I have been introducing the Pre-School class at Fishtown Recreation to the wonderful world of percussion. I started off by exposing the class to a variety of African percussion instruments including: Djembe, gourd rattles, kashishi (basket shakers), and Donno (talking drum). I first explained what each instrument is traditionally made of, as well as how they produce sound .
The class became eager to touch the instruments and create sounds with them. I explained how sound travels through the instruments, and out of them. I let each student put their arm inside the Djembe as I played so that they could feel the sound waves, as well as see how they were able to change the pitch odd the drum by moving their arm inside of it.
I found this to be a great introductory lesson that left the class excited for more!