Drums for Schools Overview

0115 931 4513

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Dear Educator Many thanks for your interest in the Drums for Schools approach.

I hope the information in this short presentation will give you a good feel for what makes our approach so successful, and that it will encourage to join the hundreds of schools who are already seeing the enormous bene ts of bringing hands-on music-making in house.

The download includes: • Reviews from Teach Primary magazine • Articles about the costs and bene ts • Some example pages from our teaching resources: teaching guide, Scheme of work, lesson plans etc.

• If you’ve any questions at all, please email me or schedule a convenient time for a chat here.

With best wishes

Andy Gwatkin Director

drumsforschools

drumsforschools

drums-for-schools-limited

DrumsforSchools

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Drums for Schools Limited is Registered in England & Wales, Company Reg No: 5916170 at 19 The Green, Charlbury OX7 3QA. Sound Children is the trading name of Drums for Schools’ Early Years division.

DrumsforSchools

The Drums for Schools Advantage All the benefits of a Classical Music Education. . .

We make a very bold claim about the effectiveness of our approach to class music education, that “it delivers all the benefits of a classical music education but in a fraction of the time, at a fraction of the cost and for ALL pupils.” and you’d be justified in wanting to know how we can support such an extravagant promise.

As a first step let’s define what we mean by “all the benefits of a classical music education” and without getting into an argument about their relative importance, let’s list the main ones out under three headings: Life Skills, Musicianship, Academic Learning: Life Skills - Empathy, Listening, Initiative, Creativity, Self-discipline, Teamwork Musicianship - Instrumental skills, Improvisation skills, Performance skills, Aural memory Academic Learning - In depth knowledge, Notation skills, Compositional skills If the above is a reasonably complete list, then how does our world music-based approach measure up? Can it really deliver the same benefits? The following table scores classical instrumental and ensemble based learning and the world music-based approach for the scope they give in developing each of these skills.

The Drums for Schools Advantage

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You may be surprised just how high world music-based learning scores, but the fact is that most of the major world music styles are ancient and sophisticated traditions with extensive repertoires and considerable scope for developing all the same skills that are needed for and developed by classical ensemble playing. It is mainly unfamiliarity that has tended to make many classical musicians assume that world music traditions are in some way musically inferior — in a reverse of the norm, unfamiliarity has bred contempt.

Now let’s look at the second part of our claim, that the approach delivers these allimportant benefits a)

to ALL pupils

b)

in a fraction of the time

c)

at a fraction of the cost

a) The approach works for ALL pupils, regardless of ability and socio-economic background, because the instruments and the music are accessible. The basic playing techniques of most instruments can be picked up in less than an hour and although it may take hundreds or thousands of hours of dedicated practice to become a virtuoso djembe or gamelan player, many simple ensemble pieces can be played by complete beginners. So the instrument is not a barrier to progress. Similarly, the music is generally easily approachable (even if it’s foreign sounding to the classically trained western ear), and whole classes of children can be playing simple pieces successfully together right from the first lesson. b) The inherent accessibility of the instruments and music is the key to fast progress because the children can quickly make a good sound together, they are immediately engaged and encouraged to focus. Nothing succeeds like success and under the guidance of a good teacher its possible for a class of complete beginners to be performing together in front of the whole school after just a few hours. In a more normal situation, where the teacher is also new to the tradition and where there hasn’t been any expert input, it may take as many as 8 or 10 lessons for the class to get to performance level. But compare that with any classical musical instrument where 8 or 10 lessons might not even cover the basic playing techniques. c) Fast progress of course reduces costs significantly - but so does the fact that experts are not needed. These world music traditions really can be taught by any enthusiastic generalist teacher, enabling schools to make use of in-house manpower to extend their music department capability with just the occasional injection of expertise. As a third cost-minimising factor, there’s the cost, durability and ease of maintenance of world musical instruments and the fact that one set of instruments can be used by the whole school - there’s no need for one instrument per pupil.

The Drums for Schools Advantage

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The following table shows the approximate cost per pupil per year of teaching world music traditions with and without additional CPD and pupil workshops given by visiting experts. Please note that the figures are in £ not £‘000 and are based on a school with 300 pupils. The cost-effectiveness of the approach is clear with total annual costs for all 300 pupils of between £250, if all the teaching is carried out in-house and £2,150, if visiting experts and CPD training is added to the mix.

Assumptions: 1. School of 300 pupils in 10 classes of 30 pupils each Cost of musical instruments written off over 1 year (percussion) or 5 years (other instruments) 2. Three lessons per class per year from a visiting expert Three twilight sessions of professional development training per year for 10 class teachers

Finally, consider the above in the light of the benefits accruing to pupils, school and community and the speed with which the benefits will arise. There really is nothing that comes close to the educational cost-effectiveness of the Drums for Schools approach.

NOTE: the Drums for Schools “learning by playing” approach has been developed, tested and refined over twenty years of actual class teaching, initially in primary schools in the Bristol region of the UK and later extended to Foundation Stage and Secondary levels in schools all over the UK and internationally. It is currently being applied successfully in literally hundreds of state-funded and independent schools in the UK, the Gulf, South East Asia and the USA.

The Drums for Schools Advantage

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Delivering the Benefits The Drums for Schools approach to whole class instrumental teaching

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Introduction The National Music Plan gives schools the primary responsibility for delivering a high quality music education to their pupils and insists that every pupil should have the opportunity to learn an instrument and make music with others. Impossibly demanding? A pipe dream? I don’t think so.

!

Drums for Schools already has tried and tested programmes which are delivering classroom based instrumental teaching which is:

!

!

•

Inclusive of ALL pupils

•

Enjoyable and yet academically rigorous

•

Coherent, linking both to the music and the general syllabus

•

Progressive, taking pupils from KS1 smoothly through to KS3 and beyond

•

Demonstrably cost-effective

Here’s what’s already in place For many years now we’ve been using world music styles - African Drumming, Gamelan, Samba, Steel Pans, Taiko and Class-percussion to deliver Wider Opportunities (now called First Access) instrumental and ensemble lessons. We’ve developed these further into programmes that are suitable for pupils in all key stages and which can run over a full year, or longer.

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These world music styles are popular with the children and with school staff and that's vitally important as it makes the teaching and the learning so much easier. I make no apology for the fact that the lessons are enjoyable - yes, they're fun for pupils and teachers and, as I'll show below, they're also extremely effective and generate an enormous amount of real musical learning.

The styles are also naturally accessible and inclusive Children don't feel excluded for reasons of cultural background or ability and because the instruments we use are technically quite easy for beginners to get to grips with, relatively little time has to be spent on technique and so most of the lesson time can be spent actually playing.

The Drums for Schools Approach to Whole Class Instrumental Teaching

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Although the teaching is accessible and we can ensure that no one get’s left behind, we are still able to challenge the more able pupils with more demanding part playing.

!

For example in African Drumming the rhythms are made up from three parts with a simple bass part on the large drums maintaining a steady pulse, a slightly more complex part on the medium drums and a challenging part with more sophisticated rhythms on the smaller drums - all linking in with the standard lesson plan objectives that every lesson should contain outcomes that all pupils can achieve, further outcomes that most will be able to achieve and higher outcomes that some (a few) will be able to attain. Similar types of differentiation are found in nearly all world music styles.

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The teaching is rigorous and coherent But despite being popular, accessible and inclusive these styles are also rigorous and educationally potent. In the course of a term’s lessons we cover both theoretically and practically:

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•

All the Elements of Music - Including rhythm, tempo and pulse, pitch, dynamics, duration, texture and structure.

