Thanks for watching this video about The Whacky Wizards WHACKY LOOPER. If you haven’t watched the video outlining the features of the Rhythm Tutor, please watch it first. Many of the features of the two apps are very similar, and this video will focus more on the features that are unique to the Whacky Looper.

 

The whacky Looper is meant to be like taking the rhythm tutor to the next level. The two main purposes of the Whacky Looper are first – to learn to play poly-rhythmic patterns for multiple boomwhacker players, and second, to have a platform to encourage the composition of such patterns. Let’s explore the different features of the app now.

 

THE MAIN INTERFACE

The central grid of the Whacky Looper displays a 16-note grid which can be filled with notes for all eight boomwhackers in a standard one-octave set

Like the whacky looper, the grid can be counted on an eighth note base representing two measures, or on a 16^th note base representing 1 measure. The darker lines in the grid represent divisions on the beat or pulse of the music.

As with the Rhythm Tutor, notes are represented by circles, and empty boxes are rests. The grid is interactive. Clicking on any circle will remove the note, while clicking on any empty box will add one.

The play/pause and stop buttons work as in the Rhythm Tutor. Any boxes in the grid that have circles will sound their notes when the blue play head highlights that column of the grid, allowing multiple notes to play at the same time.

 

PLAYING ALONG

The app is designed with players who are using two boomwhackers at once in mind, but it can certainly be used with students utilizing a single instrument as well. You may well find that because of the inter-connected relationship of the rhythmic parts that playing with two instruments is actually more instinctual than playing with one.  

If playing a rhythm that used all 8 boomwhackers, you would need a minimum of four players. In most instances, one would divide the class into small groups that would each be responsible for one of the boomwhacker pairs.

The ideal configuration of boomwhacker pairs between players or groups depends on the rhythmic loop being played. There are pairing suggestions for the five patterns included with the standard Whacky looper in the written resources that accompany this lesson. Often, distributing the Boomwhackers in interval pairings works best (such as seconds or fifths) but it can really depend on the pattern.

The Whacky Looper creates a challenge for players in that they might have to keep track of two pitches that are not next to each other on the grid. This takes time but with practice it becomes more instinctual.

As with the Rhythm Tutor, I recommend that players hold the lower pitched boomwhacker in their left hand, and the higher pitch in their right.

 

CHOOSE A PATTERN MENU

This menu allows you to choose from a number of different rhythmic patterns. The default pattern is a basic ascending and descending scale. There will be a separate video lesson to give suggestions for teaching with scales in this app and in the Song Wizard. Many of the other patterns contain rhythms that you may have learned with the rhythm tutor.

 

CHOOSE A DRUM LOOP MENU

The drum loops presented here are identical to the drum loops in the Rhythm Tutor. They allow you to add another dimension to the music and can help students to learn how to coordinate their playing with other musicians, even if they are virtual.

 

TEMPO SLIDER and BEAT DIVISION

The tempo slider and Beat Division buttons work exactly as in the Rhythm Tutor. They allow you to change the tempo, displayed in BPMs, and to change the counting above the grid between an 8^th or 16^th note base.

 

VOLUME AND MUTE

The pair of volume sliders work exactly as in the Rhythm Tutor, it’s just that they have been oriented vertically to save space. The mute buttons below each slider will cut the corresponding sound completely.

 

DELETE AND FILL BUTTONS

Because this app is not just meant for playing the pre-existing patterns, but for musical creation, each row has its own delete and fill buttons. Pressing a row’s delete button will clear any notes in that row. The fill button does the opposite, completely filling the row with notes. This can provide quick ways to explore various rhythmic combinations by adding notes to an empty row or subtracting notes from a full one.

There are also two blue buttons below the row delete and fill buttons that will either empty or fill the entire grid.

 

ROW MUTE BUTTONS

Each row also has its own mute button. This feature is particularly useful when you want to isolate the rhythm that would be played by one boomwhacker pairing, or to hear how one part corresponds to another.

You can use the row mute buttons to get one rhythm established with one player or group, then unmute more rows as more parts join.

In the lesson on the website called “Nothing at All”, I will take you through the steps of how to learn individual patterns in the rhythm tutor and combine them using this technique in the Whacky Looper.

 

THE WHACKY WIZARDS LOGO

Clicking on the logo will take you back to the Whacky Wizards homepage.

 

USING THE LOOPER TO CREATE YOUR OWN PATTERNS

Once you become familiar with the way that the whacky looper works and how to distribute instruments among your students, I highly encourage you to start exploring the creative capacity of the app. I can guarantee that your students, particularly children in the upper grades of elementary school, will love to experiment with their own patterns. Sometimes the fun lies just in fooling around with the grid and seeing what it sounds like. Students can do this at home.

Unfortunately, I was unable to figure out how to allow users to save their own compositions, though this definitely a feature I would recommend in the future. I strongly suggest that if you or your students have created something they like to take a photo or capture a screenshot for later reference.

 

I’ve outlined some ways you can use the app as a compositional tool in the written resources that accompany this video. Some of these ideas will unfortunately not be as practical during the current COVID pandemic, but I’d love for you to share innovative ways you may have worked around these obstacles in your own classroom in the comments section of the lesson.

 

As always, thanks for watching. See you soon.

Suggested Pairings for Whacky Looper Patterns: Try to divide your class into roughly equal groups. This will give you the best overall sound as the notes will be represented evenly. See the Nothin’ at All Tutorial to learn in detail how to play pattern #1, and see if you can apply the same principles to the other patterns. SIMPLE SCALE In pairings of the interval of a second: Group 1 – C & D Group 2 – E & F Group 3 – G & A Group 4 – B & HiC In pairings of the interval of a fifth: Group 1 – C & G Group 2 – D & A Group 3 – E & B Group 4 – F & HiC PATTERN 1  – A.K.A.  – Nothin’ at All Group 1 – C & D Group 2 – G & A Group 3 – E & HiC PATTERN 2  – A composition by Leo Group 1 – C & HiC Group 2 – D & E Group 3 – F & G Group 4 – A & B PATTERN 3  – Remix of Rhythm Tutor Rhythms  Group 1 – C & G (I Like Peanut Butter) Group 2 – A & D (Listen to my Drum) Group 3 – F & HiC (Walk The Fat Dog) PATTERN 4 – Kpanlogo This pattern is based on rhythms from “Kpanlogo”, a style of drumming from Ghana Group 1 – C & F (Buy a Dog, Buy a dog and a cat) IMPORTANT – Start words on last two ‘F’s in the line Group 2 – G & D (Listen to my Drum, Hear my Drum) Group 3 – A & HiC (Hey, There, I am Tall – Pass Me the Basketball) PATTERN 5 – Shiko This pattern is based on rhythms from “Shiko”, a style of drumming from the coast of West Africa (From Senegal to Nigeria). Group 1 – C & D  (Representing the lowest drum – The Bass Voice) Group 2 – E & F  (Representing the middle-low drum – The Tenor Voice) Group 3 – G & A (Representing the middle-high drum – The Alto Voice) Group 4 – B & HiC (Representing the Highest – The Soprano Voice) The highest rhythm (B & HiC) is the same as the “I can Play My Drum” pattern in the Rhythm Tutor.