Since 2009, I have been working full-time with Rhythm Band Instruments as a consultant, as a product specialist, and in product development. I was honored to be asked to write a guest article for the Boomwhacker website this month!

Boomwhackers are a versatile tool in the general music classroom, and I have found many useful ways to use them since being introduced to them in 1998. I brought my first set of Boomwhackers home from a convention in Kansas City. The tubes were an instant “hit” (pun intended) with my students. The first thing they wanted to do with them was have a sword fight. Rather than nipping that idea in the bud, I wrote them a lesson called “Battle Whackers” that helped my students explore meter in music while having fun keeping the beat in duple and triple meter. Watch an excerp of this lesson below.

I utilized melodic themes from several famous composers in the accompaniment for “Battle Whackers.” This enabled me to introduce my students to music that was not familiar to them, thus meeting some important state learning standard’s goals. As I enjoyed my students’ delight in learning this lesson, I became convinced that the Boomwhackers would be a useful tool for teaching elemental music concepts. Since writing that first lesson, I have completed hundreds of others and published many Boomwhacker titles through my company, BLB Studios. I will be presenting several workshops on using Boomwhackers to teach the elements of music in 2011 and 2012. I am currently working on the first-ever animated Boomwhacker lessons. These will be available in DVD format and as downloadable files from Rhythm Band Instruments in the late fall of 2011.

Beyond the general music classroom, Boomwhackers have become prominent as ancillary percussion for performing groups. The low cost of these instruments, coupled with the wide scope of performance possibilities, invites many groups to add a set or two of Boomwhackers to their timbre pallets. A quick glance at the internet will offer a huge variety of style and musicianship demonstrated by players of all levels.

Whether your objective is to teach an elemental music concept to children, add a new tone color to an ensemble presentation, or encourage a group of non-musicians to participate in the community-building experience of making music together, the Boomwhackers present an obvious cost effective tool to reach your goal. Check out the many variations of sets available from simple pentatonic to a complete three octave chromatic set.

Boomwhacker Sets

A special thanks to my Boomwhacker friends for encouraging me to share some of my insights into the world of the “Whackers.” If you would like to contact me with questions or comments, my address is blbstudios@aol.com. I can also be reached through Rhythm Band Instruments at 1-800-424-4724. You are always invited to participate in my monthly blog, Brad’s Beat @ www.rhythmband.com. Please check out the videos of my new animated teaching lessons at this site. I would be honored to meet with you during our up-coming presentation season. Look for my sessions in North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, and Texas. May the gift of music bring joy to you and those around you!

Sincerely,
Brad

Bradley L. Bonner, M.Ed.
President, BLB Studios
Elementary Music Specialist, Rhythm Band Instruments

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.

Kat Fulton

About Kat

Kat Fulton, MM, MT-BC, NICU MT, is a speaker and board-certified music therapist whose passion is achieving therapeutic goals through making music. Simply put, her motto is Be well, feel good, and make MUSIC. With a Masters in Music Therapy from The Florida State University (headquarters for the National Institute for Infant and Child Medical Music Therapy), she holds high standards for scientific research and maintains a practice infused with the latest evidence-based techniques and strategies. She completed her clinical training for music therapy at Musicworx of California, a music therapy contracting and consulting agency located in Del Mar, CA.

Reprinted with permission from Kat Fulton and www.rhythmforgood.com

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