•

Musical Notation - grid notation, graphic notation, cipher notation and stave notation are all used in the teaching of the world musical styles and in response to OFSTED we will soon be publishing a guide on how you can simply convert any of the above notation systems into classical western stave notation.

•

Improvisation - Soloing within the ensemble and building upon a thematic musical style.

•

Composition - Once pupils understand the way a musical style is put together they are encouraged to make up their own musical representations in the style.

•

Performance - All our projects conclude at the end of the first term’s work with a short performance and larger concerts can be organised in the school or community.

And all the theoretical learning, although rigorous, is relatively painless for the pupils and it’s all the more effective because it's being continually reinforced by the practical playing.

!

In terms of coherence, it’s evident from the preceding summary of content that these world music programmes dovetail very neatly with the traditional music syllabus. And they can also fit the ethos of each school and link across subjects. Many schools are twinned with other schools around the world and I have found this a useful hook on which to hang a world music programme as the school will often be doing other curriculum work tied in with this - in History, Geography, Languages and even Maths - that can be further supported by its music programme.

! !

The Drums for Schools Approach to Whole Class Instrumental Teaching

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The teaching is progressive World music programmes also have legs and can deliver progression – they’re by no means one term wonders. We have developed a set of teaching guides and a repertoire of ensemble pieces that allow continuous progression over three or more terms. It's also possible to build in lateral progression by adding a new style - starting with African Drumming and then adding a module on Steel Pans for example. This helps to reinforce the learning and give a broader musical perspective. We've also now developed a Level 2 program for African Drumming, designed for more advanced groups, which extends both repertoire, range of instruments and technique. An example of this is the introduction of the Balafon or African Xylophone to allow pupils to play simple cyclic melodies. We'll be adding Level 2 programs for Gamelan, Samba, World Percussion and the other styles with the aim of having a complete 6 to 12 term program for each style.

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The programmes are astonishingly cost-effective Cost effectiveness and value for money are concepts which were built into our program from the outset. We developed sets of instruments and teaching materials that are affordable and cost-effective, costing as little as £1 per pupil per year. The table below gives an idea of the economics and the quite startling value for money for a school with 10 classes of 30 pupils.

!

Cost per pupil per year Instruments

Specialist Training

CPD

Total cost per pupil per year

World Percussion

£0.9

£3

£3

£6.9

African Drumming

£0.8

£3

£3

£6.8

Indonesian Gamelan

£1.2

£3

£3

£7.2

Brazilian Samba

£1.0

£3

£3

£7.0

£1.4

£3

£3

£7.4

Style

!Caribbean Steel Pans ta

Assumptions: Thirty lessons per year delivered to ten classes of thirty pupils each. Three lessons led by professional musicians (introduction, evaluation, master classes and performance preparation) and the remainder led by in-house teachers. Support for in-house teachers includes teaching guides, lesson plans, mentoring, three CPD training days per year and online video, audio and written teaching materials. Cost of instruments written off over five years (one year for World Percussion), though in practice the instruments properly looked after will give service for ten years or more.

The Drums for Schools Approach to Whole Class Instrumental Teaching

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Conclusion

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If you've not seriously looked at World Musical styles before I hope the above overview will encourage you to do so. I've personally seen the benefits of the approach at first hand in so many schools that I rather take it for granted but I do realise that for some it may seem a radical approach.

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There's another major advantage of this approach that I've not yet mentioned but that is very important and which does in fact make it truly radical:

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All these world musical styles can be taught successfully by

!

enthusiastic generalist teachers.

This means that the school and teachers are taking the lead themselves in developing their own musical culture. The result is that we get away from the all too common situation where music and music making is a weekly import that comes and goes with the visiting music professional.

It also means that the music department can quickly develop new teaching skills in-house and extend its relevance and reach to EVERY pupil.

!

In my experience there's really nothing that comes close to these world music styles, if taught properly, for delivering a rigorous, progressive and cost-effective music education that has real musical depth and results in real musical learning for ALL pupils. If we could roll this out to every school, we could transform the overall quality of music education in just a few years and make music making and musicianship a right for every pupil, not just for the fortunate minority. The collateral benefits for our schools and for society would be enormous.

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Andy Gleadhill !

Andy Gleadhill is a Musician, Educationalist and Ethnomusicologist. He is the former Head of the music education hub Bristol Plays Music, a visiting lecturer at Bath Spa University and Chief Musical Adviser and Head of CPD Training at Drums for Schools.

The Drums for Schools Approach to Whole Class Instrumental Teaching

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Review p109 qx

25/2/11

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REVIEW

Junior 8 Djembe African Drumming Package Contact: drumsforschools.co.uk Price: £349 Reviewed by Marc Bowen

D

oes the prospect of teaching music fill you with dread? Is your inability to squeeze a tune out of a recorder a closely guarded secret? Fear not, the Junior 8 Djembe African Drumming Package – which includes Andy Gleadhill’s very useful African drumming guide – is here to lead you by the hand on a musical odyssey.

Many schools are now developing creative approaches to teaching across the curriculum, but the learning experiences we provide in music are often limited by our own musical ability. It is true that there are numerous professional musicians who now work with schools, offering inspirational workshops that can be enjoyed by children and adults alike. However, the cost of these events can easily run into hundreds of pounds and the school loses these skills when the musician packs up his instruments and leaves.

This resource, on the other hand, offers the experience and expertise of a professional musician, Andy Gleadhill, and is presented in way that supports the least musical of teachers. The package includes eight traditional Djembe drums of various sizes and percussion instruments including an agogo, clapsticks and seseh shakers.

These instruments are of an excellent quality and will withstand the most vigorous of performances. However, the real strength of the

VERDICT: THE RHYTHM’S GONNA GET YOU! How many of your music lessons have resulted in children saying ‘That was awesome!’, ‘When are we drumming again?’ or ‘I’m going to ask my mum for lessons’? This Drums for Schools resource created these responses in my classroom. This is an essential resource for any teacher or school looking to develop truly inspirational musical experiences for all children, whilst also providing opportunities to learn about African cultures in a meaningful and enjoyable way.

resource is in the teacher’s guide and CD that has been produced to support teachers in making effective use of the instruments.

Prior to working with this resource I had no experience of Djembe drumming and certainly had no understanding of the specific skills needed to create a competent performance. It is no exaggeration to say that, thanks to the accessible and direct guidance in the teacher’s book, I was confidently developing the correct drumming technique and producing the basic notes within minutes of first using the equipment. The fact that I could quickly read, understand and apply the guidance within the teaching book meant that I was happy to experiment with the drums myself.

My early success with the Djembe drums quickly led me to apply the techniques with my class of Year 5/6 children. I was truly amazed by the outcome of the first session. Relying heavily on Andy Gleadhill’s guidance, I taught the children the ways in which to produce the basic notes and how to create notes of different durations. From this point on, the whole class experimented with different combinations of these basic skills to produce a pleasing performance, which also incorporated the percussion instruments that were provided. As I have a large class, I needed to include some of our existing percussion equipment. Again, the teacher’s guide provided support by suggesting which of the common primary school percussion instruments could be incorporated into a Djembe performance.

Spurred on by our initial success, my class and I rapidly progressed through the sequence of 10 lessons in the teacher’s guide, which was also brilliantly supported by backing tracks on the accompanying CD. Overall, the resource created one of my most memorable experiences as a teacher. I was genuinely learning alongside the children and we all felt empowered to experiment, compose and perform our own Djembe pieces.

