Play The Drum
by John Riggio
Since November is International Drum Month, we thought we'd honor the occasion with this fun-filled tune with a world beat. "Play The Drum" (pronounced "play thee drum") features trap set and a number of Latin and African percussion instruments, as well as humorous sound effects for your students' enjoyment. We've even included a 16 bar rhythm break (see measure 53) for your students to add their own unpitched percussion rhythms. Below, we've written some suggested rhythms and instruments (sandblocks, claves, cowbell, and tambourine), but feel free to alter, adapt or add your own instruments and rhythms.
The piece starts out with a large Brazilian drum called a "sordu" and a variable pitch drum called a "talking drum". In measure 5 we added congas and a large African drum, and in measure 9 we added "frying pans" (an interesting contraption in which there are two small frying pans whose handles have been welded together, not unlike another unpitched wonder, the "spoons") and "shekera," which is a hollowed out squash-like plant with colorful beads meshed around its exterior which produce a shaker-like sound. After the rhythm break, we added two interesting metallic devices to add to the sink playing effects.
The piano part is a bit on the scarce side for this piece, and most of your pitch is going to come from the electric bass line, included in the left hand piano part. Please note also that there is a "call and response" feel to the verses between part 1 and part 2 - remember that part 2 (a divisi, by the way) is optional, and the sound effects which occur in the same place as the responses are more than adequate to fill in the gaps. The melody line, while challenging at times, is fairly repetitive, so once they learn a verse and the chorus, that pretty much covers the whole piece. For added excitement, there is one key change towards the end of the piece from D to E.
We do recommend using the P/A CD or cassette when performing this, as all the nifty, authentic percussion and special effects can be heard there.
Lyrically, we thought of a bizarre concept. What if you could play anything as if it were a drum? Just think of the endless timbres! You could play your desktop! The trees out in the yard! Or your kitchen sink! (Where it gets tricky is when you try to play the local farm animals.) Your students will appreciate the silly lyrics and effects we've created to get the idea across. In addition, they will enjoy being able to play their own unpitched percussion as a part of the rhythm break.
By the way, the lyrics in this song are intended to be funny in the imagination only! We do not recommend allowing your students to use animals (or other students) as the latest additions to the percussion section...
(Editor's note: For a more in-depth study of percussion, refer to Music K-8, Volume 3, No. 1.)
Text is taken from Music K-8 magazine.