24 related resources

BEGINNING Bucket Drumming SUPERMegaPack!

Rhythm charts and matching slideshow breakdowns for twenty-one popular songs guide beginner bucket-drumming students through section-by-section beat patterns for pieces like Thriller, Firework, and the William Tell Overture.
Grades
Grades 3–8, Elementary, Middle School
File type
Multiple File Types

Updated Oct 04, 2021

Subject
Creative Arts, Music
Topic
music bundle, fun songs
Resource types
Presentations, Charts, Songs

About this resource

What's inside this resource

Everything you need for your Beginning Bucket Drummers are going to be in this SUPER MegaPack with 20 arrangements guaranteed to fit in right with your kids featuring music from all different genres -- AND at 20% off, it's the gift that keeps on giving right through your semester, or even your whole year!

In this pack, you will have 20 arrangements for you to perform, sight read, analyze, or do whatever you wish with it. All regular notation is to be played on the buckets (or drums, or ground, however you wish), and the X notation (with a down stem) are played as stick clicks above their head (or you could apply it to a tambourine or other auxiliary instrument)

For arrangements that have an "X notation that is stacked with quarter notes, they are played as shots (think like a marching band snare drum -- playing the drum and stick simultaneously as a rimshot or on top of each other -- whatever will you get you the best accent!)

Here's the hit list for this pack:

  1. ABC, Jackson Five

  2. Believer, Imagine Dragons

  3. Bye Bye Bye, *NSync

  4. Cu Chullain, Karl Jenkins (Irish Bucket Drumming)

  5. Dynamite, Taio Cruz

  6. Fight Song, Rachel Platten

  7. Firework, Katy Perry

  8. Grenade, Bruno Mars

  9. High Hopes, Panic! at the Disco

  10. How Far I'll Go, Moana

  11. Imperial March, Star Wars

  12. Jump, Van Halen

  13. He's a Pirate, Pirates of the Caribbean

  14. Shake it Off, Taylor Swift

  15. Smooth Criminal, Michael Jackson

  16. Sucker, Jonas Brothers

  17. Thriller, Michael Jackson

  18. Thunder, Imagine Dragons

  19. William Tell Overture, G. Rossini

  20. This is Me, The Greatest Showman

In the classroom

Teaching tips & learning objectives

Learning objectives

  • Students will perform steady beat patterns on a bucket in time with a recorded song, following section labels such as verse, chorus, and bridge.

  • Students will follow a structured rhythm chart that changes beat pattern and repetition count as a song moves between sections.

Teaching tips

  • Project the slideshow version rather than handing out only the PDF, since the slides show clearer section-by-section beat counts than the PDF charts extracted here.

  • Start with a shorter, simpler chart (such as the 3-page 'ABC' or 'Bye Bye Bye' pattern) before moving to longer, more structurally complex pieces like the William Tell Overture or Imperial March.

  • Use the two included backing-track MP3s to give students a real audio reference to drum along with during practice.

Skills covered

  • Steady beat performance — students drum a consistent beat pattern on a bucket in sync with a song's tempo.

  • Musical form recognition — students follow section labels (intro, verse, chorus, bridge, extension) as the rhythm pattern changes with the song's structure.

  • Notation following — students read simple 'x' beat-count charts to know how many hits or repetitions occur in each section.

Good to know

Questions teachers ask about this resource

What does the number written before each row of x's mean in the rhythm charts?

The number before a row of x's tells students how many times to repeat that beat pattern before the song moves to the next labeled section, as shown throughout the charts where a count like '4x' or '8x' precedes a pattern leading into a Verse or Chorus.

No reviews yet

Downloaded this resource? Tell other teachers how it went.

Resource details

Concepts & topics

Core concepts

  • rhythm

  • musical form

  • beat

  • percussion

More to explore

You may also like