Tuesday Tools: Unpitched Percussion

Hello Rock and Roll Community! Welcome to another Tuesday Tools as we discuss more common classroom music materials. Today, we’re talking all about unpitched percussion.

A percussion instrument is an instrument that you hit, scrape, strike, or shake to make sound. When we talk about “unpitched” percussion, we refer to percussion instruments that don’t play a discernable note or pitch. (A percussion instrument that plays notes like a glockenspiel or xylophone is a pitched percussion instrument – more on that next week).

Unpitched percussion instruments allow learners of all ages to play and jump right into music making. Even our youngest infants can enjoy shaking, banging, and tapping along to music with instant results. Using these instruments helps young children learn and embody foundational musical skills like steady beat, ensemble awareness, tempo, dynamic, and musical inhibition (i.e. play and stop and play and stop.)

Your body – Our bodies are the first instruments we play. We can use hands to clap, snap, tap, and rub together. We can use our feet to stomp a beat into the ground, or use your tongue to click, or lips to pop. When a musical moment arises organically, engage your body even if you don’t have any instruments on you. Experiment with transferring the beat to different body parts and play with different sounds.

Shakers – Often the very first physical instruments we hand to infant children. Shakers engage the hands and arms and generate a soft sound that doesn’t overwhelm when played in large groups. These are a great all- purpose instrument for young children to play.

Drums – Big or small, loud or soft, drums give children a way to work with rhythm, pulse, and beat with direct physical contact. Unlike shakers, which diffuse sound, drums require a one-to-one clear strike to make sound. As you experiment with volume, check in with how else to make sound on a drum: scratching, tapping, wiping.

Claves – Two wooden sticks you can hit together. These are great for rhythm echo games and for practicing rhythm patterns while moving through space. For young children, I prefer shorter sticks for better control.

Chimes and triangles – These instruments produce a pleasant ringing sound sometimes used for meditative purposes. Their loud-but-gentle resonance is a great way to change the sonic texture of your space, get children’s attention, and keep a beat for minor and modal melodies.

Found objects –Bottles, cans, pots, pans, dry rice, beans, if you can shake it or strike it to make a sound, it’s an instrument. These found object instruments make great projects for young students as they explore the sounds of the world around them.

Special sounds – Some unpitched percussion instruments make unusual or special sounds and sound effects. Ratchets, slapsticks, ocean drums, rain sticks, spring drums . . . the list goes on and on. Use these special instruments as exploratory sensory works in your classroom, or as a special way to add foley sound effects to your storytelling circle.