Singing shapes TEACH YOUR CLASS THE RECTANGLE RUMBA...

This collection of seven songs by Sam Dixon is designed to teach 3-6 year olds about shapes. The book comes with piano/vocal arrangements, colouring pages, lyrics, dance suggestions and a CD. Each song has its own character and musical style to highlight the nature of the shape. Children count the four beats of Mr Square’s hoe-down; rock and roll with Mr Circle; point in all directions with Super Star and do the Rectangle Rumba.

As the children join in, they practise the exaggerated shapes that encourage motor control in early writing, and have a lot of fun! Visit songchest.com

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80

REVIEW

MUSIC

Drums for Schools A package of instruments that can help you teach students about African culture and music from a standing start AT A GLANCE Contains five hand-crafted Djembe drums and ten percussion instruments Includes two step-by-step teaching guides written by a leading authority on world music education l Extensive online audio and video support with accompanying lesson plans l Drum sizes suitable for both teens and adults l Aimed at beginners to intermediate players l Supplied tuned and ready to go ‘out of the box’ l One of a range of ready-to-go sets for from 5 to 30 players l l

REVIEW BY JOHN DABELL The impressive ‘African Drumming – Secondary – 15 Player Class Set’ from Drums for Schools consists of five high quality wooden Djembe drums and 10 items of hand percussion for creating a range of authentic African drumming sounds, allowing any secondary teacher to lead a group or class to performance level in just one term. The djembe is a single-headed, gobletshaped membranophone that’s played with the hands, and is arguably the star of the West African percussion ensemble.

The mix of drums in the set will produce a good musical balance between the three voices in most African Drumming tunes. The drums come in three sizes, and are all hand-made from responsibly sourced sustainable wood. Built for serious, long-term classroom use, they’re well-tuned, easy to learn and versatile, capable of producing a wide range of sounds.

The aforementioned hand percussion consists of two natural agogos, four beaded shakers and four basket shakers that fill out the ensemble parts, and help to ensure that your percussion sessions can become enjoyable teamwork activities.

The package also includes two teaching guides written by renowned ethnomusicologist Andy Gleadhill – one focused on African drumming and another on percussion – that cover basic playing techniques, include staged lesson plans and provide everything you’ll need to get up and running in no time. These are supported with a free, extensive online library of further downloadable lesson plans, video

and audio clips, along with recorded examples of all the exercises in the books.

Playing these wonderful instruments will help students to understand how drums play an important role across many aspects of culture in African countries, spanning the physical, emotional and spiritual. They will learn how drums are played to communicate emotions, send messages, tell stories, celebrate, mourn and inspire, and how they’re inextricably linked with singing and dancing.

By then making such music themselves, the act of drumming itself can help to enhance students’ wellbeing and mindfulness, and foster a sense of collective belonging and community. It’s a perfect activity for encouraging self-expression, developing self-esteem and reducing stress, while at the same time improving students’ dexterity, flexibility, strength, precision and endurance.

The Djembe has been dubbed the ‘magic drum’ for its ability to move people, and the ‘healing drum’ for its use in healing traditions.

The activities facilitated by this brilliant class pack will really speak to students and get them energised. As well as giving students the chance to impress friends and family with their newly acquired rhythmic skills, it can lend a whole other layer of enjoyment to your musical offer and even play a role in providing music therapy.

The Djembe is known as the drum of a thousand voices. This set offers teachers a thousand opportunities to create something really special for all students.

“The act of drumming can enhance students’ wellbeing and mindfulness”

VERDICT ✓ An affordable drumming solution that can be used in a range of teaching and extracurricular contexts ✓ Accessible activities, with no prior music experience required ✓ The equipment is extremely tough, built to withstand heavy use over many years ✓ Can help to foster an interest in other cultures and histories ✓ Will help to boost participants’ listening skills, rhythm and musical confidence

PICK UP IF...

You’re looking for a programme of inclusive musical activities that employ real instruments, in which everyone can be an active and engaged participant

£563 (excl. VAT) – for more details and free teaching resources, visit drumsforschools.com

teachwire.net/secondary

REVIEWS

MUSIC

Drums for Schools – world percussion set A delightful collection of world music instruments supported by teaching resources AT A GLANCE Authentic and appealing instruments A range of sets available to suit different school sizes and budgets Backed by clear and informative teaching resources No prior music skills or training required Instructions that build confidence towards whole-class performances REVIEWED BY: MIKE DAVIES I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that, if you struggle with teaching music in primary school, your discomfort will fall into one of two categories. One is that you worry you are not particularly musical. The other is that you actually love music, which is why you finish each lesson with a sigh of relief and either a massive headache or a funny twitch.

Fortunately, there is something that could restore your confidence or rekindle your passion for the subject. Drums for Schools is an award-winning, specialist provider of instruments and related teacher support. Their attractive, authentic instruments from around the globe can bring many layers of joy to any classroom.

Take their world percussion set, for example. Even the process of unpacking it creates a flutter of excitement, not least because the instruments are so beautiful.

Made from natural materials in a traditional style, they look and feel special and are an education in themselves, just from inspecting how they are made. The Bento shakers, for example, incorporate fruit husks from the breadfruit plant. You can see how the maracas are made from gourds or

coconuts. There are also lovely design details on the handles of lots of them.

As well as producing a rich variety of percussion sounds, the instruments include a few that can generate a tune.

The metallophone produces gorgeously clear, resonant notes. I also loved the M’bira thumb piano, both for the warmth of its tone and the appeal of its design.

You’ll be glad to learn that set comes with handy booklets that help the teacher make the most of the instruments. These provide interesting insights into their’ construction and places of origin, along with explanations as to how each one should be played, backed by QR code-linked videos.

More importantly, they suggest a range of activities for using the instruments as a class. These come with full instructions and an easy-to-follow grid notation that makes it absolutely clear who hits what, how and when. Ultimately, they show you how to get the whole group playing a selection of tunes in unison.

As well as hitting curriculum objectives, these activities will help pupils enjoy the real sense of achievement that comes from making music as a group. In fact, I can see it delivering genuine benefits in terms of class cohesion, self-esteem and team-building skills. Beat that!

VERDICT Gorgeous to look at Easy to use Fun to play Inspires teacher confidence Remarkably good value

UPGRADE IF...

You want to bring the wow factor to your music lessons and get your class working in harmony. A great value and completely original approach to exploring a range of world music – and culture – in your classroom.

Primary sets from £179 0115 931 4513 drumsforschools.com www.teachwire.net | 97

© Drums for Schools Ltd. Teaching support and resources available from www.drumsforschools.com

African Drumming – A Primary Scheme of Work Resource An Overview and ten lesson plans that will take your class from first skills to first performance.

Compiled by Richard McKerron with core content from Andy Gleadhill

At Drums for Schools we understand that teachers don’t just need a detailed resource book to help with the delivery of material unfamiliar to them, they also benefit from ‘Quick Reference’ lesson plans that will allow them to stay on track at a glance. The ten lesson plans and Overview document that we provide here are based upon content from ‘Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 1’ and act as an accompaniment to it. You can use this resource to teach African Drumming to your classes, but we recommend that you acquire a copy of the book in order to fully grasp the concepts and warm-up techniques for yourself.

Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming – Primary Lesson Plans Overview Objectives

Lesson Lesson One



Content and Activities 



To learn how to hold the drums and maintain the correct playing position To learn Open tone.

Lesson Two

 

To learn Bass tone.

To maintain a steady beat.



Lesson Three



To understand the connection between tempo and pulse, perform at different tempos and understand the difference between long and short notes.



