Year 7 - Music
Phrases in drum kit writing and composing a fill
Fills and variation in RnB drum grooves
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This pupil-friendly study guide includes a unit summary, clear notes, common mistakes, and quick questions with answers.
Unit Summary
This unit develops pupil understanding of drum grooves, specifically how to create variation through adding embellishments around the basic rock groove. Pupils also learn about the fundamental shared features of pop music.
Lesson Summary
You will learn to judge how and when to add an appropriate drum fill to a drum groove.
Key Notes
- Pop music often uses four-bar phrases.
- These phrases may end with drum fills, which help listeners feel the phrases.
- Drum fills change the underlying groove of the music to create a contrasting break in the pattern.
- They can use all parts of a drum kit and we created fills using the kick and snare.
Vocabulary To Learn
- phrase: a section of a piece of music; often two or four bars long
- drum fill: a short variation in a drum groove, usually at the end of a phrase or section
- 1/8th note: a note lasting half a beat; it is also called a quaver
- 1/16th note: a note lasting a quarter of a beat; it is also called a semiquaver
- improvise: improvising a new idea is to create it on the spot
Common Mistakes To Avoid
- Drum fills must be more complex than the fundamental groove.
3 Quick Questions (With Answers)
1. Explain the lesson in two key points.
Pop music often uses four-bar phrases. These phrases may end with drum fills, which help listeners feel the phrases.
2. What does this key word mean in this lesson? 'phrase'
a section of a piece of music; often two or four bars long.
3. Correct this common mistake.
Mistake: Drum fills must be more complex than the fundamental groove. Correction: Show how absence of sound can be as powerful as added sound by giving an example of the groove briefly stopping.
More Lessons In This Unit
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