BUILD YOUR DRUM CHART

TABLE OF CONTENTS

SLIDE 2 INSTRUCTIONS SLIDE 7 BUILD YOUR OWN DRUM BEAT

SLIDE 3 8TH BEATS PAGE 1 SLIDE 8 SAMPLE SONG #1

SLIDE 4 8TH BEATS PAGE 2 SLIDE 9 SAMPLE SONG #2

SLIDE 5 16TH BEATS PAGE 1 SLIDE 10 COMPOSE A BEAT PAGE

SLIDE 6 16TH BEATS PAGE 2 SLIDE 11 COMPOSE A FILL PAGE

 INSTRUCTIONS

1. Choose the slide at the end of this PowerPoint titled New Song. This will
be your song chart. Duplicate this slide as many times as you want to for
as many song charts as youd like to make.
2. Copy and paste ingredients from other slides onto your new blank slide
one at a time or select multiple items from the same slide to copy by
holding down shift while selecting objects.
3. Re-size any object by selecting it and then clicking and dragging one of
the corners of the object to the desired size. Multiple objects can be
resized at the same time by making sure they are simultaneously
selected.
4. Holding the Command (ctrl alt on windows) while pressing + or - will
allow you to zoom in or out of a page to fine tune the positioning of
objects. Objects can be moved by being dragged into position or nudged
using the arrow keys.
5. Double click anywhere to begin a new text box.
6. Text can be resized by selecting it and changing its font size.
7. Print your new song chart by choosing print from the file menu, and then
make sure that only the slide number containing your chart is selected in
the print dialog box.
8. Save your new song chart as a PDF by choosing this option at the bottom
of the print dialog box and typing a new title for the song chart.
8TH BEATS PAGE 1
8TH BEATS PAGE 2
16TH BEATS PAGE 1
16TH BEATS PAGE 2
BUILD YOUR OWN DRUM BEAT

3 Drag the drum

graphics below onto
the grids to the left
to create your own
3 drum beats!

Kick Snare

High Hat
Or
Ride Cymbal

1 2 3 4 5 6
 SAMPLE SONG In the style of Superstition

Verse

Chorus

Drum fill leading back into the verse

TOM 1 TOM 2

This drumbeat uses beats taken right from the 8th and 16th beat slides in this
PowerPoint. To construct the drum fill ingredients were used from the Build Your
Own Drum Beat slide and then labeled by double clicking to create text boxes for
Tom 1 and Tom 2. Notice you can click on the ingredients of the fill and move,
copy, resize, or delete them.
 SAMPLE SONG In the style of Hey Ya

This drumbeat contains one measure in 2 amidst a bunch of measures in 4. To

create this drum part I copied the necessary ingredients from the Build Your Own
Drum Beat slide and then cropped one of the beat grids so it was shorter and only
went through beat two. Then I copied and strung together the necessary number of
grids and put the kick and snare pattern on them. Ive chosen not to put a cymbal part
on this beat because of how complex the kick and snare part already is. If I want to I
can have another student play straight 8ths on a high hat or ride cymbal. Notice again
here that any of these ingredients can be clicked on and moved, copied, re-sized, or
deleted.
 COMPOSE YOUR OWN DRUM BEATS

Click on any of the kick, snare, or cymbal graphics in the 8th and 16th beats above to
delete them and compose your own drum beats. Keep in mind that the kick drum
typically happens on beats 1 and 3 while the snare drum usually happens on beats 2
and 4. Cymbals usually keep some kind of steady repetitive rhythm so beat
subdivisions can be heard easily. Experiment with creating beats you can play and
then make them more complicated as you get better at reading the beats you
compose!
 COMPOSE YOUR OWN DRUM FILL

SNARE

TOM 1

TOM 2

TOM 3

Click on any of the snare drum graphics to delete them and compose your own drum
fill. Remember to label which drum is assigned to that part of the fill by dragging
Snare,
Tom 1, Tom 2, or Tom 3 over that part of the fill. Drummers often keep time
during their fills by using the kick drum or closing the high hat on the beats.