Plucky Strings and Peppy Percussion Strings and Percussion    

Lesson 33: Bongos - Doubledrift

by Kevin MacLeod

Performer: Kevin MacLeod

Directions

Study the musical selection for one week.

Over the week:

• Listen to the music daily.
• Recite the composer and composition names.
• Read the synopsis.
• Review the vocabulary terms.
• Read about the instrument category.
• Complete the enrichment activities.
• Study the review questions.

Synopsis

This lesson features a percussion instrument called a bongo drum or bongos. Bongos typically come in pairs, the larger bongo called the hembra (female), and the smaller bongo called the macho (male). To make music, percussionists strike bongos with their hands. The musical composition for this lesson, 'Doubledrift,' by Kevin MacLeod, features a bongo drum solo at the beginning. The lesson picture shows a pair of bongos.

Vocabulary

Bongo: Either of a pair of small, long-bodied drums typically held between the knees and played with the fingers.
Pair: A set of two things used together or regarded as a unit.

Category

Music lessons over the next two years group musical instruments into five major categories: strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.

Percussion instruments include instruments played by striking with the hand or with a handheld or pedal-operated stick or beater, or by shaking, including drums, cymbals, xylophones, gongs, bells, and rattles.

Examine the images of percussion instruments below.

1. Drum

2. Gong

3. Tambourine

4. Xylophone

Enrichment

Activity 1: Study the Parts of a Bongo Drum

• Study the parts on the labeled picture of the bongos.

Activity 2: Map the Instrument

• The use of the bongos was first documented in Cuba. Find Cuba on the map of the Caribbean below.

Activity 3: Look at and Listen to Other Percussion Instruments

Watch the video of additional percussion instruments below.

The video includes the triangle, the tambourine, the cowbell, and the maracas.

Review

Question 1

What are the five major groups of instruments listed in the lesson?

1 / 5

Answer 1

The five major groups of instruments are strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.

1 / 5

Question 2

Which instrument group does this lesson feature?

2 / 5

Answer 2

This lesson features the percussion group.

2 / 5

Question 3

Which percussion instrument does this lesson feature?

3 / 5

Answer 3

This lesson features the bongo drum.

3 / 5

Question 4

What are the major parts of the bongo drum?

4 / 5

Answer 4

Major parts of the bongos include the shell, the head, the rim, and the center block.

4 / 5

Question 5

How do percussionists make music with the bongos?

5 / 5

Answer 5

Percussionists strike the head of the bongos with their hands to make music.

5 / 5

❮ ❯

1. What are the five major groups of instruments listed in the lesson? The five major groups of instruments are strings, keyboards, percussion, brass, and woodwinds.
2. Which instrument group does this lesson feature? This lesson features the percussion group.
3. Which percussion instrument does this lesson feature? This lesson features the bongo drum.
4. What are the major parts of the bongo drum? Major parts of the bongos include the shell, the head, the rim, and the center block.
5. How do percussionists make music with the bongos? Percussionists strike the head of the bongos with their hands to make music.

References

'Percussion instrument.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.

'Bongo Drum.' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.