Practical Exam Instructions

This is a required portion of the Drums Alive online course as well as in our in-person trainings. This is where you put into action what you’ve learned in this training. The primary objective of this practical exam is to provide you with an opportunity to demonstrate your ability to teach and lead a Drums Alive class to others and to receive coaching and feedback from someone on our team on how you might improve your teaching skills. Our goal is to help you feel comfortable and confident in your ability to effectively teach the Drums Alive program and how you can help your students experience the power and the magic of this wonderful program.

Please note the guidelines carefully. Your course registration comes with two attempts to pass the practical exam. If you do not pass the first time our grader will provide you with specific feedback on how to pass the second time. If you do not pass the second time and require a third attempt, you will need to pay a $50 fee for the additional review.

Your assignment is to create a 5 to 10-minute video of you TEACHING a Drums Alive choreography. Choose one of the “practical experience” guides listed below and highlighted in yellow. These practical experience guides list 6 to 10 drumming and drumming with locomotor skills taught in this course. You can combine the skills in any order you choose, but you must include all 6 to 10 skills listed in the practical experience you choose. HELPFUL TIP: Refer to and review the Drums Alive! with Carrie Ekins DVD that was sent to you as a part of the training materials. Refer also to the Basic Drumming Skills and Basic Drumming with Locomotor Skills videos that are provided in this course. Observe how Carrie Ekins teaches the various skills, how she explains and breaks down the skills, and how she combines and builds the skills to create a smooth-flowing choreography.

Please do not feel pressured to use or purchase a hi-tech camera and audio equipment. Don’t fret about having the perfect background. We will be focused on you and the content you provide. You can choose to have only yourself in the video or you can have students in the video with you. However, the video must clearly show YOU teaching. At the start of the video it’s VERY IMPORTANT for you to introduce yourself, clearly state your name then clearly say and spell your email address. HELPFUL TIP: Write or print your name and email address on a sheet of paper, hold it up in front of you as you introduce yourself in the video.

Please choose a song that is clean (without expletives) and would be appropriate for a Drums Alive class. Songs from the Drums Alive CD or MP3 download you received as part of your training materials are all great choices.

We realize you may not have access to a stability ball and a ball stand in your home. If this is the case, be creative and use something that will allow you to safely move and demonstrate your skills in a similar way that you would with the official Drums Alive equipment. If you would like to purchase Drums Alive equipment, our business partner, West Music, is the exclusive distributor of our official equipment. Here are a few equipment options you might want to consider:

Trainer Kit

Participant Kit

During our review of your choreography we will be looking for the following:

Knowledge of Skill – Do you call the Drums Alive drumming or drumming with locomotor skill by its correct name and do you demonstrate the correct skill? It’s important for each instructor to use the correct and proper name for each skill and for all licensed Drums Alive instructors to consistently use the proper names. This makes it easy for students to know and understand your instructional cues and allows them to attend any class conducted by another licensed Drums Alive instructor and follow their cues. This also facilitates your learning of new choreographies that Drums Alive shares with you in the future.
Execution of Movement – In addition to “Knowledge of Skill” as described above, do you demonstrate proper form? Are you executing the skills with proper body alignment, serving as a good role model for your students and demonstrating how to keep themselves and those around them safe?
Rhythmical and Musical Application. Are your drumming, your movements, and your cueing on beat and on phrase? When appropriate, are you making use of 32-count blocks of music and movement? Are you able to match the drumming and/or the movement to the music? The following is an advanced concept, but this is something we want for all of our instructors to strive for: Are you using the music (dynamics, tempo, phrasing) to enhance the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional experience of your students? Understanding how to effectively use music in your Drums Alive classes is what takes your Drums Alive class from good to GREAT! It’s the “secret sauce” that can make your Drums Alive class a magical and powerful experience.
Breakdown of Movement & Rhythm – Do you integrate simple rhythms and movements before building complex patterns? Do you teach complicated rhythmical and movement patterns at half-tempo before playing and moving up to tempo?
Teaching Skill and Performance– How well do you project your voice so that your students can hear your instructions? Do you cue your instructions in a timely manner so that your students will know what to do next and when to do it? Do your instructions make sense and are they easy to follow? Do you project a happy, welcoming, safe, and positive learning environment? Do you demonstrate leadership? Do you smile? Do you look like you’re having fun and enjoying yourself? Do you make eye contact? Do you demonstrate competence and confidence? How well do you recover when you’ve made a mistake? Do you demonstrate creativity?

