Carol of the Bells (On Buckets) -

Elementary Performance Plan

Carol of the Bells (on Buckets)

An arrangement for elementary performance on bucket drums

Demo Video Google Drive

This arrangement came together in a last minute effort to replace a song for a program.

I originally had my elementary winter program planned out and ready to teach in September, but one of the songs just wasn’t siting with me well. I became more nervous about trying it, and ultimately decided to look for something else a few days before practice was supposed to begin.

As I hunted through the internet looking for a cool idea, I stumbled across Rousseau’s piano arrangements of Christmas songs. I immediately scrolled to Carol of the Bells, and loved what I heard. As I listened, I tapped on my desk with the beat. If it was instinctual to play along with this, I knew I had to transform this into a bucket drum piece.

Looking at the form

This arrangement of Carol of the Bells has an A-B-C form, and it repeats itself 5 times, increasing the complexity as it goes. Thankfully there are no added measures or changes, so it is very easy to follow. I’m a visual thinker, so I immediately thought of viewing this piece as a graph.

Charting it out:

The rhythm of Carol of the Bells is a compound meter. I want the kids to internalize a “3” feel. Everything can be played around the dotted quarter note pulse.
As each section increases the complexity, a small change is made to the part. The kids are playing the same idea, but with a new added sound to the repetitive pattern.
My arrangement takes the pulse of the song and adds accents to the piece throughout.
I’d recommend teaching this song using body percussion first, then trying it with a bucket and sticks second.

Breaking down the arrangement

Part one:

Play the song, and ask the students to tap the “3” pulse using one hand on their lap. Every four times they play the set of 3, take both hands and tap your lap. Once they get that, have them do it as a set of 2, then one time each set. Once they can do these patterns, play the song again and ask them to listen for the three sections of the song. Once they can identify the verse, pre-chorus and chorus sections, they can put those patterns with the music.

Part two:

For this, students continue to tap their lap with a hand, but now they will play every beat instead of just the first of a group.

It is important to establish their dominant hand at this point. I usually say “Ok, use the hand that you write with and play X”.

Once they get to the chorus, the take their hand and tap their knee twice. Once you are ready to put both parts on the bucket, kids should tap the “knee” part on the rim of the bucket and the normal hits in the center.

Part three:

Now, I know this notation looks too advanced for younger students, but I promise it can be accessible! Students continue playing the same set of three notes, but they add their other hand on the 3rd hit.

Use whatever counting system you want for this:

1, 2 +, 3
1, 2 3, 4
Ding, fries are, done

Once the kids can play the pattern, have them try the 3rd grouping by putting the accents on their knees again. Try all three parts to see if they can keep it together.

Part four:

Now, there isn’t much new to this, but the way you play it changes. Instead of accenting on their knee or rim of the bucket, put the accent on the stick.

Hold a stick horizontally in the air in front of you, about at your eye line. When you play that pattern using your main hand, you keep the stick between the bucket and the raised stick to tap.

This creates the back and forth pattern that you want that looks cool, and sounds more tricky than it actually is. On the 3rd pattern, I’d recommend normal stick clicking.

Part five:

For part 5, you are running through all of the patterns four times (two measures of 6/8 each). Once you get to the chorus, they will play R RLRL (or L LRLR) using accents on the rim of the bucket to finish the song.

Demo Video

This arrangement requires the track by Rousseau to be played correctly. When teaching this arrangement, I’d recommend putting the note graph on the screen so kids can see the rhythms and associate the traditional notation with what they are playing.

Orchestrate the Bucket

My final thought to make this song even more effective, is orchestrating your bucket to get the most out of its sound. I’ve written up a little guide on this topic, feel free to check it out here.

Support my work here, thanks for reading!

Carol of the Bells (on Buckets)

An arrangement for elementary performance on bucket drums

This arrangement came together in a last minute effort to replace a song for a program.

I originally had my elementary winter program planned out and ready to teach in September, but one of the songs just wasn’t siting with me well. I became more nervous about trying it, and ultimately decided to look for something else a few days before practice was supposed to begin.

Looking at the form

This arrangement of Carol of the Bells has an A-B-C form, and it repeats itself 5 times, increasing the complexity as it goes. Thankfully there are no added measures or changes, so it is very easy to follow. I’m a visual thinker, so I immediately thought of viewing this piece as a graph.

Charting it out:

Breaking down the arrangement

Part one:

Part two:

For this, students continue to tap their lap with a hand, but now they will play every beat instead of just the first of a group.

It is important to establish their dominant hand at this point. I usually say “Ok, use the hand that you write with and play X”.

Once they get to the chorus, the take their hand and tap their knee twice. Once you are ready to put both parts on the bucket, kids should tap the “knee” part on the rim of the bucket and the normal hits in the center.

Part three:

Now, I know this notation looks too advanced for younger students, but I promise it can be accessible! Students continue playing the same set of three notes, but they add their other hand on the 3rd hit.

Use whatever counting system you want for this:

1, 2 +, 3

1, 2 3, 4

Ding, fries are, done

Once the kids can play the pattern, have them try the 3rd grouping by putting the accents on their knees again. Try all three parts to see if they can keep it together.

Part four:

Now, there isn’t much new to this, but the way you play it changes. Instead of accenting on their knee or rim of the bucket, put the accent on the stick.

Hold a stick horizontally in the air in front of you, about at your eye line. When you play that pattern using your main hand, you keep the stick between the bucket and the raised stick to tap.

This creates the back and forth pattern that you want that looks cool, and sounds more tricky than it actually is. On the 3rd pattern, I’d recommend normal stick clicking.

Part five:

For part 5, you are running through all of the patterns four times (two measures of 6/8 each). Once you get to the chorus, they will play R RLRL (or L LRLR) using accents on the rim of the bucket to finish the song.

Demo Video

This arrangement requires the track by Rousseau to be played correctly. When teaching this arrangement, I’d recommend putting the note graph on the screen so kids can see the rhythms and associate the traditional notation with what they are playing.

Orchestrate the Bucket

My final thought to make this song even more effective, is orchestrating your bucket to get the most out of its sound. I’ve written up a little guide on this topic, feel free to check it out here.

Support my work here, thanks for reading!