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Teaching artists Sarah Alden and Samuel Torres show students how to create a few basic bomba rhythms using items found in their homes as instruments. 

Vocabulary You Will Learn:

• Bomba—A traditional Afro-Caribbean dance and music style, created by enslaved Africans brought to Puerto Rico against their will. African slaves used bomba music to communicate, since they spoke many different languages.
• Barril de bomba—The traditional drum used in bomba.
• Cua—Two sticks used on the sides of the bomba barrel.
• Maracas—Gourds filled with seeds, used to make a rattling sound in Caribbean and Latin music.

Materials You Will Need:

• Something you can use as maracas, such as a pepper shaker/grinder or a bottle filled with beads
• Something you can use as cua, such as pencils or chopsticks 
• Something that can be used as the barril de bomba—any hard surface, such as a table or bucket

How to Create Your Own Bomba Rhythms

1. After you have gathered the items from the materials list, place the item you’ll be using as a maraca in your right hand. Move your wrist forward and back to shake the maraca, saying the word “pizza” as you do, with one shake on each syllable. (To see Sarah and Samuel do this, scroll to 4:45 in the video.)
2. Next, you will create a rhythm with the cua, the wooden sticks. Place one stick in each hand and cross them to make an “X.” Then, begin tapping the right stick on the left, while saying “play the bomba now.” Tap the sticks together once on each syllable. (To see Sarah and Samuel do this, scroll to around 5:10 in the video.)
3. Next, you’ll be using the barril de bomba to make two different sounds. The first sound is called the slap, when you hit the center of the surface you are using as a drum with your whole hand. The second sound is called the open tone, when you hit just the edge of the drum with four fingers together. Practice creating these two sounds together, alternating between them as you hit the drum.

4. Now, you’re going to create a rhythm using the sounds you just learned on the drum. Starting with your right hand, you’ll be alternating your hands on the drum, while chanting the words “pie with applesauce.” You’ll make the slap sound on the words “pie” and the syllable “ap-” in “applesauce.” You’ll make the open tone sound on every other word. (To see Sarah and Samuel create this rhythm, scroll to around 6:45 in the video.)
5. Finally, if there is another person with you, you can work together to combine all three rhythms! You can play the maracas with one hand while drumming with the other, and have the other person play the rhythm on the drum. (To see Sarah and Samuel do this, scroll to around 7:45 in the video.)

In this video, Sarah and Samuel show us how to create a few different bomba rhythms using household objects as instruments. If you want to go even further, think about these questions: 

• What other objects in your home could you try using to create the rhythms Sarah and Samuel demonstrate? How does the sound change if you drum on a box or bucket instead of a table, or if you drum with chopsticks instead of pencils?
• If you have someone who can help you to create all of the rhythms at once, what do you notice about combining the different sounds? How does the music change? What do you feel when you hear the rhythms together versus separately? 
• At the beginning of the video, Sarah and Samuel talk about how music can communicate without using words. Is this something you have experienced before? How have you heard something communicated with only music?
• Bomba music usually involves an element of dance in addition to music. Can you try creating a few simple dance steps to go along with the rhythms learned in the video? 

Accessibility

Don’t forget that you can turn on “Closed Captioning” to view the YouTube video with English captions.

More about the Teaching Artists

Samuel Torres (he/him) is a percussionist, composer, and educator who has toured and recorded with artists such as Shakira and Arturo Sandoval. He was awarded the 2019 Latin Grammy® for Best Classical Album and currently teaches percussion at a private school in Manhattan, New York. 

Sarah Alden (she/her) is a violinist, composer, and educator who has toured with Jazz at Lincoln Center as an ambassador of American music. She currently teaches orchestra at a public school in Brooklyn, New York.

Kennedy Center Education Digital Learning

Eric Friedman 
Director, Digital Learning

Kenny Neal 
Manager, Digital Education Resources

Tiffany A. Bryant 
Manager, Operations and Audience Engagement

JoDee Scissors 
Content Specialist, Digital Learning

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