Articles of Interest for Music Educators, Students and Anyone interested in Percussion

 

A Teacher’s Guide To Mallet Percussion in schools

Mallet Percussion Instrument the xylophone - perfect for school percussion ensembleDo you know the difference between a Xylophone, Vibraphone, Metallophone, and a Telephone?

If you need some basic information for a school project or you are wondering how to help implement some mallet percussion in schools, then click
here
to read more!

 

Five Survival Tips for the School Percussion Ensemble

Have you had percussion ensemble rehearsals that you would rather forget?

Unlike some of the scholarly articles on this page, this little article provides practical, hands on knowledge for teachers who are embarking on ensembles for the first time.

 

A Basic Guide on how to Tune the Timpani

Two Timpani with copper bowls and pedalsTimpani in schools can be very tricky for the general music teacher. If the Music Teacher or Band Director can tune them, then it really helps the students. In this article I describe the steps to setting the guages and how to move the pedals to bring the drum into tune.

Click here to read more »

 

Creative Drums – Creative Thinking in Percussion Teaching

A Scholarly Article by Kevin Tuck

Written way back in 1995 when I was at university, this paper explores an Aural developmental approach to percussion education. It talks about the use of “Audiation” – what this is and what it means, and the development of some students when audiation is undertaken in the learning of a particular rhythm.

Warning – this article is not an “easy read” like some of the others – It is written in a much more academic style!

 

Rhythm and Meter – Difficult to Teach?

A Scholarly Article by Kevin Tuck

This is another scholarly paper, written as part of my extended study in Music Education. This article looks at various approaches of teaching Rhythm, from Orff to Kodaly, Suzuki and Dalcrose. The use of Nmemonics as a teaching tool, as well as counting, metronomes and lots of other devices are discussed.

Warning – this article is not an “easy read” like some of the others – It is written in a much more academic style!