We went down to the Science Room armed only with the snare drum and a pair of drumsticks and took three table tennis balls out of the cupboard. While Lucas was playing, we dropped the three balls onto the skin of the drum to see whether the speed or volume of his playing would influence how high and far they bounced.  Having established the connection, we then tried the same experiment with hundreds of tiny polystyrene balls.  The effects were amazing, and the photos do not do them justice.  If we staged a similar experiment again, we would place black card behind the drum so that the balls’ trajectory could be followed more closely.