Tag: Drumming
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Studying Drumming In Mali Part #2
Part #2 An excerpt from my upcoming book When I was living and studying in Mali I would call a taxi in advance to deliver me and pick me up for my drum and dance classes. This was only partially effective. Often they simply would not show up on the return leg and it was… Read More »
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The yin and yang of call and response
The yin and yang of call and response. What does call and response really mean? If we look a West African drumming and any drumming from the West African Diaspora originally, it is a system set up of plus and minus, positive and negative, yin and yang, tension- release and call and response. For me… Read More »
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Groove and the pocket. The power of simplicity.
Groove and the pocket. The power of simplicity. When you are playing traditional style drumming, especially West African djembe based music you “hold” parts. Everyone is not playing whatever they want constantly. Each djembe player and each dunun player has basic set parts. The parts are part of alchemic formulas from who knows where originally.… Read More »
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Dispelling The Myth Of Talent
Dispelling the myth of talent. More often then not, something we see someone doing looks easier than it is or someone makes something look very easy. In this case let’s talk about hand drumming. When you see most of our drum masters play they are very relaxed and maybe they are smiling. Maybe we don’t… Read More »
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Drumming Is A Shared Experience
When you are drumming there are ways to play besides holding parts. But in a jam, dance class and even a performance when you are indeed holding a part, you are holding the space for others. It’s a shared experience. We have to leave space for each other. We support each other. There is more… Read More »
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Space The Final Frontier
“Space, the final frontier” What is it about space, that makes us want to put stuff in it? When we are playing music and drumming, why do so many of us completely fill the room with notes? If you were to listen back to two identical players playing to the same piece, the one who… Read More »
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Keeping your learning process simple!
Learning by starting simply There is so much amazing and wonderful information being shared online, in apps, youtube, books, Facebook and the wonderful retreats and classes happening such as the recent 20th Annual Wula Drum And Dance Retreat that just happened. When I first started studying drumming there was NO info, so in the last… Read More »
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crawl before you walk
Crawl before you walk. When studying and playing West African and Afro Cuban drums and rhythms, just like a baby you have to learn to crawl before you walk and walk before you run. If you don’t learn the basics, the fundamentals, handing techniques and the rudiments then you will have no foundation to work off… Read More »
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How to learn the djembe drum, where to start and what to do. My recommendations for beginners to advanced players.
Overwhelmed trying to learn to play west african drums? Is there too much info and you don’t know where to start? 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… Read More »
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a percussion fanatics tips on how to learn and enjoy studying drumming
I would like to share a percussion fanatics tip on how to learn and enjoy studying drumming on a continual basis. Many of us get overwhelmed by the wealth of information available to us on the internet and other sources. Because there is so much information it can cause the same effect as no information.… Read More »
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The Unifying Principle Of Drumming
If you have started your journey in studying hand drumming, or you are curious about how to learn more I applaud you here. And if you want to learn how to drum, you can learn the mechanics and you can learn somethings about the drum patterns of most hand drumming styles in many different places.… Read More »
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Learning to Play Drums is More Then Patterns
If you want to learn more then just rhythms and patterns and really want to know how to drum on the deepest levels and if you really want to grow, you have to challenge your brain and you have to do different stuff then you are used to or comfortable with. I see many people… Read More »