105: What Is Percussion and How Can You Easily Include It in Your Homeschool

What is percussion—and how can you easily include it in your homeschool without adding another complicated subject to your day?

In this episode of the Music in Our Homeschool podcast, Gena Mayo explains what percussion instruments are, why they’re often called the “heartbeat of music,” and how simple rhythm activities can build powerful musical foundations for children of all ages.

You’ll learn the difference between pitched and unpitched percussion, discover how body percussion strengthens coordination and internal rhythm, and explore practical ways to add percussion to your homeschool music time—using items you already have at home.

Whether your child loves tapping on the table, drumming on a bucket, or clapping along to songs, percussion is already happening in your homeschool. Now you’ll learn how to turn that natural rhythm into intentional music education.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• What percussion is (in simple, homeschool-friendly terms)
• The difference between pitched and unpitched percussion instruments
• How percussion builds rhythm—the foundation of all music learning
• Easy ways to use household items as percussion instruments
• How to connect percussion to world music and cultural studies
• How percussion fits perfectly into the 15-Minute Music Method™

This episode will give you confidence to press play, grab a shaker (or a wooden spoon and pot), and start building rhythm skills today.

Listen in and discover how percussion can bring energy, joy, and simplicity to your homeschool music education.

Find links to all resources mentioned in this episode here: https://musicinourhomeschool.com/music-lesson-what-is-percussion/ 

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Transcript

E105 What Is Percussion and How Can You Easily Include It in Your Homeschool?

[00:00:00] Hello, Harmony Heroes. Welcome back to the Music in Our Homeschool podcast. I'm your host, Gena Mayo, and today we're talking about something that shows up in almost every style of music your children already love. But often doesn't get the attention it deserves in a homeschool music lesson. We are talking about percussion. If you've ever watched your child tap a pencil on the table or clap along with a song, drum on a box or a bucket, or march around the living room, you've already seen percussion at work in your homeschool.

So today I want to answer two simple questions. What is percussion and how can you actually include learning about it and experiencing it in your very own homeschool without adding a complicated subject to your plate? Because as always, we're aiming for simple, joyable, and doable music learning.

If you are a homeschooler looking for ways to easily and affordably include a quality [00:01:00] music education in your homeschool, you've come to the right place. This is the music in our homeschool podcast. I'm Gina Mayo, homeschooling mom of eight, a music teacher for over 30 years.

What is percussion? At its most basic level, percussion is any instrument that makes a sound when it is struck, shaken, or scraped. That's it. If you hit the instrument: you strike it like a drum or a tambourine or a cymbal. Or you shake it. like an egg shaker or a tambourine. Or you scrape it like a guiro. That is a percussion instrument.

Percussion instruments are often called the heartbeat of music. They provide rhythm, pulse, structure, and energy to a piece.

There are two main categories that percussion instruments are often divided into: [00:02:00] unpitched percussion and pitched percussion. Unpitched are instruments that make sound, but not a specific musical note that you could sing. Examples include a snare drum, bass drum, cymbals, tambourine, triangle, or maracas. These instruments are mostly about rhythm and texture, giving the steady beat to a piece of music, or some fun interest to it, and they're often an easy place to start with y ounger children. Just grab a pair of maracas or an egg shaker or some rhythm sticks, and you've got some unpitched percussion that you can try out.

Pitched percussion, on the other hand, does give a very specific pitch that can play a melody or add harmonies to a piece of music. It can play a pitch that you can actually sing. These instruments include the xylophone, marimba, [00:03:00] vibraphone, glockenspiel, and timpani drums. Timpani drums, if you didn't know, can actually be tuned to a specific pitch. So these instruments can play melodies or add harmony to a piece of music, just like a piano or a guitar can.

And there's another type of percussion that you may not have thought about before, and this is body percussion. And it's where you can use your body as a percussion instrument by clapping, stomping, patting your knees, snapping your fingers, rubbing your hands together, or tapping your shoulders or your chest.

Body percussion is a great thing to do because it helps kids build internal rhythm, strengthen their coordination, and help them feel the music, not just hear it. I have a great body percussion printable pack that gives you some ideas of how to include this in your homeschool. Just head over to the [00:04:00] accompanying blog post that you'll see in the show notes or the description to find that.

Why is percussion perfect for your homeschool? Well, it works for all ages. Even little ones, toddlers, could take an egg shaker or a pair of rhythm sticks and start learning how to add some interest to a piece of music. And of course, kids, as they get older, can do more and more complicated things with percussion instruments.

Percussion helps build rhythm, which is absolutely the foundation of all musical learning. Starting to play with a steady beat early is the foundation of all music. You'll want to help your kids learn this early so that it just becomes second nature for them. And percussion instruments require very little setup. As I mentioned before, there's only a couple that require tuning. Otherwise you just take the instrument and play [00:05:00] it.

Here's a couple of ways you can add it to your homeschool without overthinking it. Just start playing a percussion instrument when you're listening to a piece of music. You could even make your own percussion instruments by taking a pot and a wooden spoon from the kitchen or emptying a plastic water bottle and adding some rice to it for a shaker. An empty oatmeal container or turning a Home Depot bucket upside down are really fun for drums or even play on boxes or baskets. There's so many different ways you can have a percussion instrument made out of a household item.

And I highly encourage you, in your percussion music education, to connect it to world music. You can learn about African drumming traditions, Latin rhythms, Asian drumming ensembles, Caribbean steel drums. It's such a natural way to connect [00:06:00] music to geography, history, or cultural appreciation. And I have lots of lessons for this in my Music in Our Homeschool Plus premium membership. Every month, I teach a live music appreciation lesson, and we've done a few related to percussion.

So, how does learning about percussion fit the R.H.Y.T.H.M. of the 15-Minute Music Method? Well, Realistic time is the R. Percussion works beautifully in short lessons. You can just listen to one piece and play your percussion instrument with it.

H is High-quality instruction. Even simple rhythm activities build real musical skills. As I mentioned, learning how to play steady beat is essential for all musical learning.

Y for the R.H.Y. : You don't have to be the expert. You can clap and tap and listen right alongside your kids.

T is Together, multi-age learning. Everyone [00:07:00] can participate in playing percussion instruments, from babies all the way through high schoolers.

H is Heart-led and joy-centered. Well, I think you know that playing percussion instruments is super fun.

And, M is Momentum through repetition. The more often kids feel rhythm and get to practice with it, the more natural it becomes for them.

So in closing, I just want to encourage you to pick out a piece of music this week and try out some percussion. You can head over to the accompanying blog post and do the body percussion lesson. Or just pick up an egg shaker or make your own with the rice and water bottle, and pull up a piece of music and play along.

Thank you for spending time with me today. If this episode encouraged you, I'd love for you to share it with another homeschooling family. And until next time, keep pressing play and making music a part of your everyday life.

Find links to all resources mentioned in this episode here: https://musicinourhomeschool.com/music-lesson-what-is-percussion/