Objective: Repeat back the pattern you hear and repeat your own patterns correctly, as judged by the teacher.
The teacher sets up two computers ahead of time with the same drum sounds ready to be played on the computer keyboard or MIDI controller. Each computer should be connected to the speakers. We suggest only using a kick drum, snare drum, and hi-hat, but this game can be played with more or less sounds.
One student is chosen as the “person to beat” and another student is chosen as the “challenger.” The person to beat plays a pattern with the drum sounds. The challenger can choose to play it back right away, or they can ask the person to beat to repeat it. If the person to beat doesn’t play it exactly the same way they played it the first time, they are out and the challenger becomes the new person to beat. If the person to beat does repeat it correctly, the challenger must play it back. If the challenger repeats the pattern correctly, they must now create a pattern for the person to beat to repeat and the dynamic switches.
Depending on the age and experience of the students, the judge can be strict or lenient on the precision of the rhythms. The order and amount of each sound played, however, needs to be correct for the student to win their round.