Listen Listen

Welcome to Episode 14 of the Doremi Teach podcast. Today I’m going to teach you a song that’s great for performing and listening to a steady beat using a hand drum.

Listen Listen

Listen, listen, here I come

How many beats upon my drum?

Benefits of Listen Listen

• This song is used to prepare pulse with a drum or other untuned percussion
• The toneset is do-re-mi-so with a range of a Perfect 5th so good for little voices and for nervous teachers
• It starts with the so-mi motif, which is easy for beginner singers to pitch accurately
• It also contains so-mi-re-do so can be used later on when practising mi-re-do motifs
• The rhythm is mostly simple but includes ti-tika, which is a more advanced rhythm so I wouldn’t use this for rhythm work initially
• The fun game involves counting and taking turns with an untuned percussion instrument

The Game

This is a very simple game. You sing the song, and then tap a steady beat on hand drum or other untuned percussion instrument.

The students must count how many beats you played on your drum.

It’s tempting to tap throughout the song, but it’s better to wait until the end so it’s clear how many beats they are expected to count.

Start with four beats and then vary, but don’t do too many or they will lose count

You can give the drum to a student to tap – remember the beat is steady and even.

Alternative Game:

Listen, listen, here I come

Someone special gets the drum

The game for this involves one student tapping the drum throughout the song, then choosing another special person to take a turn.

You could pass the drum around the circle while you sing again, and that would select your next drummer.

Make sure you let us know what you think of the episode and do share it with your colleagues if you’ve found it helpful

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I hope you have a lovely week, filled with music and singing.

You’ve been listening to the Doremi Teach podcast with Helen Russell from Doremi Connect. Helping you achieve your music teaching goals with the Kodály approach.