Category: Advice & Tips
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Peeing Blood Playing Djembe or Congas: “Percussion Hemoglobinuria”
I am not a medical doctor nor do I pretend to be a scientist. I can however, tell you my personal experience about the experience of peeing blood after playing, what’s been told to me and also what I have read. Then it is up to you to do what you have to do. It’s called… Read More »
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In Awe of The New School, But I love Folkloric traditional Styles
I love and I am in awe of the new school, the ballet style of drumming and the super fast hands and gymnastic like techniques of todays young and modern djembe foals. Truly amazing stuff. Beautiful and Intriguing. Most of all it impresses me. But…does it make me smile? And what am I feeling inside… Read More »
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The learning Process and Drumming
The learning process and drumming, transcending the illusion of ” I can’t”. I am constantly hearing people say, “I can’t do that, I can’t do this” when I am trying to teach them or share something new, “odd” or very different. I always get a lot of excuses. And they are often very convincing, because… Read More »
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How To Learn Difficult Rhythm Compositions
People often ask me, “how do I learn a new djembe rhythm composition”? and say “I can never remember how the parts go in west african drumming”!. Memorization is indeed challenging for most of us. I would like to tell you how I do it and offer some suggestions that may be helpful and fun.… Read More »
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Playing at speed, how to play faster or slower with out freaking out.
I have noticed that most of the time even those of us who practice djembe or dunu regularly are practicing at a normal comfortable speeds or moreover, the same speed with out knowing it. We may be learning new phrases or rhythms, but generally we default to our own comfortable natural speed. The problem is… Read More »
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Overwhelmed learning? Here is a plan for how to approach and learn west african drumming.
Overwhelmed trying to learn to play west african drums? We live in a day in age where we have so much information available to us via internet, youtube,facebook, books, cds, etc. that it is easy to get overwhelmed and not learn anything. For some people it is hard to focus on only one thing. They… Read More »
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One Style Or Different Drumming Styles? It’s All Music.
There are several different ways for serious students to learn and to study traditional and folkloric drumming from other countries. Today I am going to talk about two different approaches, completely different and both are valid in my book. We can try to be universal, find commonality and study the underlying principles and basic structures… Read More »
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Breaking Physical Habits
Most of us are unaware of our physical habits from our daily life that carry over when play drums.We all have ways we physically respond to everything that happens in our daily life. It’s unconscious for the most part and habitual as well. When we sit down (or stand ) to play drums we are… Read More »
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It’s easy to say “relax when you are drumming”, but how do you actually do it?
I know it’s easy to say “relax when you are drumming”, but how do you actually do it? I am always telling people to relax when they play and I also continually hear my teachers saying it to other as well. It is one of the most important things you need to do when playing… Read More »
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How to play stronger and faster
Recently several people have asked me about lifting or using a weight training exercise regimen to improve their speed when playing djembe. Specifically, arm training exercises. I have never seen weight lifting specifically for the arms or shoulders help people to gain speed. It is possible it works, I am not a weightlifting expert but… Read More »
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Wearing A Djembe Drum, Important Tips On Posture and Playing To Help You Play Easier With Out Pain
Playing the djembe drum standing up is very different then playing seated. You now have more volume but you also have a weight on your shoulders and therefore, lower back as well. Playing standing up takes time and patience to get used to and to learn and special training can help for this as well.… Read More »
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Speaking of Drumming
When we sit down to play drums or music with other people it is the same as having a conversation verbally with others. Drumming especially, is an oral tradition and a means of communication. When you are with friends and have a conversation you look at the other peoples eyes and you all don’t talk… Read More »