Lesson Four

 

To begin to learn our first African tune, Conga.

To be able to put this rhythm into a musical structure.

 

Students will engage in a full regime of warm-up exercises.

Students will begin to piece together a full performance of a rhythm called ‘Conga’.

Lesson Five



To understand how to develop the first African tune, Conga.

To be able to add in a Call and Response pattern.

 

Students will engage in a full regime of warm-up exercises.

Students will separate out sections of ‘Conga’ and begin to learn Call and Response technique.





Key Musical Vocabulary: Africa, rhythm, djembe, Open tone, High tone, Bass tone, Low tone, Call and Response, Master Drummer, repeat, structure, pattern, warm-up.

All: Will be able to play a simple pulse using Open tone and Bass tone.





Students will engage in a teacher led discussion on Africa, as well as learn how to correctly hold the drum.

Open tone and some simple rhythms will be learnt.

Students will engage in warm-up exercises, learn the difference between Open tone and Bass tone.

Students will understand the cipher of H and L in the score.

Students will engage in more complex warm-up exercises and will understand how to extend a sound into a roll.

Students will understand the cipher of S and L in the score.

Resources Required: Djembe drums, performance space.

Most: Will be able to perform a majority of the rhythm with minimal errors.

Some: Will take a lead role in directing and supporting others.

© Drums for Schools Ltd. Teaching support and resources available from www.drumsforschools.com

Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming – Primary Lesson Plans Overview Lesson

Objectives

Content and Activities

To understand how to develop the first African tune, Conga.

To be able to add in a Call and Response.

 

Students will engage in a full regime of warm-up exercises.

Students will develop the main rhythm as well as consolidate the Call and Response work.



To start creating a performance ready showcase of African Drumming.

To play with loud and soft dynamics.

 

Students will engage in a full regime of warm-up exercises.

Students will practice performing a substantial portion of the piece, linking different sections.

Lesson Eight

 

To further develop the performance of the Conga tune.

To create our own Call and Response pattern.

 

Students will engage in a full regime of warm-up exercises.

Students will practise and learn the full piece dynamically, building sections up using Call and response in between.

Lesson Nine



To be able to play the Conga tune structure ready for performance.

 

Students will engage in a full regime of warm-up exercises.

Students will practise the full structure ready for the performance next session.

Lesson Ten



To perform the full Conga arrangement to an audience.



Students will perform their set piece in front of an audience.

Lesson Six



Lesson Seven





Key Musical Vocabulary: Africa, rhythm, djembe, Open tone, High tone, Bass tone, Low tone, Call and Response, Master Drummer, repeat, structure, pattern, warm-up.

All: Will be able to play a simple pulse using Open tone and Bass tone.

Resources Required: Djembe drums, performance space.

Most: Will be able to perform a majority of the rhythm with minimal errors.

Some: Will take a lead role in directing and supporting others.

© Drums for Schools Ltd. Teaching support and resources available from www.drumsforschools.com

Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming – Primary Lesson Plans Lesson One – Quick Reference Objective  To learn how to hold the drums and maintain the correct playing position.  To learn Open tone.

Page Reference

Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 1.

Outcome  Students will be able to control the drums and play an Open tone with the correct hand position.

Warm-up and Starter  Talk about the music of Africa and the importance of drumming.  Students should become relaxed and “Ready to Play”. With students copying you, shake your arms and hands loosely by your side and roll your head around to relax the neck.

Chapter 1: Introduction.

Main Activity  With the students in a semi-circle facing the teacher, explain the correct way to hold the drum while seated.  Explain why the drum has to be held in the correct position off the floor.  Explain the correct hand position on the drum and playing technique to create the “Open tone”.  Explain the Meaning of the letters R and L and concentrate on maintaining a steady beat (Exercise 1a).

Chapter 2: Basic Playing Techniques; Playing position, Producing the sounds, The Open tone and Setting up the room.

Chapter 3: Grid Music.

Chapter 4: Warm-up Exercises; 1a.

Call and Response Activity  Play simple four beat rhythms for the students to play straight back to you in a Call and Response style.

Chapter 5: Call and Response; A Rhythm to Repeat.

Plenary  What went well?  What can be done better next time?  Ask the students to agree on what went well and what needs to be worked upon.

Performance  Help the students play a performance of exercise 4A.

© Drums for Schools Ltd. Teaching support and resources available from www.drumsforschools.com

Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming – Primary Lesson Plans Lesson Two – Quick Reference

Page Reference

Objective  To learn Bass tone.  To maintain a steady beat.

Outcome  Students understand the difference between Open tone and Bass tone on the djembe and be able to play with a steady rhythm.

Warm-up and Starter  Get the students “ready to play”.  Students to revise drum holding and posture for an Open tone on the djembe.  Play warm-up exercise 1a, a steady beat, one hand after the other.

Main Activity  Explain the difference between an “Open tone” and “Bass tone” sound on the djembe.  Explain the technique required to produce a Bass tone on the djembe.  Explain the meaning of H and L in the grid music.

Call and Response Activity  Work on increasing the accuracy of the “repeat after me” rhythms.

Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 1.

Chapter 2: Basic Playing Techniques; Producing the sounds, The Open tone and Setting up the room.

Chapter 3: Grid Music.

Chapter 4: Warm-up Exercises; 1a.

Chapter 2: Basic Playing Techniques; The Open tone, The Bass tone.

Chapter 3: Grid Music.

Chapter 4: Warm-up Exercises; Highs and Lows – 2a.

Chapter 5: Call and Response; A Rhythm to Repeat.

Plenary  What went well?  What can be done better next time?  Ask the students to agree on what went well and what needs to be worked upon.

Performance  Help the students play a performance of Four Highs and Four Lows.

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Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming – Primary Lesson Plans Lesson Three – Quick Reference Objective  To understand the connection between tempo and pulse.  To understand different tempi by playing a steady beat played at a normal tempo, followed by double speed, normal speed and half speed.  To understand the difference between long and short notes.

Outcome  Students will be able to maintain a steady pulse and switch to double speed and half speed whilst maintaining a consistent underlying pulse throughout.  Students will be able to play a combination of long and short notes.

Page Reference

Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 1.

Warm-up and Starter  Get the students “ready to play”. Play warm-up exercises with a steady rhythm, one hand after the other, RLRL RLRL.  Play warm-up exercises with a steady rhythm, two beats per hand, RRLL RRLL.  Play warm-up exercises with a steady rhythm, using a paradiddle of mixed beats, RLRR LRLL.

Chapter 4: Warm-up Exercises; 1a, 1b, 1c.

Main Activity  Explain that so far we have only played short notes on the djembe. To play a long note we need to sustain the sound by performing a drum roll by using one hand after the other as quickly as possible.  We now need to control the fast roll to equal the same amount of time as two short notes.

Chapter 4: Warm-up Exercises; 3a, 3b, 3c and 3d.

Call and Response Activity  Students can create their own rhythms to copy and repeat.

Chapter 5: Call and Response; A Rhythm to Repeat.

Plenary  What went well? What can be done better next time? Ask the students to agree on what went well and what needs to be worked upon.

Performance  Play a performance of two short notes followed by one long note of the same musical duration. Split the class into two groups with one half playing ‘Short, Short, Long’ and the other half playing ‘Long, Short. Short’ (Exercise 3c).

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Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming – Primary Lesson Plans Lesson Four – Quick Reference Objective  To begin to learn our first African tune, Conga.  To be able to put this rhythm into a musical structure.

