After years of teaching music within various elementary and secondary schools, I noticed that there was a steady decline of student interest in music programs across the district school board. From my own observations, interactions, and conversations, this decline may have been caused by a combination of factors such as an outdated music curriculum, substandard teacher education, a reduction in funding for the Fine Arts, and/or an inflexible administration. Despite this conjecture, my own music program was following this trend. It was becoming minimized and irrelevant within the school culture. Interested in maintaining the health of my own music program, I introduced drumming course stream (i.e., AMP-Percussion). It seemed to be a logical direction for the program, since there were instruments available and I am a university-trained percussionist.

The AMP course stream was immediately successful, for the students were engaged and empowered by the status of being part of a new social group: the drummer. In addition, it was an excellent bridging programs for non-resident students, especially those who were learning to speak English. In terms of the integrity of my refurbished music program, the drumming stream fit well within my school, opening the door for those who were not ‘typical’ music students. Also, with the inclusion of world music instruments and repertoire, it has positive effects on the school culture, supporting students’ mental health and strengthening students’ social empowerment. As the program developed, most level-one drummers gained the confidence and the musical proficiency as most senior drummers/percussionist from other secondary music programs.

The Rhythm & Rigor manuscripts have been used for decades within my music program, since there was no government curriculum to follow. This collection of exercises was composed for a full stream of percussion courses at Regina Mundi College in London, Ontario. The exercises focused on the fundamentals of reading notation, which required students to count aloud and tap the right heel with the metronome at all times. Also, the exercises needed to be repetitious and rigorous in order to help students to retain musical concepts in performance. The classroom metronome was always set to slow tempos to ensure reading accuracy and reduce students’ frustration. As a result, the beginning drumming classes were similar to a drumming boot camp, whereby students were trained intensively, sometimes relearning the basics of music. For the higher-level courses, the beginning manuscripts were used as daily warm-ups, increasing tempos and adding rudiments occasionally.

Years later, this drumming program produced further initiatives during my professional career. Specifically, it became the focus of my dissertation called Understanding the phenomenon of critical transformation within multicultural music classes as informed by the principles of critical pedagogy (Malito, 2014). I observed a social phenomenon within my own classes, specifically a critical transformation from the students after a public performance. I studied this phenomenon within world music performance courses in Canada. By interviewing students and studying the pedagogical practices of world music instructors, it was possible to identify themes within the data. In short, the mastery of traditional world music empowered participants to the point of critical consciousness. Later, it was possible to construct a story line from the qualitative data and identify interrelated concepts of critical thinking within world music education: Cultural Bearer, Teaching Authenticity, Dialogical Learning, and Critical Praxis. As a result, it was possible to introduce mid-ranged theory called Critical Multicultural Music Education, which may act as a starting point for educational theorists.

I would like to thank my colleagues within the London District Catholic School Board who allowed me to pursuit my interests in percussion education. Also, I would like to thank my students who have developed into exceptional percussionists and drummers who travel far beyond my own expectations. Lastly, I would like to thank my teachers who have inspired me throughout my career. These individuals are recognized in the soloist section of this book.

Dr. Bryan Frank Malito

A Brief Description…

Rhythm & Rigor is a resource for music educators worldwide. Specifically, it is a teaching resource, which consists of daily exercises, duets, and solos for the developing and advanced rhythmatists. It is the centerpiece for a drumming program, having a rhythm curriculum and a methodology. Therefore, it may be the textbook for elementary music programs, music courses in secondary schools, post-secondary percussion programs, and studio instruction for post-secondary. In addition, it may be used within existing traditional instrumental music programs, especially when wind instruments are unavailable.

Rhythm & Rigor begins with a Forward and a Table of Contents and a Table of Figures. Next, there are pedagogical materials for music educators to establish the correct drumming performance techniques such as holding sticks, stick grip, posture, tone quality, and classroom configuration. The next section is the curriculum of rhythms, which is divided into Rhythmic Sets. Rhythmic Set I (Basic Rhythms in Quarter Time) is a collection of music exercises to master basic rhythms in quarter time (i.e., 4/4, 5/4, 3/4, 2/4, 6/4, 7/4). Each sub-set focuses on only one rhythm, which may be the quarter note, eighth note, eighth note triplet, and four sixteenth notes, etc. Rhythmic Set II (Intermediate Rhythms in Quarter Time) is a collection of music exercises to master variations on the four 16-note grouping in quarter time. Each sub-set focuses on one rhythmic groupings, which may be the Gallop, Riff, Canter, Trot, and the Skip. Rhythmic Set III (Advanced Rhythms in Quarter Time) focuses on complex variations of the four sixteenth note grouping. These sub-sections focuses on sixteen note syncopation, which is termed as the Epitrite, Diiamb, Anitspast, and the Double Iamb. All of these syncopations move between quarter time signatures. Rhythmic Set IV (Compound Rhythms in Eighth Time) focuses on reading rhythms in compound time, which is read in eighth time (i.e., 4/8, 5/8, 3/8/, 2/8, 6/8, 7/8, 9/8, 10/8, 11/8, and 12/8). Lastly, the Concert Solo Section is a collection of solo snare drum pieces for post-secondary students who may use for performance juries and/or concert recitals. The Appendices has practical materials such as a drumming performance rubric, practicing method, required materials, and a course calendar to establish a drumming program.

This work would be distinctive among other methods or literary works, as there is no other resource available to public music educators. It acts to fulfill the curricular component for instrumental music education. It has a carefully planned sequence of rhythms within each Rhythmic Set, which may be organized by school grade or division. Also, it has a very practical pedagogical resource for music educators, as it describes all of the essential elements of percussion performance clearly. Since it is the only resource of this kind for public education, Rhythm & Rigor may be the spark for a new movement in public music education, whereby students are focusing on making music through the percussive arts. Lastly, this work establishes a basis to learn the music from other world cultures, which is grounded in drumming tradition.