Rhythm Blox: Make up funky rhythms with a deck of cards
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| Buy CD or Download |
Rhythm Blox gets you creating and playing your own rhythms like a composer. Players -- at any level -- make up new grooves using a deck of cards. You'll never be stumped again when you have to think of something new -- fast. The catch? Your fellow players may spice up your lick with their own ideas.
It's all in the cards. You get notes, rests, and a meter such as 4/4 or 3/4. Build one measure. Then clap, drum or sing it to CD's metronome tracks, score the points -- and keep your new riff.
So what's with the 35 tracks of metronome beats? They mark the time, and last for about 2 minutes, so you can repeat your new groove enough to get it into your bones. Track 1 is the slowest (50 beats per minute). Track 35 is the fastest. They get faster, by 5 beats-per-minute each time.
Each metronome track gives you:
- 30 seconds of silence to use as practice time
- 30 seconds at the chosen Beats Per Minute tempo, for practice
- 60 seconds at the chosen BPM for your performance (your Performance clicks have a different sound)
The object is to keep time, score the most points on the cards, and win. But the real payoff is how quickly you add new riffs to your stash of musical ideas. Rhythm Blox gives you real rhythmic agility and composition skills -- and your own original grooves -- while you play and have fun.
Feel how new rhythms come together, like this:
Try it!
See Hand 1? Try clapping it. Then check out the soundtrack below -- how did you do?
Hand 1: A 4/4 rhythm (8 times by clapping -- which any musician can do)
Now, for you drum players:
| See Hand 2 | |
| See Hand 3 | |
| See Hand 4 |
Wes Crawford has recorded Hand 1 by clapping, and Hands 2-4 on a Roland TD-6 electronic drumset. You can use any instruments you like.
Testimonials
"I used Rhythm Blox to encourage greater rhythmic invention in my beginning composition students, never having been satisfied with the exercises I had for that purpose. The game was loads of fun, and the exercise was a huge success getting students to think about the many ways a beat can be subdivided."
"Rhythm Blox turns the laborious task of learning to read rhythms into a fun, productive and easy to understand game of cards. Students quickly learn to build their own rhythmic compositions, understand time signatures and apply that knowledge to the drumset. Rhythm Blox is a great way for drumset players of all levels to develop new and exciting rhythms, fills, and grooves."
"I would highly recommend Rhythm Blox to be used in any ear-training/musicianship curriculum where teachers might split the class into small groups or teams. There is a great need for easy and effective tools to have students practice rhythm skills specifically in the classroom. This way it can apply to all music students, not just percussionists, since all students need this kind of rhythmic agility."
"Wes Crawford's Rhythm Blox is a blast! With so many different ways to play, it's fun and challenging for drummers of all levels -- I highly recommend it!"
"Wes Crawford's Rhythm Blox is a fun and engaging method for developing skills in composition as well as rhythm. There's something for musicians of all levels."
"It's fun! It helped me understand rhythms!"
Buy Rhythm Blox
The Rhythm Blox is a Print-To-Play game. If you lose part of the game, no problem! Just print another copy of the card you need.
Rhythm Blox CD includes all the files you need to print (.pdf) and play (.mp3):
- 35 Timed metronome tracks
- 18 "Time Signature" cards
- 131 "Notes & Rests" cards
- 18 "Articulation" cards
- -- bonus, for drumset players --
- 27 Jazz Ride cards
- 54 "Fills" cards
- 27 "Linear Patterns" cards
