Bethune Elementary school’s drum line is 2 years old. It is part of an after school program provided by CAPE, (Chicago Arts Partners in Education). Ronnie Malley and I taught the first year, and this year we brought in Larry Beers, a legend among Chicago drummers and and excellent teacher.
Bethune Drumline This Year
This year the drum line performed at the annual AUSL show. They played 5 cadences including 3 call and response pieces with the majorettes. We had always talked about a collaboration piece, and finally we did it. Thanks also to Megan Steinman , Bethune teacher and drum line commander in chief.
When teaching rhythmic notation to beginners, Larry Beers and I have system that makes it easier to understand by linking different rhythmic figures to words:
Four 16th notes = “pea-nut-but-ter,”
Two 8th notes = “ta-co”
Dotted 8th and 16th = “Cheeee-ze”
16th, 8th, 16th = “Gi’ me — a___”
Orginal Article Can Be Found Here: http://news.interculturalmusicproduction.com/