On the free plan a board plays 2 parts; 4 parts on one board are part of Premium. With 2 parts, teach the drum and woodblock pair from this guide, then make a second board for the claps and shakers and play the two boards to two halves of the class.
Choosing four parts that fit
Four parts work when each one has its own job. One holds the pulse in long notes, one fills every beat, one sits between the beats, and one moves fastest. If two parts do the same job they blur together and nobody can hear which one went wrong. Keep every part short (1 or 2 bars that repeat) and write the whole board as 4 bars so the loop is easy to follow on the screen.
| Part | Job | Example bar (4/4) |
|---|---|---|
| Drum | The pulse, in long notes | ta-a ta-a |
| Woodblock | Every beat | ta ta ta ta |
| Claps | Between the strong beats | rest ta rest ta |
| Shakers | The fastest, the colour | ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti ti-ti |
The order to add them
Start with the drum part on its own, with everyone playing it on their knees, so the whole class owns the pulse before it is handed to one group. Then the woodblock part, against the drum. Then the claps: the off-beat part is the hardest to hold, and it is far easier with two steady parts under it. The shakers come last, because the fastest part is the one most likely to rush, and by then there is a lot of steady sound around it to pull it back.
In the maker, mute every part but the one being taught, play it on Loop, then unmute the next. The marker runs over all four staves together, so the class can see where their own line is while hearing the others. A muted part still shows on the screen, which helps a group get ready to come in.
Worked example: Four-layer groove
The starter Four-layer groove is exactly the four parts in the table, 4 bars long at 96 beats a minute. Lesson one: everyone learns the drum and woodblock parts on knees, then the class splits in two for those parts, with the claps and shakers parts muted. Lesson two: recap, then add the claps group with the other two playing. Lesson three: add the shakers, rehearse every pair of parts with the others muted, and finish with all four and the video. If a pair falls apart, mute everything but that pair and loop it at 80 until it holds, then put the other two back.
When it falls apart
It will. The usual cause is one part speeding up, and the usual culprit is the fastest part. Stop, say which part went, and loop just that part with the drum. Do not restart all four straight away; the class needs to hear the two parts lock together again first. If the off-beat claps keep landing on the beat, have that group say “rest ta rest ta” out loud for a pass before clapping it.
Common mistakes
- Adding the next part too early. Two clean passes of what is already playing, every time.
- Giving the pulse to the quickest readers. The pulse needs the steadiest players, not the quickest.
- Parts that are too long. A 4-bar part that changes every bar is a reading test; a 1-bar part that repeats is a groove.
- Four parts with the same sound. Different sounds let children hear their own layer.
- Going straight to the video. Rehearse with the maker, where any part can be muted and the tempo lowered, and save the video for the run-through.
Sources
- National Core Arts Standards: Music, National Coalition for Core Arts Standards. Ensemble performance in the Perform strand: performing a part while others play different parts. Last reviewed 19 October 2026.
- Web Audio API, W3C. The audio clock the maker schedules every part on, which is why four parts stay locked together however long they loop. Last reviewed 19 October 2026.
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