The beat is the steady pulse of the music. It can be explicitly heard in the music, or it can be implied by the use of accents or rhythm. Students will often describe a song as having a good beat, when what they actually mean is that it has good rhythms, or tempo. Colloquially, "beat" is also used to describe what the drums, or bass, are doing. They are usually providing a steady beat, but we casually refer to all the sounds they make as "the beat". Although I try so hard to get my students to move beyond "it has a good beat", I have even heard myself say it to describe a drum line!
Having students learn how to make their own drum lines can be a lot of fun! It eliminates many things intermediate (grades 7-8) students don't like about music class and instruments. There's no funny faces, no musty smelling instruments, no weird sounds. Even a very simple pattern on a drum machine can sound cool! There are still some musical principles to consider, but when we eliminate other parts of composition or performance, these principles are easier to remember and incorporate.
I'll admit, when I first started learning about digital composition, I ignored the drum machine options. I'm not a drummer, what could I do with it?! I stuck to what I knew--instruments, melody and harmony. I've been forcing myself to get out of my comfort zone and learn new things. It can be humbling, but also a lot of fun.
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One website I have long recommended is Building Beats. This site has a "toolbox," essentially a treasure chest of websites collected in one place. Most students have explored Incredibox, but it has changed and some schools blocked it because the men were shirtless. For students that are ready to move on, there are lots of other options at Building Beats. I recommend Splice Beatmaker, Music Grid, Virtual Drumming, and Lil Beat Maker. Some of the websites listed in Building Beats are no longer available, or require downloading programs.
If students are familiar with Soundtrap, Garage Band, or Bandlab for Education, they also have drum machine options.
Another excellent one is Roland50 Studio. There is a built in masterclass video, using the menu in the upper right.
While letting students loose on these websites can make for a fun class, it's only a few more simple steps to really make it an educationally rich class as well. A bit of history is always interesting:
https://www.musicradar.com/news/a-short-history-of-the-drum-machine
https://www.sweetwater.com/insync/history-of-drum-machines/
https://youtu.be/4d89S-jOsfY?si=IHTY2GD5Blvkp0YE (a pretty intense look into the history, more for you than the students)
https://youtu.be/VzpLi9vq_Mk?si=t3dcS8ZfAm5NS-o6 a very short video, but good. Just skips from the first machine, to the 808.
https://youtu.be/CYdOUyPcUm4?si=O9a4xhjWj9yfzfpR explains historical popular drum patterns from the Roland 808 days. Students can even copy the patterns right from the screen. Note that at 3:03, the discussion is about "Sexual Healing" by Marvin Gaye. Maybe skip that part.
https://youtu.be/06HcP6FnPZw?si=nazWMKOH9IJF1YTK similar to the above but for the 909. Again, make sure to preview all videos before showing students.
When we let students loose to compose, with no rules, their results are often...less than musical. This is because music theory is based on rules which have a basis in the physics of sound as well as centuries of auditory conditioning. Yes, many composers break the rules, but like the saying goes, you have to know the rules to know how to break them!
Luckily, with drum machines, the rules are simple. It'll come down to what genre you want. Most machines have 16 spots to add a sound, going across from left to right. This represents 4 beats broken down into sixteenth notes each. Four 16th notes makes 1 beat, times 4, equal 16. Vertically, there will be different rows for each of the sound options. The Masterclass in the Roland 50 Studio, linked to above, gives a great overview even if you're not using that program.
As with most music composition, the use of patterns will give best results and a drum chart is such a simple visualization of patterns, even for young students!
When it comes to actually sounding musical, it's about knowing which beats to accent with certain sounds. Some genres accent 1 and 3, and others accent 2 and 4. Sometimes the last 16th note before a beat is important. It creates movement that leads to the beat. Some genres lean heavily on different parts of the drum kit, while other genres go for the synthesized sounds. I found an awesome free resource to help with these "rules"! Midnight Music is a fantastic resource for music teachers. There is a lot of info available on the website, and they also have a paid membership program. They also offer downloadable resources such as ukulele chord charts, and "Drum Pattern Recipes"!
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For a great lesson on introducing drum machines and simple drum patterns, check out their blog post (the free download is near the bottom, it doesn't stand out very well, but just look for a red oval). While you're there, subscribe to their email list. They offer some free webinar trainings, and lots of great music teaching ideas through the blog, emails, and podcasts.
Free time to compose is a great year end activity. To make it a bit more academic, add a requirement such as rapping a nursery rhyme over top, or create a ring tone. Students can get as elaborate as they want! Enjoy!
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Click the picture to learn about this easy to use digital composition program!
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