Year 6 Drumming with MAPAS

Year 6 are enjoying our half-term Brazilian Samba Drumming Project with Mr Newton from MAPAS.

This afternoon we have been working on keeping a steady beat (known as a pulse), and creating a strong, regular, repeated pattern of sound (also called a rhythm).

We began by creating a rhythm with our voices and a pulse with our hands on our knees. Firstly, we tapped a one-handed pulse to the rhythm, "shu-pa-do".  After that, we tried a two-handed pulse to the rhythm, "bang-the-drum-up-down" (right-right-right-left-right).

Finally, Year 6 formed our own Class Bateria (another word for a samba band), where different groups of children were playing Surdos (large bass drums), Claves (pairs of wooden cylinders), Ganzas (cylindrical rattles), Agogo bells (large, double cow bells) and Tamborines (instruments like tambourines, but without bells).

We have had a great time and have created some amazing music, as you can see from our photographs below.