Outcome  Students will learn and play different rhythms. Students will then be able to put these rhythms together into a musical structure.

Warm-up and Starter  Get the students “ready to play”.  From now on all lessons can begin with the warm-up exercises of; RLRL RLRL

RRLL RRLL

RLRR LRLL

HLHL HLHL

HHLLHHLL

HLHHLHLL

Page Reference

Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 1.

Chapter 4: Warm-up Exercises; 1a, 1b, 1c, 2a, 2b, 2c, 3a and 3b.

and Short, Short, Long.

Main Activity  Learning Conga. Begin by modelling the four beat phrase “Everybody” on the Bass tone and the students responding with the two beat “Conga” on the Open tone.  Split the group with one half playing the four beat “Everybody” and the other half playing the two beat “Conga”.

Call and Response Activity  Students can continue creating their own Call and Response rhythms to copy and repeat.

Chapter 9: Ten Tunes; Tune 7 – The Conga.

Chapter 6: Creating a Performance.

Chapter 5: Call and Response; A Rhythm to Repeat.

Plenary  What went well?  What can be done better next time?  Ask the students to agree on what went well and what needs to be worked upon.

Performance  Try a basic performance of the beginnings of the rhythm Conga that has been taught this lesson.

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Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming – Primary Lesson Plans Lesson Five – Quick Reference Objective To understand how to develop the first African tune, Conga.

To be able to add in a Call and Response pattern.

Outcome Students will be able to play different parts of the African tune.

Students will understand how the Call and Response works within the performance.

Page Reference

Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 1.

Warm-up and Starter  Get the students “ready to play”.  Go through the full warm up regime; RLRL RLRL HLHL HLHL

RRLL RRLL HHLLHHLL

RLRR LRLL HLHHLHLL

Chapter 4: Warm-up Exercises; 1a, 1b, 1c, 2a, 2b, 2c, 3a and 3b.

and Short, Short, Long. Split into two groups and add Long, Short, Short.

Main Activity  In addition to the previous lesson’s Conga rhythm, students are now to play both parts together. Four Bass tones for “Everybody” and then two Open tones for “Conga”.  Play the two Open tones as flams with both hands striking the drum together.

Call and Response Activity Teach the students the “Eating Bananas” rhythm as a Call and Response activity after two blasts on a whistle.

Chapter 9: Ten Tunes; Tune 7 – The Conga.

Chapter 6: Creating a Performance.

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Chapter 5: Call and Response; A Rhythm to Repeat.

Plenary  Discuss with the students how they think they are progressing. Are all the students engaged for the whole lesson? What are the students enjoying?

Performance  From now on, end each lesson with a performance of the Conga rhythm, adding in the new material that has been learned each lesson.

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Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming – Primary Lesson Plans Lesson Six – Quick Reference Objective  To understand how to develop the first African tune, Conga.  To be able to add in a Call and Response pattern.

Outcome  Students will be able to play different parts of the African tune.  Students will understand how the Call and Response works within the performance.

Warm-up and Starter  Get the students “ready to play”.  Go through the full warm up regime; RLRL RLRL HLHL HLHL

RRLL RRLL HHLLHHLL

RLRR LRLL HLHHLHLL

Page Reference

Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 1.

Chapter 4: Warm-up Exercises; 1a, 1b, 1c, 2a, 2b, 2c, 3a, 3b and 3c.

and Short, Short, Long. Split into two groups and add Long, Short, Short.

Main Activity  Practise the Conga rhythm with only the leader playing the four beat Bass tone “Everybody” part and the group responding with the two beat Open tone “Conga” part.  Split the group into two with half playing “Everybody” and the rest responding with “Conga”.  Build up to everybody playing the full tune together.

Call and Response Activity  Now play the “Eating Bananas” rhythm after two blasts on the whistle. Follow this with the “Gives You Energy” rhythm after two further blasts.

Chapter 9: Ten Tunes; Tune 7 – The Conga.

Chapter 6: Creating a Performance.

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Chapter 5: Call and Response; Exercise 2a.

Drums for Schools MP3 Downloads.

Plenary  What went well? What can be done better next time? Ask the students to agree on what went well and what needs to be worked upon.

Performance  Perform the three parts of the Conga tune learned so far. © Drums for Schools Ltd. Teaching support and resources available from www.drumsforschools.com

Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming – Primary Lesson Plans Lesson Seven – Quick Reference Objective  To start creating a performance ready showcase of African Drumming.  To play with loud and soft dynamics.

Page Reference

Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 1.

Outcome  Students will be play confidently and musically using a range of planned dynamics.

Warm-up and Starter  Get the students “ready to play”.  Go through the full warm-up regime.  Introduce dynamics by having half the group perform ‘Short, Short, Long’ using Bass tone, Bass tone, Open tone. They are to play the Bass tones as quietly as possible and the Open tones as loudly as possible.  The other half of the group are to play Open tone, Open tone, Bass tones to the same rhythm, with their initial Open tones as loud as possible and the Bass tones as quiet as possible.

Main Activity  Practise linking the three sections of the Conga tune together with the “Eating Bananas” Call and Response.

Call and Response Activity  Students can continue to play the whole of the “Eating Bananas” Call and Response and start to use it to join together the different sections of the Conga tune.

Chapter 4: Warm-up Exercises; 1a, 1b, 1c, 2a, 2b, 2c, 3a, 3b and 3c.

Chapter 9: Ten Tunes; Tune 7 – The Conga.

Chapter 6: Creating a Performance.

Drums for Schools YouTube Videos.

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Chapter 5: Call and response; Exercise 2a.

Drums for Schools MP3.

Downloads.

Plenary  Discuss with the students what went well. Are the lessons at the appropriate level? Is the pace of the lesson suitable? What can be done to improve next lesson?

Performance  Perform the three parts of the Conga tune linked together using the Call and Response learned so far.

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Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming – Primary Lesson Plans Lesson Eight – Quick Reference Objective  To further develop the performance of the Conga tune.  To create our own Call and Response pattern.

Outcome  Students will know the structure of their performance.  Students will work together effectively to create their own Call and Response pattern.

Warm-up and Starter  Get the students “ready to play”.  Go through the full warm-up regime.

Main Activity  Practise the Conga tune with only the leader playing the four beat Bass tone “Everybody” part and the group responding with the two beat Open tone “Conga” part.  Split the group into two with half playing “Everybody” and the rest responding with “Conga”.  Build up to everybody playing the full tune together.  Practise this again, but in-between each section, use the “Eating Bananas” Call and Response rhythm to change between each of the three sections seamlessly.  Pick one of the students own Call and Response sections to finish the piece.

Call and Response Activity  Students can perfect their own Call and Response patterns to finish their performances.

Page Reference

Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 1.

Chapter 4: Warm-up Exercises; 1a, 1b, 1c, 2a, 2b, 2c, 3a, 3b and 3c.

Chapter 9: Ten Tunes; Tune 7 – The Conga.

Chapter 6: Creating a Performance.

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Chapter 5: A Rhythm to Repeat.

Chapter 6: Creating a Performance.

Plenary  Discuss with the students how they are responding to the task of creating their own Call and Response rhythms. What is going well? What can they do to improve them?

Performance  Practise performing the whole piece including their own Call and Response section.

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Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming – Primary Lesson Plans Lesson Nine – Quick Reference

Page Reference

Objective  To be able to play the entire Conga tune structure ready for performance.

Outcome  Students will be able to perform the entire Conga tune and structure with confidence.

Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 1.

Warm-up and Starter  Get the students “ready to play”.  Go through the full warm-up regime.  Practice being “Ready to Perform Before an Audience”.