If you choose to demonstrate a 32-count choreography (this is optional, but encouraged because this will allow you to practice this skill and receive helpful feedback from us), do you demonstrate the following?

COUNTS – The number of counts each move requires and the number of repetitions. These should add up to 32 counts.
BALANCE – between right and left lead leg and arm. Each block should either have equal amounts of moves leading off each leg OR be designed to repeat with a change in lead leg.
VARIETY – contrast between different muscles used, rhythms, and traveling patterns
DIRECTION – when adding direction, moves should be combined in such a way that participants return to the starting position by the end of the 32 count phrase.
FLOW – choreography blocks so that the last move of 1 choreography block flows seamlessly into the first move of the next choreography block.

What is Required to Pass the Practical Exam?

You will be assessed on a 5-point scale for each of the 5 skills listed above, where 1 = no skill and 5 = mastery of skill. You can see a sample of the scoring sheet that the exam proctor will use while reviewing your video in the ASSIGNMENT DOWNLOAD below (Drums Alive Practical Exam Submittal form). A cumulative total score of at least 15 points is required to pass the practical exam. You will be emailed a copy of your scoring sheet that will include comments from the exam proctor. If you receive a score lower than 15 points, you will be allowed submit another video for review within 6 weeks after receiving the results from your first submittal. If you received a score lower than 15 points after the second submittal, you will be asked to pay an additional fee for the 3rd and any subsequent review of your video. Remember, we are here to help you succeed, be prepared, and feel confident to teach your Drums Alive classes. Our goal and intent here is coach you and provide helpful feedback.

How to Submit Your Practical Exam

Please upload your video on YouTube and you will need to complete the Drums Alive Practical Exam Submittal form in the ASSIGNMENT DOWNLOAD located at the bottom of the next lesson so that we’ll know where to find your video. We recommend you keep the video unlisted.

If you have any questions on how to upload your video to Youtube, please watch the 2-minute video below.

https://youtu.be/JOr7JluzEOM

We will review your video and provide feedback within 4 to 5 business days after we receive your submittal.

Rest assured, we respect your privacy and your video will be shown only to the members on the Drums Alive team who play a logistical role in administering this course.

We want to emphasize—this practical exam is meant to provide you with helpful feedback to help you be the best Drums Alive instructor you can be. We don’t expect you to perform each criteria described above perfectly. We do expect you to prepare and practice for this exam and demonstrate your level of competence. Please do not allow yourself to get overly stressed about this practical exam, to the point where it keeps you from submitting your video to us. Failure to turn in your video will keep you from successfully completing this course and earning your license and certificate.

We hope you will continually strive to improve each of the skills and qualities listed above to help you and help your students experience the power of music, movement, drumming, and rhythm! That’s the magic of Drums Alive and it’s YOU, the instructor, who brings it to LIFE!

PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE #1

Doubles

Singles

Side Clicks

Extended Singles

V-Step

Figure 8

Around the Ball Slide (Chasse)

Chug Clicks

Cross Overs – Simple & Advanced

Split Ball Drumming

PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE #2

Doubles

Singles

Side Clicks

Side Beats

Front Ball

Grapevine with and without turn

Single Beat Lunge

Double Beat Lunge

Mambo Cha-Cha-Cha

Extended Single with Step Tap

PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE #3

Doubles

Singles

Side Clicks

Step Out Lunge

Step Out Lunge on Right Ball and Left Ball 4´s, 2´s. 1´s

Power Tap

Cognitive #1

Ball Hug & Listen

PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE #4

Doubles

Singles

Side Clicks

Cognitive #2

Extended Doubles

Sways

Brush Out & In

Chug Clicks

PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE #5

Doubles

Singles

Side Clicks

Side Beats – Side Ball

Grapevine, with Grapevine Turn

Lunge (Baby and Giant) Double Beats