My students always enjoy performing percussion and drum-set parts in the MIDI keyboard lab. Fortunately, most of today's MIDI keyboards have internal percussion sounds that are perfect for this application. Furthermore, you don't need a lot of equipment, and the activity is relatively easy to set up. The first step is exploring the percussion sounds in your synthesizers. If a synthesizer is compatible with General MIDI (GM), then its drum sounds are already mapped or assigned to specific MIDI Note Numbers (see the table “GM Level 1 Percussion Map”), which means they are set up to respond to a keyboard. Check the user manual to be sure; it usually includes a list of the specific drum sounds that your synth can produce. To understand MIDI Note Number assignments remember that 60 is the MIDI Note Number for middle C, the C# above middle C is 61, and so on. When my students explore the percussion sounds on their keyboards, I ask them to find the locations of the ride cymbal (assigned to MIDI Note 51), bass drum (Note 36), snare drum (Note 38), and low, middle, and high tom-toms (Notes 47, 48, and 50). After students become familiar with the locations of drum sounds, I have them play along with a prerecorded accompaniment such as a CD track or a Standard MIDI File. I encourage them to select any percussion sound they like for accompanying the track, and to try to imitate the drum part on the track. I also choose songs in a specific form, such as A-B-A with 8-measure phrases. This form allows students to vary patterns and enter drum fills within the appropriate measure. BASIC DRUM SET GROOVES Once students are comfortable playing along with a track, I introduce a basic drum pattern. First, students select GM drums or GM program 129 (a set of percussion sounds, mapped across the keyboard). The left hand plays the bass and snare drum parts. Using GM percussion, this could be notated and played with the second and third fingers on the left hand. When students are comfortable playing along with the snare and bass, I have them add the ride-cymbal pattern with the right hand, playing only quarter notes at first. Next I ask them to double the cymbal pattern with the right hand. I ask them to play the first pattern with section A of the recording and change to the second pattern for section B. The final step is playing a drum fill on the last measure of each 8-measure phrase. After students become familiar with basic drum patterns, they can improvise variations. One fun activity is to have them bring in recordings and try to imitate the drum parts and fills that they hear. ALTERNATIVE SOUND SOURCES Do the keyboard synths in your lab lack percussion sounds? If so, you have some alternatives. You could purchase inexpensive GM keyboards that include a bank of percussion sounds. Another option is purchasing MIDI sound modules that include percussion sounds. If your lab has computers connected to MIDI keyboards, you can also try one or more software synthesizers. For example, Propellerhead Software's Reason 2.5 (Mac/Win) includes a pattern-based software drum machine called Redrum, which offers 78 drum kits. (For more information on software-synth workstations, see “Virtual Workstations” in the March 2003 issue of Electronic Musician magazine, available at http://emusician.com/ar/emusic_virtual_workstations/index.htm). You also can choose from a variety of specialized drum programs, such as Steinberg Groove Agent (Mac/Win) and Native Instruments Battery (Mac/Win). Auto-accompaniment programs such as PG Music's Band-in-a-Box (Mac/Win) present yet another alternative — you can access Band-in-a-Box's built-in percussion sounds using the computer's alphanumeric keyboard. IN THE GROOVE Teachers are always in search of new, fun, educational activities, and learning to create drum parts is all of that and more. Having your students play drum and other percussion parts from the keyboard is obviously a good way to teach composition and improvisation, as required by MENC Standards 3 and 4. But you can go beyond that. For example, once your students get into the groove, you can teach rhythms from around the world using the ethnic percussion sounds in your synths, thus meeting MENC National Standard 9, which asks you to demonstrate the relationship between music and culture.
In
fact, the more you teach about percussion and rhythm using a MIDI
keyboard and drum-sound source, the more possibilities you will
discover. I intersperse percussion lessons throughout the school
year while keeping the following goals in mind: develop the ability
to play in time, develop listening skills, and explore rhythmic
improvisation.
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