Chapter 4: Warm-up Exercises; 1a, 1b, 1c, 2a, 2b, 2c, 3a, 3b and 3c.

Main Activity  Practise the Conga tune using the agreed structure.  “Eating Bananas” Call and Response.

Leader plays the four Bass tone rhythm of “Everybody” and the group responds with the two beat Open tone “Conga” rhythm.

“Eating Bananas” Call and Response.

Split the group so that half play “Everybody” and the other half play “Conga”.

“Eating Bananas” Call and Response.

Everybody playing the full rhythm together.

Student created Call and Response to finish.

Chapter 9: Ten Tunes; Tune 7 – The Conga.

Chapter 6: Creating a Performance.

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Call and Response Activity  Students can perfect their own Call and Response patterns to finish their performances.

Chapter 6: Creating a Performance.

Plenary  Discuss with the students what they hope to achieve with their performance.  How will they know if it has gone well?

Performance  Practise performing the whole piece including their own Call and Response section.

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Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming – Primary Lesson Plans Lesson Ten – Quick Reference

Page Reference

Objective  To perform the full Conga arrangement to an audience.

Outcome  Students will have a sense of achievement by performing “in public” to an audience.  Students will have a sense of pride in a piece of music that they have had a hand in composing and structuring.

Warm-up and Starter  Relax and become “Ready to Perform”.

Main Activity  The Performance.  Try to make the performance as much as an “event” as possible. Invite parents, friends or other classes to come and watch. Dress up in traditional African colours and prepare some African food to share.  Most importantly, enjoy sharing what the students have achieved.

Call and Response Activity  Students can continue beyond the showcase by creating their own rhythms to perform.  These can then be added to a “set” which the students could perform on another occasion.

Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 1.

Chapter 6: Creating a Performance.

Chapter 9: Ten Tunes; Tune 7 – The Conga.

Chapter 6: Creating a Performance.

Drums for Schools YouTube Videos.

Drums for Schools MP3 Downloads.

Chapter 5: A Rhythm to Repeat.

Plenary  Discuss with the students what went well.  What would they like to perform next time?  What would they do differently next time?

© Drums for Schools Ltd. Teaching support and resources available from www.drumsforschools.com

© Drums for Schools Ltd. Teaching support and resources available from www.drumsforschools.com

African Drumming – An Extended Introduction Basics and further reading for both teachers and non-music specialists.

Compiled by Richard McKerron with core content from Andy Gleadhill

At Drums for Schools Ltd we appreciate that even with full support and encouragement, some of you may wish to dig a little deeper very early on in order to feel confident about teaching a particular area. You may wish to read around the subject and choose for yourself which key areas to embellish further in your lessons but not be entirely sure what information should be classed as relevant. To this end, Richard McKerron has written this introductory article which utilises information from Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Books 1 and 2, as well as more in depth information from further afield. This will give you a strong starting point to read on even further, or in isolation provide you with enough information to answer the trickier questions that may be put to you within a lesson. A series of videos has also been uploaded in support of the article which will help you develop the basics with confidence, and these are embedded in the PDF document as blue hyperlinks.

Contents Page 3: General Introduction Page 3: What Is Special About West African Drumming And Why Should You Do It? Page 4: How Could You Introduce West African Drumming To Your School?

Page 5: What Could You Achieve?

-

In a day In a term In a year In three years

Page 6: Benefits  Benefit to students  Benefit to teachers  Benefit to whole school and community Page 9: History and Cultural Background    

Context and delivery West Africa, tribal influences Reasons for drumming in the villages Influences on other cultures

Page 13: The Instruments    

Djembe Dunun Bell Talking Drum

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 African Bongos  Balafon Page 16: How the Instruments Are Made Page 18: General Technique      

Andy Gleadhill books Drum Positioning for Djembe Detailed technique for Djembe (Bass, Tone, Slap) Bass Tone (Low sound, Bass) Open Tone (High sound, Tone) Slap

Page 22: Master Drummer Page 23: Grid Notation Page 24: Warm-Up Exercises Page 28: Call and Response Page 30: Soloing

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General Introduction Music is an important part of life in Africa and fulfils many roles. Music is used in religious rituals, at ceremonies such as weddings, funerals and the birth of a child, as well as an accompaniment to day-to-day activities. There is music for working in the fields, tending cattle and collecting water as well as vastly contrasting music used for anything from lullabies to war songs.

Everyone participates in music making and there is a wonderful saying that “In African music there is no audience, only participants”. There are also professional musicians and master drummers who are highly valued. The use of music gives a cultural perspective to every aspect of daily life in Africa.

The prolific use of drums in African music demonstrates the importance of rhythm as the main ingredient in music making. African drumming is a language that can send messages, tell stories and communicate emotions.

Drums in Africa come in many shapes and sizes and have many different playing styles. The drum has a high cultural status in Africa and there are many rituals that surround making, teaching and playing drums. When we play the African Drums and rhythms we are immersing ourselves in thousands of years of cultural and social history and sharing the universal joy of music making.

Excerpt from Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 1, Page 3-4 What Is Special About West African Drumming And Why Should You Do It? From a Westerner’s perspective, one of the most immediate attractions to Djembe Drumming is the idea that you can take a drum, hit it and make a sound without any limitations regarding the noise that you make. It is immediately accessible to most people on a very basic level, and the moment that somebody strikes a Djembe in a pleasing pattern is the moment that they wish to develop that idea into something that pleases them further. It is a very easy instrument to gain praise as a beginner, and an average skill level can be obtained reasonably quickly. It is quicker to learn and develop than traditional orchestra instruments, and its scope for compositional development is quite high in both traditional and fusion settings. © Drums for Schools Ltd. Teaching support and resources available from www.drumsforschools.com 3

How Could You Introduce West African Drumming To Your School?

You can either go in big with a project like this, or you can go in small.

A smaller approach would be to acquire a set of five or so Djembe and create a drumming group for lunchtimes or after-school, or with a particular performance in mind. You could spend six weeks learning and practicing a particular rhythm or two and structure a performance following some traditional ideas. The drumming group could obtain ownership of the resources by decorating the drums with ribbon and such in order to identify with the group.

A larger approach would involve rolling out Djembe Drumming as a scheme of work within your establishment. A class set of Djembe and other instruments could be used to teach students about rhythm initially and then move on to other skills such as Call and Response, polyrhythm, cross-rhythms and structure. A lunchtime club that ran through the whole year could be established and the more enthusiastic students from each class could invest their time in larger performances. You may even prepare for each end of term performance and have students from across the years actively taking part and creating a positive atmosphere at the start of end of year assemblies and so forth.

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What Could You Achieve?

In a day:  Generate an interest in other ways of making music.  Foster an interest in other cultures and histories.  Identify particularly good rhythm students.

In a term:     

Teach and learn an entire rhythm.

Layer more than one rhythm together to create a new texture.

Create a set structure for a performance.

Delegate a leader, practice leadership skills.

Develop listening and improvisational skills.

In a year:     

Establish a regular club.

Develop the identity of music within the school.

Hold/take part in several performances.

Compose own rhythms.

Research subject matter in further detail as a project.

In three years:  Create a mentor system that allows older students to teach newer members of the club.  Hand over control of performances to the students.  Perform in the community.  Use the resources as part of transition days, utilising the young experts.

