Pocket Percussion (Spoons & Jingle Sticks)

Margaret teaches the playing and/or making of small percussion instruments.  What format is right for your venue?

There’s the easy one-hour introduction to a couple of traditional small percussion instruments. This works well as a hands-on festival workshop. It is lively, noisy, and great fun for ages eight and up.

Margaret teaches spoons playing, from simple beats to knuckle rolls and showy rhythm patterns. She sings bouncy traditional songs so her students can practice playing along with music. This is adaptable to a number of situations.

In her Pocket Percussion workshop, Margaret also demonstrates the making of a number of small percussion instruments including tree-branch-and-bottle-cap jingle sticks (sistrums). Her detailed illustrated instructions for making these jingle sticks at home can be available to workshop participants for a small fee.

Here’s the selection of kid-friendly percussion instruments Margaret takes along to her Evanston Farmers’ Market appearances: (left to right) jingle-sticks, spoons, pill bottle shakers, rhythm sticks, purchased shaker & maracas, tin can guiros, milk bottle shakers.