What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever used as an instrument? Anything from a mop to a toilet seat can make music if you shake it, click it, or bang it against some other object. In the show “Stomp,” the actors swish brooms, smash trash-can covers, and bang spoons inside kitchen sinks that they strap to themselves. And they all play different rhythms from each other — very fancy counting — so it sounds really cool. If you want to make some noise, now you have some ideas!
Wee ones: Find 3 things in your room that you can tap like a drum with your hand. Which one sounds the loudest?
Little kids: If you grab 2 baseball bats and your friend grabs 4 trash cans, how many pieces does your new drum set have? Bonus: If you find 3 push brooms and now you have a total of 8, how many brooms did you start with?
Big kids: If in a band of 20 people, 1/2 the kids play kitchen sinks while 1/2 of the kids left play mops, how many are playing mops? Bonus: If instead you give out 16 forks and 10 spoons to your 20-person band, what’s the biggest number of people who get only one or the other?
The sky’s the limit: Make a new Stomp “band” of 15 people. 1/3 of them swish brooms on every beat except the 5th (1, 2, 3, 4, (hold), 6, 7…). 1/3 play spatulas on every beat except the 4th (1, 2, 3, (hold), 5, 6,7, (hold), 9, 10…). And the last 1/3 play all the even beats (2, 4, 6…). How many people play the 50th beat of the song?
Answers:
Wee ones: Different for everyone…you might play a wastepaper can, a book, or the side of the door!
Little kids: 6 pieces. Bonus: 5 brooms.
Big kids: 5 mop players. Bonus: 14 people. If every person who doesn’t get a fork (4 people) gets a spoon, then the last 6 spoons have to go to 6 of the 16 people who got forks. That leaves 10 more people who got just forks.
The sky’s the limit: 10 people. Only the ones who skip the 5th beat don’t play on 50.
