Body Percussion, The Digital Way Part 2: Telling a Story Through Body Percussion and Found Objects

Body Percussion, The Digital Way Part 2: Telling a Story Through Body Percussion and Found Objects
Body Percussion, The Digital Way Part 2: Telling a Story Through Body Percussion and Found Objects

This is a guest article written by Elisabeth (Lisi) Bottoms

Telling a story

If you have watched any of the STOMP performances, you will probably not only be impressed by the performance excellence but also notice that several of them tell a story. My all time favorite is this one. 

When teaching body percussion, students can create their own, quite interesting stories with body percussion, the use of found objects and some music production techniques. Here are some examples of ideas developed by my students: 

  • Catching a train 
  • A city in the rain
  • Studying and getting frustrated
  • A walk at the beach
  • A walk in the park with a lake
  • Watching a parade
  • A storm
  • Airport sounds

What students will learn through this project

Students learn to: 

  • develop their rhythm skills as performers.
  • increase their awareness of different sound qualities. 
  • improve their critical listening skills.
  • creating their own music, using different body percussion elements. 
  • understand the components of a sound –  the ADSR envelope.

What is the ADSR envelope?

Attack: How long does it take the note to sound? A piano sound appears immediately while a violin takes a bit of time to develop the sound. 

Decay: How quickly does the sound disappear after the first time it is heard? A guitar pluck has a short decay time, while the flute can sound quite long, depending on the airflow of the musician. 

Sustain: How long is the amplitude sustained (held). This is influenced by the time to press the key or keep prolonging if you are a singer. 

Release: How long does it take for the note to go to zero volume once the note has stopped being activated? This also depends on the room conditions or the reverb added.

How To Get Started

Once the students have mastered the basic principles of body percussion and are familiar with the musical elements as well as how to manipulate them (you can read all about it in the first article, which can be found here), it is time to introduce the students to a DAW (Digital Audio Workspace) of your choice. 

My students work mainly with GarageBand, as our school has decided that this will be the platform of choice. However, I have also had students work with Soundtrap, BandLab and Audacity. The main functions needed are recording audio tracks, adding layers, adding automation to these tracks and exporting them. 

Teaching Tip: 

No matter which program you use, making sure that you have the same version as the students reduces frustration – both for your students and yourself. If your students have self-managed devices, ask them to ensure that they have the latest version of the software ahead of class.

Building A Sound Library

Once the technical aspects are sorted, it is time to collect some sound material to create a story. Students are asked to record 30 different sounds/rhythm patterns which are contrasting. Each sound sample should be about 5 to 10 seconds long. If they are too short, it will make it difficult to edit them later. 

I have made a short tutorial on how to record using GarageBand:

Tutorial: Building a Sound Library

At this point, students love sharing their sounds with their peers. They each choose 2 of their best/unique sounds and explain how they have done it. 

Student Sample of Sound Library using GarageBand

Student Sample of Sound Library using GarageBand

Student Sample of Sound Library using BandLab

Student Sample of Sound Library using BandLab

Using the ADSR envelope to think about sounds. 

When the students present their sounds, they could talk about the different elements of the sounds they have recorded. A way of enhancing their listening skills could be to ask them to sort them by the different features of their recorded sounds. Which sounds have a fast attack, which ones need time to develop? Which sounds decay quickly, which stay longer? They could also show two different versions of the sounds –  one as is and one with added reverbs. Manipulating the release can be a fun exercise to encourage critical listening. 

Collecting Ideas To Tell A Story

By this stage, the students have access to a wide variety of contrasting sounds. They will also be able to determine which sounds will be effective and which are not. They have mastered the first challenges of using the DAW which should prepare them for the next, bigger step. Creating small assignments to practice a skill before starting the “real” project is useful to allow them to make the mistakes when it does not have a negative effect on the final assessment. 

Using Jamboard (or Heyhi, Limnu, Miro, Sketchboard, or similar) students collect their ideas –  story, musical elements, timbre, anything they can think of. This is also a great way to double check that the students have understood the musical elements taught before. 

Collecting ideas to write a story
Student examples of brainstorming using jamboard

Student examples of brainstorming using jamboard

Teaching Automation: 

When using a DAW, the real fun is to manipulate the sounds the students have collected. Here are some examples of what my students learn. 

Trim, split or cut a track: 

splitting a track in GarageBand

 Splitting a track in GarageBand 

Repeat:

Copy and Paste (Command C and command V) works just like in a word document. Move the cursor to the desired spot before you paste it. 

Crescendo/decrescendo:

By using the Automation (A) button and selecting “volume” you see a yellow line. 

Now you can play around with crescendo, decrescendo by setting the points and draggin the line. The higher the line, the louder it sounds. 

Student Sample of Automation -  Volume

Student Sample of Automation –  Volume

EQ:

To be perfectly honest, when I first started using GarageBand a few years ago, I had no idea of EQ and felt overwhelmed by the options. EQ stands for equalization and it basically allows us to shape the sound. By changing the frequencies of the sound, we can make it sound e.g. brighter or more muffled. This is a great tool to tell a story. I like to share this video with my students to explain EQ in detail.

If students are apprehensive about using it, demonstrating it in class (or via videoconference, depending on your current teaching situation) by using extreme changes often helps to overcome this issue. 

Click this button to come to the EQ window.

Click this button to come to the EQ window.

Student Sample of EQ

Student Sample of EQ

Panning:

Especially if your students are trying to show movement, panning is a cool feature. In simple words, panning means that we create a feeling that the sound comes from different directions by adjusting the level of sound coming from the stereo settings.

automation pan

 Automation Pan 

pan

 The line is all the way to the bottom, it appears that the sound comes from the right. 

pan

 The line is all the way to the top, it appears that the sound comes from the left. 

For students who need more of a challenge, I ask them to work with pitch shift, reverse, playing with the tempo and adding FX. 

Final Project: 

After all that preparation work, students are (hopefully) ready for the final project. The instructions might read similar to this:

  • Your composition is between 60 seconds and 90 seconds long. 
  • There is a clear story/setting/atmosphere audible. 
  • You successfully demonstrate the application of the different musical elements ( duration, timbre, texture, structure, tempo, dynamics) for contrast and interest. 
  • You have a clear beginning, climax and end. (Structure)
  • You have used your sound library in a creative and imaginative way. (Timbre)
  • Your sounds are synchronized and your rhythms coordinate well (Duration)
  • You are using a variety of textures to increase variety. 
  • You are using a variety of dynamics to make the piece interesting. 

Here is a student example from lower middle school. This is what one could expect from an average student who had no prior experience with any DAW before starting this project: 

Average Student Example – Body Percussion – Digital

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About The Author

Elisabeth (Lisi) Bottoms is currently the Department Leader for Performing Arts at Vienna International School. She loves sharing her passion for teaching music on her website https://www.internationalmusicnavigator.com/

Looking for More Resources for Music Teachers?

Hello! I’m Katie Argyle – an Australian music technology trainer and consultant with a passion for helping music teachers through my business Midnight Music.

I’m a qualified teacher but no, I don’t currently teach in a school. I help teachers through my online professional development space – the Midnight Music Community – where there are tutorial videos, courses, links and downloadable resources.

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I like to focus on easy ways to incorporate technology into what you are already doing in your music curriculum through a range of creative projects. I also run live workshops and have presented at countless conferences and other music education events.

If you want simple, effective ideas for using technology in music education, I would LOVE to help you inside the Midnight Music Community.

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