Whacky Music’s Boomwhackers Musical Tubes were inspiring recreational music making before the term was even coined, and so the slogan for the product for many years has been “MUSIC for the FUN of it!”  These award-winning and patented musical tubes are made of brightly-colored plastic and tuned by length to different musical notes.  They are played by simply whacking them on something (palm, thigh, table, floor) or with something (mallet, wooden dowel, back of teaspoon) so there is no significant learning curve.  They are an inexpensive to get started with an instrument.  Finally, they are just plain fun to play -  there is something very satisfying about the kinesthetic experience of making music by whacking things.

 Because the tubes produce specific pitches, they create a very different experience of making music than one gets in the most common form of spontaneous group music making - the drum circle.  While many of the standard techniques for facilitating drum circles lend themselves well to Boomwhackers, the different musical tones of the tubes add another dimension to what might otherwise be just a group rhythm experience - creating harmony and even melody, depending on how they’re used.

 The tubes are color-coded according to Whacky Music’s Chroma-Notes™ Colored Music System, which makes it very easy to facilitate groups by passing out different rhythmic patterns for the different colors.  An individual or group can also play a song by matching the tube colors with the colored music on a staff or groups can also use the Color Signals that Whacky Music provides for free download from their website:  www.boomwhackers.com.

 The Tubes are also used by music therapists and team-building, motivation and creativity consultants. They have won several major awards including a prestigious Parent’s Choice Best 25 Toys of 25 Years.  What better way to get recreational with a musical instrument than by playing one that was singled out as also being one of the best 25 toys to be introduced in 25 years?

 Many esteemed drum circle facilitators have also lauded these musical tubes.  Arthur Hull, certainly one of the most central figures in the community drum circle movement, says, "Primo!  The Boomwhackers tubes are simple, accurately tuned and lots of fun.  As a music facilitator, they fill my needs very well."

Here are some additional comments by other facilitators:

 "I love the Boomwhackers!  They are a fun, versatile, unique and very musical instrument.  I've used them for kids to corporations, from stage to studio, and they always move people and put smiles on their faces."  Jim Greiner

 "Boomwhackers tubes are as easy as 1..."  Kalani

"The tubes are a perfect vehicle to fulfill my mission of bringing people together in harmony through drumming and percussion."  Paulo Mattioli

"Boomwhackers are the best recreational music tools ever created. The tubes make it easy to facilitate a creative non-competitive atmosphere that fosters learning.  From Preschoolers  to senior citizens and all ages in between, Boomwhackers rule!"  John Yost

 While all of the above facilitators have been using Boomwhackers in group music-making activities for many years, a more recent fan of the musical tubes is RMM’s very own Karl Bruhn, who has this to say:  “Brilliant! Boomwhackers are an ideal tool for recreational music making, whether by an individual or by a group of any size.   They are extremely simple, lots of fun to play and very inexpensive, too - truly a musical instrument anyone can play.”

 There are many key points to Karl’s statement, and the one we’d like to focus on for a moment is “truly a musical instrument anyone can play.”  I once taught a young boy how to play a Boomwhackers tube over the phone.  The conversation went something like this:

 Boy:  “I’ve got this thing here that says ‘Boomwhackers’ on it but I don’t know how to make it work.”  (I’m picturing him waving the tube through the air, which doesn’t produce any sound.)

Craig:   “Are you holding it?”

Boy:  “Yes.”

Craig:  “Okay, hit it on your other hand.”

Boy:  (After I hear the distinct “boop” tone of the tube in the background. . .)  “Okay, thanks!”  (Click - he hangs up the phone.)

 I imagine that he quickly learned that he could hit lots of different surfaces besides his other hand to produce the tube’s tone, but that was all he needed to know to get started.  The call happened the day after an event the Phoenix Suns put on for Metro-Phoenix area kids in which 16,000-17,000 kids had filled what was then the America West Arena.  All the kids and their teachers got to play along with a facilitated experience that included producing a “wave” around the arena that resulted in two alternating melodic chords being played as the wave moved through the participants.  Then they got to do a facilitated jam for a few minutes.  None of them knew that they were going to create a musical experience that day, but you could tell they were having a ball.  One of these tubes probably wound up in the hands of  this young man the next day.

 This brings me to another of Karl’s points - “an ideal tool for recreational music making, whether by an individual or a group of any size.”  I challenge you to name me another musical instrument that can be handed out to 16,000 or more average kids (or adults, for that matter) and have that group facilitated into creating a successful and spontaneous experience of music making - which I like to call “instant music.”  Even 2 or 3 people can also easily create their own musical jam and experience of the “zone” by making up rhythmic patterns with a tube in each hand while playing to the same pulse.  Or they can play actual songs by picking them out by ear or other methods as mentioned above.

 For an individual, it’s easiest to play a song by placing the tubes in the XyloTote™ Tube Holder.  This form of mounting the tubes is available separately and is included in the company’s Boomophone™ XTS Whack Pack, which also contains the 8-note C major diatonic scale of tubes along with the XyloTote, a pair of mallets, a color-coded songbook and one of the Octavator™ Tube Caps, which drops the tone of a tube by an octave when placed on the end of the tube.  Any way you play, it is, as Karl observes, simple and fun.

Whacky Music also produces a full range of resource materials for Boomwhackers, offering six series of books with sheet music, musical games, and activities for the musical tubes.  Of particular interest in the recreational music making category is the Totally Tubular series, which is more group and game oriented, including some activities designed to add an element of physical exercise.  Many of the activities are great for teambuilding as well.

For someone that would like to get started with some basic group facilitation techniques using the tubes, I’ve also prepared a short document entitled “Gettin' Whacky - A Mini-Handbook for Using Boomwhackers Musical Tubes in Facilitated Group Events.”  This 14-page booklet is available for free downloading as a PDF file at the Whacky Music website (www.boomwhackers.com).

We invite you to check out our musical tubes more fully at the website as well.  There are sound samples, virtual tubes to play, videos of the tubes in action and lots more information about the product line and testimonials.  In closing, here’s a quote from a non-facilitator:  “Bought a set of Boomwhackers today.  They are a hoot.  Planning to take them to a family reunion. Great concept.”  We’re sure you’ll agree!