Percussion mallet

I along with 8 other of my classmates were able to go and visit Hillcrest Elementary School in Enterprise, Alabama. The purpose of observing Hillcrest was to observe elementary school physical education. Most people think that physical education teachers are not ver important in the school system. Most think they just let their students run around and play. When observing Mrs. Weeks who was the head physical education teacher nothing of the sort came into play. She incorporates classroom rules, structure, and safety. Her activity plan for the day was nothing less of learning and fun. Classroom rules, activities, learning experience, equipment, and the assessment are all the tools we were able to observe at Hillcrest. Hillcrest Elementary School is a great place for kids to learn and develop in physical education. The activity scheduled had an objective that was to allow the students to work on their rhythm along with including physical activity. The equipment used for the students to carry out this objective were crates, balls, drum sticks, pool noodles (cut to the size of drumsticks), computer, speakers, and projector. The classroom was set up with the small balls in the front of the classroom sitting on the floor with drum sticks. Behind the two horizontal rows of the small balls there were crates and on top of the crates or buckets were bigger medicine balls with drum sticks/ pool noodles. The computer was used to pull up videos of an example of the movements the…

for over thousands of years. Percussion and drums can be defined as an instrument that must be hit with a mallet or shaken to make a sound. The surface can be made of animal hide, wood, metal, or really anything that produces sound. The mallet is used to produce the sound that includes a human hand. Drums include a variety of instruments that make similar sounds to a piano such as a xylophone, marimba, glockenspiel, etc. Percussion instruments that must be shaken are mostly made up of contained…

the wind ensemble percussion section and was blown away by how organized they were in everything that they did. It was clear that they had the same type of training, because their strokes were so similar it was impressive. The percussion equipment was set up strategically, and every member of the ensemble knew exactly where to be at every moment during the music. The mallets were organized on stands, and it was interesting to notice the subtle change in tone when they switched mallets.…

The staff of the drumline was inconsistent and changed every year, and all the pit instructors happened to be college students who did drumline in high school and were inexperienced teachers. During my senior year, our pit instructor was only able to show up to half of the rehearsals, and did not do much to help us improve while she was there. In previous years, I had helped teach the rookies some technique tips and helped them memorize their music, but by senior year, I was forced to take on a…

The marimba, a popular percussion instrument, has not only a rich sound, but a rich history. The instrument, which has a name that means “wood sounder” in African languages and “the goddess” in Guatemalan creates it’s sound with wooden bars and metal resonators. The first idea for marimbas came from Africa.“The xylophone was taken to Latin America by African slaves…”(“Marimba”, Encyclopedia Britannica) Calabashes, or a type of gourd, were replaced in Latin America by resonators made of metal.…

it might be able to flip the situation around in the real world, as it did with my Junior Districts audition. It was late fall of 8th grade when Mr. Wright explained that Junior Districts was a program that had 7th through 9th graders audition to participate in an advanced band, orchestra, or jazz band. I had tried out on mallets for Junior Districts in 7th grade. That audition was both a failure and a lesson to practice more before auditioning for Junior Districts, because qualifying on…

It is hard to picture the Beatles without Ringo or Led Zeppelin without Bonham. These drummers many not be front and center, but they are the back bone to the band. And without the Drum set these drummers would have never been. Jazz or Rock n Roll or Pop music wouldn’t be the same without the invention and evolution of the drum set. The drum set took over a century to become what it is today. The drum set is an American instrument and through its development it has reflected the way America has…

The development of percussion throughout centuries has been a long evolution of varied instruments that have greatly affected the way people hear and understand music. Since time began, humans have used percussion instruments to accompany their music, dances, and rituals. In the West, percussion in the orchestra gradually evolved and grew over time into a powerful section of the group, with an imposing range of tools and roles at its disposal (Gagné). In recent times, non-Western percussion has…

The percussion section of our band was preparing to lose a large number of seniors by the next fall. As freshmen, we had to prove that we could hold our own and continue to represent our section and our band as a whole with complete and utter confidence. During freshman year, we are allowed to compete in a band festival known as the Elkhorn Band Olympics. Anyone who wants to go to E.B.O. is allowed, as long as they are able to prepare a solo, duet, or ensemble. There are numerous students from…

The African Djembe was said to be created in the 12th century; it’s considered one of the most versatile and boundless drumming instruments on the earth (Drum Africa). A Guinean drum that is played throughout Africa that is known to resemble the figure of a woman with it’s round upper half, small waist, and large lower half is called the Djembe drum. This unique drum was created by Blacksmiths from the caste Manlike in Guinea; with its exclusive sound spectrum the djembe produces a strong…