Experience Design: Engagement Project

Designers: Adrianne Tomlinson and Kathleen Gibson

Summary/Overview​: At the EJC Arboretum Children's Harvest Festival, participants
will have the chance to learn about drumming using buckets. By teaching rhythms
through clapping and speaking certain sentences (“My name is Kate,” a 4-beat pattern)
participants will learn a variety of things to play in a drum circle. These rhythms will give
a base for participants when given the chance to improvise during a drum circle. The
Harvest Festival draws a crowd of all ages--preschool through adult, so the rhythms will
be simple enough to learn in a quick fashion, yet relatable and family friendly. The
experience will begin by having the participants learn three ostinato rhythms related to
Halloween (“trick-or-treat,” for example) and having a drum circle based around those
ostinatos. The drum circle will give participants an opportunity to see how rhythms can
be created through words and will give them a chance to improvise and create their own
rhythms.
Rationale: ​Because this experience is being broadcasted to a variety of age groups, it
will be meaningful to the population in a variety of different ways. The younger children,
below school age, at the festival will find their meaning in just being able to experiment
with drums and have something both musical and fun to experience. For school age
children, it will be meaningful because they will be able to learn something new on the
drum, but also apply and or recognize some of the principles they may have learned in
their general music class. The parents of the participants in this experience will find
meaning in the experience because they will not only get to experience their child
making music, but they may also be able to help them based on the experience they
could have gained from past music making experiences when they were back in school.
As a result, this experience will foster lifelong music learning by providing insight into
the various stages of music learning and making that we all experience.

Standards:
● Anchor Standard #1: Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work.
● Anchor Standard #2: Organize and develop artistic ideas and work.

I Can Statements:
● I can create my own rhythm on the bucket drum.
● I can perform a rhythm on the bucket drum.
Materials and Visual Aids​:
● Participants
● Chairs
○ Bucket Drums may be used
● Bucket Drums & Drum Sticks
● Arboretum Experience Handout
Detailed Process​:
1. Welcome participants to the drum circle and invite them to find a drum and
provide them with sticks as they arrive.
2. Invite everyone to keep a steady beat on their drum.
3. Have each participant say their name in rhythm that they create as you go
around the circle.
a. For example: Say “My Name is Adrianne/Kate” to the rhythm of [𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥𝅮𝅘𝅥 ]
4. Start by having the entire group keep a steady beat.
5. Next, teach the following three ostinato rhythms.
a. Play the rhythm on the bucket drum and have them echo a few times then
add the text of the rhythmic phrase to help differentiate them.
b. ♩ ♩
i. Trick or Treat, Smell my Feet
c. ♩♩𝅗𝅥
i. Hal-lo-ween
d. 𝅘𝅥
i. Give me some-thing good to eat.
6. Split the large group into three smaller groups.
7. Have Group #1 start the first ostinato.
8. Next, Group #2 will start the second ostinato.
9. Then, Group #3 will start the third ostinato.
10. Once everyone is playing, have them repeat it 4 times.
11. Rotate the ostinatos between the three groups so that each group gets to play all
three ostinato patterns.
12. Next, have them switch to singing the familiar Halloween tune as they play.
a. Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat. If you don’t, I
don’t care, I just might give you a scare.
13. Continue this activity by inviting participants to create their own ostinato for the
group to play along with the tune.
14. Continue these steps for the duration of the festival.
Assessment:
● Walk around the circle of participants as they play the ostinatos and listen and
watch as individuals play the rhythms.
○ Assist those struggling by playing the rhythm on the drum with them or
chanting the text for the rhythm.

Extensions:
● Have participants create the rhythms in familiar songs such as nursery rhymes or
christmas carols after picking them from a jar.
Adaptations:
○ Size: ​Use different size drums so they create different pitches.
○ Color:​ Label drums as different colors and have the different colors do
different rhythms (polyrhythm).
○ Modality: ​Use a different instruments such as maracas or have
participants experiment with vocal percussion if they do not wish to or are
not able to use their hands.