD to your classes. All ensembles and songs are performed by sixth through ninth grade students in the Vista CA school system under pilot project teacher,
Anne Fennell.

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Cross-Cultural Student Enrichment Book

Pilot teachers in the World Music Drumming project found it important to provide various forms of enrichment to the music learned. For this reason we are including a book of duplicable pages including:

Maps and information on the regions studied
Information on other types of drums and indigenous instruments
Additional lyrics to the songs
Vocabulary work, assessment forms, and many other
useful pages

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Key Words

In every lesson you will find a key word that embodies some of the main concepts being taught. You may wish to reinforce these concepts by talking briefly about this idea or making a collection of these key words on a special bulletin board or as a mobile. In Lesson 1, the first key word is respect. Examples of how you might deal with respect are:

Show how to respect the instruments they play. Have students give each of the drums a name, and put that name right on the side of the drum. It is amazing how respect increases when students are playing Baba (named after African drummer Babatunde Olatunji) as opposed to just playing a generic instrument
Show how partners on a drum can respect each other’s space and get along
Ask students to show respect for the leader of the drum ensemble. They will one day be the leader and will need that cooperation
to lead
Teach respect for the traditions from which this music comes

Instrument Technique

The purpose of World Music Drumming is not to turn students into percussionists. Rather it is to teach them that drums and music making can be fun — especially in groups. Given this perspective, however, it is still important to teach students good hand technique on drums, proper ways of holding and striking bells, and traditional ways of playing rattles.
Requiring students to hold an instrument correctly will help them acquire discipline badly needed throughout their whole lives. It is an extension of respect for the tradition of the music they are studying.

Silver Burdett Making Music

The new Pearson Scott Foresman ©2005 Silver Burdett Making Music textbook series features 40+ page world drumming units in grades 6, 7, and 8. These units enlarge the original focus of the World Music Drumming curriculum by including not only West African and Caribbean musical styles, but also Middle Eastern, Japanese, Native American, Brazilian, and many contemporary styles.

For additional information visit the website at www.scottforesman.com.

World Music Drumming: New Ensembles and Songs © 2004

In just five short years, World Music Drumming has become the hottest new addition to the school music curriculum in years.

Now comes Will Schmid's new book and playalong CD,World Music Drumming: New Ensembles and Songs, that supplements the original World Music Drumming curriculum. These new pieces expand the drumming spectrum to include new culture areas and contemporary drumming styles. All pieces and songs have been kid-tested in
grades 3-12.

CONTENTS
Desert Fire - “A Ram Sam Sam”
On the Mountain - “Sow It On the Mountain”
Drum Up the Sun - “Sahara Sunrise”
Motormind
Harambee - “Get It Together” and “Peace Drum Song”
Peace Drum
Rock It!
Swing It - “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot”
Sometime, Somewhere Blues”
Techno
Wau-Wau Wis-IL
Interlaken Jam
A “Player’s Dozen” Jam
Recorder Hocket
Sound Shapes
Gourds and Boards
Bells and Other Metal
Bomba güembé
Spirit Drum - “Amazing Grace”

More New Ensembles and Songs ©2007

Will Schmid's latest book and playalong CD,World Music Drumming: MORE New Ensembles and Songs, further supplements the original World Music Drumming curriculum. These new pieces further expand the drumming spectrum to include new culture areas and contemporary drumming styles.

CONTENTS
Gone to Jamaica
Lord of the Bodhran Dance w/ "Patsy Ory Ory Aye"
Oh, Watch the Stars
Sun Child
Brazil 3-3-2 w/ "Jesu the Baby"
In the High Andes
Earth Drum w/ "I Walk in Beauty", "Yo-Shi-Nai"
Aleleoila
Peanut Butter Jam
Blue Ramble
Alle, Alle, Alle

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World Music Drumming Choral Series

IIn 2005 Will Schmid started a new World Music Drumming Choral Series published by Hal Leonard. All pieces are arranged for "three or four part-any combination of voices" and in addition to drum parts also include keyboard, guitar, bass, and other instrumental parts.

Each Title Below is available in both printed Choral and ShowTrax CD (1. Full Performance or 2. Accomapaniment Only) Formats.

PIECES IN THE SERIES
"Amazing Grace" (HL 08744775)
"By the Waters of Babylon" (HL 08744769)
"Peace Drum Song" (HL 08744779)
"Sow it On the Mountain" (HL 08744771)
"Take Time in Life" (HL 08744777)
"Oh, Watch the Stars" (HL 8745451)
"Sun Child" (HL 8745486)
"Gone to Jamaica" (HL 8745447)
"Water Come A Me Eye" (HL 8744773)
"Jesu the Baby" (HL 8744782)
“Get It Together, Harambee!” (HL 08746852)
“Kyrie” (HL 08746854)
“Slow Down” (HL 08745783)
“Alle, Alle, Alle” (HL 08745781)
“Road to Freedom: Songs of the Underground Railroad” (HL 08746905)
“Peanut Butter Jam” (HL 08748212)
“Hallelujah” – Leonard Cohen from Shrek (HL 08748210)
“Earth Drum Dance” (HL 08748214)
“Aleleloila” (HL 08748216)

For more information click here.

Beat for Peace™ Implementation Manual

Michael Kane, school counselor and co-founder (with Paul Corbiere) of the Beat for Peace™ drum circle intervention (Palm Beach, FL) has published the Beat for Peace™ Implementation Manual ©2004. Designed to build respectful, responsible, and resilient children within a school community through the combined power of musical drum circles and counseling, Beat for Peace uses the World Music Drumming curriculum to provide activities and ensembles for drumming and the small group counseling skills of the school counselor for the “talking” portion of the intervention. The synergy is created when the two professionals work side by side towards a common goal of promoting improved attendance, behavior and academic achievement. The Beat for Peace™ Implementation Manual provides ready-to-use timelines, contracts, forms, self-evaluation tools and assessment surveys to help you start you own drum circle intervention. For more information contact Mike at kanekrew@bellsouth.net or visit their website at www.beatforpeace.com.

Word Power Posters

Margaret Jerz, World Music Drumming teaching staff member from Wisconsin, has published a new set of 10 attractive Word Power Posters featuring key words (teamwork, focus, respect, community, ensemble, balance, complement, listen, watch, match) from the World Music Drumming curriculum. More information on this excellent collection is available at the Word Power Store at http://www.wrdpower.com/

Website design - Kyle Schmid,
Website architecture - Larry Van Mersbergen www.larryvanmersbergen.com