production through performance

music technology curriculum

 

2.4 lesson plan // drum fills

objective

Students will compose and play two drum grooves that are connected by a drum fill.

Resources

Anatomy of a drumbeat →
Drum Fills →

Assessment

2.4 Performance rubric →
2.4 Project rubric →

preparation

  1. Listen to drum fills in student selected music.

  2. Identify the base subdivision of the drum fill and the base subdivision for the fill.

  3. Transcribe drum fills.

  4. Play a drum groove for the class and have them play a drum fill on their laps on beats three and four of the transition measure using the base subdivision of the groove.

  5. Identify kick/crashes at the beginning of new sections in student selected music.

Process

  1. Write two drum patterns in either eighth note or sixteenth note subdivision.

  2. Create a transition measure using the first two beats of the first groove.

  3. Write a drum fill on beats three and four of the transition measure following the rules for a drum fill.

  4. Create a Soundtrap project and set the desired tempo.

  5. Record three measures of the first groove, the transition measure, and four measures of the second groove with a kick/crash on beat one of measure five.

  6. Trim clips to the end of the phrase.

Remediation

  • Limit the project to only the eighth note grid.

  • Only use the snare drum for beats three and four of the transition measure.

Enrichment

  • Play the grooves with one hand.

  • Have students quantize the track in front of the teacher.

  • Change the subdivision level to either 16th or 32nd note for teacher viewed quantize.