I recently had the good fortune of rescuing a poor little scared, lost boomwhacker from under my couch. I posted a photo of the yellow E boomwhacker recently on Facebook. I assume it cut loose from the mobster pack after the last Great Boomwhacker Escape. After posting the photo, I received this:
Then I realized: “There are some people who don’t know what a boomwhacker is!” I had a hard time wrapping my head around that idea, but . . .
Actually, my friend Geoffrey Thornton Chew is into yoga and all things holistic, so I bet he would really dig boomwhackers. Here’s your answer, Geoff!
Boomwhackers are:
1. Light, easy, fun, and durable. You can whack ‘em on your head, your legs, the floor. You can *even* play light sabre sword fights with these bad boys! They get bent out of shape, then you can bend them right back in tune.
2. Pitched according to color. Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Darker Blue, Purple. Those are C, D, E, F, G, A, and B, in order, the diatonic scale. You can also get the chromatics (C#, Eb, etc.) to fill in the gaps for certain musical scores. You can create pentatonic scales so that there is literally no wrong note to play.
3. AWESOME for playing in groups! I have arranged scores for the Black Eyed Peas, Lady Gaga, and more for these tubular wonders. Just break up your group into sections, teach some rhythms, and away you go. You can check out the Plastic Musik video below for inspiration.
4. AWESOME for playing by yourself. Trust me. I know. Here’s an exercise for you: Take 5 boomwhackers (Let’s say C, D, E, G, and A) to a clean hardwood floor. Also take a towel on which to rest them. Sit on the floor. Put one in each hand, and play. You can hit the ground, you can hit your belly, you can hit the cabinets, you can hit the counters. No wrong way. Just keep going back and forth, then switch them out for different notes. There’s no wrong pitch, there’s no wrong note. Keep going, close your eyes, and listen to the music.
5. Also known as “Boomies” in the UK and other parts of the world. I only know this from keeping up with the Drum Circle Facilitators Yahoo Group.
6. The creation of a dude named Craig. He’s appears on the Yahoo list every now and then, and I’ve had a very pleasant phone conversation with him. I think he lives in the northwest. Very nice guy.
You won’t be disappointed when you start whackin’ a boomie! If you’re ready to take on the art of boomwhacking, then buy these to start off.
Got more questions about boomwhackers? Throw ‘em down in a comment below!
Dang. Those boomwhackers tried to escape this weekend when I went out for a run, and… THEY SUCCEEDED! They had quite an adventure: set to the tune of David Guetta’s Memories Ft. Cudi Kid.
If you’re using this with kids, I recommend either making up your own words, or not using words at all.
To play the song with your own group, all you need to get are some boomwhackers and octavator caps. The original is in Bb Dorian, but I transposed this arrangement to D Dorian so you don’t need any chromatic boomies!
This video is the result of a boomwhacker song suggestion contest I ran in November. I was in Cleveland at the AMTA Conference at the time. My most favorite boomwhacker song suggestion came to me anonymously in the hotel room. All they said was: “David Bowie’s Let’s Dance.” Then they hung up. Although I’d *love* to arrange THAT one…
…It’s the holidays! Thanks to Melita Belgrave, here’s I Wanna Hippopotamus for Christmas on boomwhackers. Congratulations Melita!!! Melita won a free Drumify DVD. And a BIG thank you to all who submitted awesome ideas!!!
In June I went to UCSD’s Camp Kesem with the Cancer Coping Center to drum and make music with kids who have parents with cancer. We played an arrangement of I Gotta Feelin’ by the Black Eyed Peas on BOOMWHACKERS! When I shared my arrangement online, I was humbled by the response, and I decided to do another simple boomwhacker arrangement for Just Dance by Lady Gaga. I’ll be using this with the kids next year.
To play the song with your own group, all you need to get are some boomwhackers and octavator caps. You can peruse more boomwhacker items by checking out the boomwhackers section in my inventory list. I use a glockenspiel for part of the melody, but you can also fill in your own words to fit the theme of your group. For instance, I filled in Camp Kesem’s song lyrics to the Black Eyed Peas Boomwhacker song.
I'm Kat. I'm a music therapist, and I believe that everyone with a heartbeat is born with *RHYTHM* Do you agree? Join the movement! Enter your name and email below to get behind the scenes at Rhythm For Good.
Here’s an exercise for you: Take 5 boomwhackers (Let’s say C, D, E, G, and A) to a clean hardwood floor. Also take a towel on which to rest them. Sit on the floor. Put one in each hand, and play. You can hit the ground, you can hit your belly, you can hit the cabinets, you can hit the counters. No wrong way. Just keep going back and forth, then switch them out for different notes. There’s no wrong pitch, there’s no wrong note. Keep going, close your eyes, and listen to the music.
Catch me if you can–