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Benefits Investing long-term in a set of Djembe and its use is worthwhile on many levels. Done properly it will benefit the students, the teachers delivering and teaching the content, and the establishment and community on a wider level.  Benefit to students Taking part in a collaborative Djembe circle and performances can increase a student’s interpersonal skills; over time they will learn to adapt to the group and respond to the gaps in the performance as well as leaving space for others.

Eye contact and non-verbal communication skills will increase effectively.

Intrapersonal skills can be improved, such as independence when soloing away from the main rhythm or holding a cross-rhythm. Rehearsing rhythms in their head at home can lead to positive reinforcement of skills in isolation, in turn leading to happier and less anxious ‘down time’.

An evaluative feedback process can be encouraged, as the student hears the stimulus, responds in kind attaching a value to the process and the new skill they have developed. They then better organise the information in their heads through repeated sessions, leading to them identifying with the skill and the group as part of their own identity to be proud of, with a sense of belonging and community, as well as having a valuable skill that they can share with others.

There are also several positive character traits that are encouraged through this sort of activity, including a Love of Learning, Self-Control, Curiosity, OpenMindedness, Creativity, Gratitude, Fairness, Leadership, Modesty, Appreciation of Beauty and Spirituality.  Benefit to teachers Teachers and session leaders will benefit in exactly the same ways as the students, but there are added bonuses from an academic leader perspective.

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Group collaboration can be systematically encouraged and the playing field is levelled with every student on a similar instrument. The teacher as leader has the opportunity and responsibility to model good technique and good practice to the students, which leads to a respect of their skill instead of conformity of authority – a much healthier interpersonal relationship between student and teacher.

It is easy to structure your planning to fit in line with Bloom’s Taxonomy, should that be something required of you. Take this as also an opportunity for effective differentiation in the lesson plans, whilst retaining an ability to stay alongside the popular ‘differentiation by outcome’. Initial activities involve remembering, comprehending and applying knowledge. Later, analysis of traditional works can be brought in to encourage synthesis in their own compositions. Musical creativity can then be encouraged for the students to fuse the music with any other concepts they choose and a feedback loop begins with their evaluation of their work either through performance or recordings, which can then be improved upon and so forth.

A group such as this can be effective with as few as four players and can accommodate as many performers as you are comfortable with. As such there are no caps on the number of members of the group and as long as you have a consistent core membership then progress can be made each week, with a sense of challenge being presented to new members, as well as praise for their quick initial progress, progress which is assisted by good modelling from more able or regular students and is aided by their performance in that the new members’ errors are often hidden in the mix; the new student knows where their mistake will have been and can correct it for next time but will not have interrupted the flow of the session through dropping out and coming back in again. It really is quite an inclusive way of working and less able students can be given simple pulse based bass rhythms to work with.  Benefit to whole school and community Schools can benefit from a Djembe club at lunch times or after school. Not only does it give the individuals a sense of belonging and ownership, a consistent register of attendees can be used as evidence of the club’s impact and can be © Drums for Schools Ltd. Teaching support and resources available from www.drumsforschools.com 7

cross-referenced against their attendance in general and other statistics within the SEF as required.

As part of specific cultural weeks, or with other funding, you could consider a cross-curricular approach to the activity and invite an African Dance teacher in to collaborate with other students. Many are available as a troupe and will bring one or two musicians with them to play for the dancers. With some dialogue and forethought you could create a custom solution for your own school which would allow you to get the most from your investment in these artists.

The school as a whole can benefit from an investment in musical groups such as this as they raise a positive profile in the community if given the chance to shine publically.

With a short set routine in place, performances out and about in the community can draw attention and are quite often a good fundraising opportunity.

An investment in some decorative sashes or ribbons for the performers and their Djembe can add to the sense of identity for the group and there will be a strong visual link between the music and the school itself, increasing the perception of its standing and success.

To take things a step further, a community group or series of short workshops could be offered out to parents with members of the school group assisting and teaching. You could take the group into primary feeder schools to show the potential future students the sorts of things that they can look forward to at your school and foster interest from before day one.

Performances in care homes for the elderly and those in hospitals or similar settings and can provide an opportunity for the school (and pupils) to make a really valuable contribution to the community.

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History and Cultural Background There is a wonderful origin myth that tells us of a chimpanzee who originally had the first drum, and of a hunter who trapped the chimpanzee drummer.

From that day forwards chimpanzees would beat their chests instead of the drum in anger of the theft.

Association of the Djembe is originally with the Numu, the blacksmiths, within the Mandinka tribe of West Africa and the general initial spread of the instrument was in line with the Mali Empire. Somebody who plays a Djembe is called a Djembefola and there are no historical restrictions on who could learn to play the Djembe, unlike some other instruments that were sometimes reserved for the storyteller-historians known as Griot.

The Griot and Griotte have an important role in communities as they are well versed in the histories, the songs and contemporary events. They often specialise in other instruments such as the Kora or the Balafon. Over the years it was a role that was taught specifically to individuals, often within a family, and they would usually marry with other Griots instead of outside of the acquired role. In more recent times, however, rules are relaxing and some characters like Youssou N’dour have distinct links back to a Griot approach.

Internationalism has seen some griot move to other countries to spread the word and knowledge of Africa around the world, such as Papa Susso. Griot learning establishments have also appeared which allow non-Griot family individuals to become one, although many of these focus more upon musical skill than the oral histories.  Context and delivery Djembe music is ingrained into the daily life and culture of a traditional village in rural areas. Villages would drum to celebrate all sorts of things including dignitaries visiting, weddings, funerals, a successful hunt, a ritual fishing day and so forth. Everyone takes part in some respect and if you aren’t drumming or singing then it is likely that you are dancing.

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This sort of approach and performance in the villages is referred to as ‘Rural’ style as it is what they do in the more rural areas. Within the village they tend to form a big circle or square and perform within it.

As time moved on, travelling drumming troupes became an established concept and would perform for specific arranged audiences, often with a troupe of associated dancers. This is referred to as ‘Ballet’ style and is usually performed on a stage or at the end of a building or hall. Hotels and other establishments may also hire a troupe to entertain guests in tourist districts.  West Africa, tribal influences As a sweeping generalisation, each general tribal area will have developed its own take on performance and set rhythms according to their culture. With the spread of interest in the styles of music and freedom of travel it is likely that the lines between these will blur over time, but alongside more recent documentation of rhythms in writing and amateur video documentation it appears that different areas have some distinctions; some are more upbeat, some steady, some complex, some minimal.

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It isn’t entirely useful to think of an area as being in line with country borders, as over time people and groups and moved, spread out, blended and travelled and original tribal areas are not necessarily strictly in line with the modern borders that we see on maps today.

Different areas also favour certain drums or combinations of drums together.

Other instruments such as the Balafon and Calabash may be incorporated.  Reasons for drumming in the villages Music is very important to West African villages. Every important event has designated rhythms that are to be performed. The entire village gets involved and it brings the community together.

An excellent short documentary that is worth watching is called Foli; There is No Movement Without Rhythm which gives a wonderful snapshot into life in a Malinké village and how rhythm forms both the work and the play that the people engage in daily.  Influences on other cultures West African rhythm has significantly influenced waves of music in North and South America (and consequently the rest of the world) in large part due to trafficking slaves. The one advantage of relying on a system of music that isn’t written down is that the music itself is memorised, and in these new climes that the slaves found themselves in, the rhythms came out and developed in new ways.

In North America the most well-known development is Blues. Vocally, many songs that accompany the drumming have lines repeated and some follow an AAB structure that we now find common place to the blues. The swing rhythm falls in line with some of the traditional 12/8 rhythms, but swung rhythms had clearly been around in North America for years before this. Bending notes whilst singing may have also come from the African approach to singing these melodies. © Drums for Schools Ltd. Teaching support and resources available from www.drumsforschools.com 11

Many slaves traded by Portugal ended up in Brazil, a significant amount into Rio de Janeiro. There is evidence of Candomblé being merged with Catholic Church celebrations to create carnival and other celebrations with heavy dance elements that in turn required strong 2/4 rhythms, which will have drawn influence from Western Africa again. Over time Samba and its variations were given form as we know it today.

Afro-Cuban music contains significant influence from West Africa, especially in relation to polyrhythms, cross-rhythms and the concept of performance in a social environment.

The Caribbean has also seen influence, especially in Jamaica where in particular Nyabinghi Djembe Drumming sees rhythms from West Africa used and adapted to support a more syncopated feel in conjunction with Reggaestyle vocals. The music is much slower than West African Djembe performances in general, but allows for lots of space between beats to allow little improvisations and additions to be thrown in. The social performance element is also retained.

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The Instruments  Djembe The Djembe is an hourglass-shaped drum that originates from West Africa and has a drum head traditionally made from goat skin. The Djembe drum is simple to learn and yet it is a versatile instrument, capable of producing a wide range of sounds, and is reasonably priced and readily available.

Excerpt from Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 2, page 6

 Dunun A set of Dunun drums often consists of three drums of differing sizes, usually small, medium and large called Dundunba, Sangban and Kenkeni. They are generally played with wooden sticks and often, as is the case with Ewe drumming from Ghana, also incorporate a metal Bell. They can be played horizontally by individuals (Rural style) or vertically by one performer (Ballet style).

Elements from Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 2, page 6

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 Bell There are several variations but these were originally fashioned from the Bells attached to cattle and goats, which would sound as the animal moved, so that the worker tending the animals was able to locate them in the dense bush.

They can consist of one high-pitched and one low-pitched Bell, which are forged together. The Latin American Equivalent are the Agogo Bells which are an integral part of Brazilian Samba Music.

Elements from Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 2, page 7

 Talking Drum The Talking Drum, or Dondo, is an hourglass-shaped drum with strips of cord, string, twine or leather connecting the drum heads at opposite ends of the drum. When the player squeezes the cords this tightens the tension of the drum. In order to achieve this, the player holds the drum horizontally under one arm, enabling them to squeeze the drum with that arm whilst striking the drum head with a curved stick held in the other hand.

Excerpt from Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 2, page 6

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 African Bongos The African Bongos (sometimes referred to as Ethnic Bongos) are the precursor to Latin American Bongos that are the instrument we are more used to playing today. Although the same in many ways, i.e. a pair of drums, one small and one larger, joined together by a small wooden bridge, the drum heads on the African Bongos are tensioned by stringing rather than by metal tensioning bolts and have animal hide skins rather than plastic and are always played with the hands.

Excerpt from Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 2, page 7

 Balafon The Balafon is also known as an African Xylophone. It is constructed by tying graduated lengths of wood to a frame with hollowed out gourds suspended underneath each piece of wood to act as resonators. The wooden notes are tuned to a Pentatonic (five-note) ascending scale and played with rubber ended sticks.

Excerpt from Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 2, page 7

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How the Instruments Are Made Djembe drums are manufactured in a number of ways, including moulded or formed fibre glass and other mass produced ways. Whilst not ‘authentic’ these drums are consistent and very light weight, often with synthetic skins on them.

Traditionally a Djembe is made of wood, skin, rope and three metal rings and is classified as percussion, specifically a membranophone (an instrument that makes its primary sound by vibrating a stretched membrane).

A traditional drum will have started as a tree. It will have been cut down and allowed to dry out. The outer shape will be carved and trimmed down using a lathe and the inside of the drum will be hollowed out before the goat skin is put on. The skin will have also been cleaned, dried and treated.

The three metal rings are harnessed to the drum to accommodate the vertical ropes and the skin is held in place by the top two of these rings at the head of the shell. The goat skin tightens as the verticals are woven back and forth © Drums for Schools Ltd. Teaching support and resources available from www.drumsforschools.com 16

through the rope loops between the top metal ring and the bottom one. It is a slow process to increase tension over time so as not to stress the skin too much initially, but over a period of a few days the verticals are tightened and tightened.

It all seems quite straight forward mechanically, but the skill and quality of the build itself, ensuring that the head is perfectly round and even and having the strength, skill and tools to correctly add tension takes some training and practice.

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General Technique  Andy Gleadhill books Andy Gleadhill has produced some wonderful resources for non-specialist class teachers and these also provide very useful support for music specialists who are teaching African Drumming for the first time. Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 1 covers all the basics (culture, technique, elements of music, warm-ups) and gives a suggested ten session breakdown approach to teaching the content. Also included are ten different rhythms and teaching notes for each, which have been simplified for beginners or Primary setting. His second book is a more substantial tome and contains more advanced information about playing the djembe, as well as other traditional African percussion instruments that can extend the ensemble and contains some more in-depth scores that can in turn be re-adapted to suit your own classroom percussion content.

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 Drum Positioning for Djembe To obtain the best tone and range of sounds from your drum it is essential that the Djembe is raised up from the ground and not played whilst it is standing on the floor. This is to allow the air and sound waves to escape from the bottom, open end of the drum. This is easily demonstrated by holding your hand against the open end of the drum while another player strikes the drum - you can feel the escaping air. It can also be demonstrated by leaving the drum on the floor and playing a few beats and then doing the same with the drum off the ground and noting the improvement in the sound from the dead tone with the drum on the floor to the rich ringing tone of the raised drum.

When considering the best playing position to adopt you need to take account of the ages of the performers, the size of the instruments they are using, as well as the numbers in the ensemble. Generally speaking, a good playing position is to have the performers seated on the edge of a chair, to give more leg space for the drum, with backs straight and shoulders relaxed. The drum can then be placed between the thighs, just above the knee, and with the players feet crossed over on the floor around the drum. This will allow the player to have a firm grip on the drum and leave both hands free for playing.

Elements taken from Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book, pages 5-6

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 Detailed technique for Djembe (Bass, Tone, Slap) The playing techniques of African drums vary enormously across the African continent with many different hand positions that not only change from country to country, but from village to village and each teacher will have a strongly held view as to how to play the drums ‘correctly’. Others believe that so long as a good sound is produced then technique is secondary.

It is important that the Djembe is played with hands and not drums sticks, as the goat skin is relatively thin compared to cow hide and it can cause stretches or splits which will damage the drum skin.

There are three main sounds that you can make with a Djembe. Here we will explain all three, Bass, Tone and Slap, although with the music we look at we will mainly be considering the Bass and the Tone sound (labelled here as Bass Tone and Open Tone).

Elements taken from Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 1, Page 5 Bass Tone (Low sound, Bass) A good Bass note will produce a full and rounded deep tone. To produce a good Bass tone, the Djembe must be struck in the middle of the drumhead with the hand slightly cupped, palm down, with the hand returning quickly from the drum. You can use your whole arm and pretend that you are bouncing a basketball and this will result in the correct action for playing good Bass tones.

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Excerpt from Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 1, Page 7 Open Tone (High sound, Tone) When playing the Open Tone the drum should be struck with the whole length of the fingers on the edge of the drum nearest to your body with your elbows © Drums for Schools Ltd. Teaching support and resources available from www.drumsforschools.com 20

slightly raised. If you imagine the drum head to be a clock face your right hand will be on the four and your left hand on the eight. Your hands must not remain in contact with the drum once you have played the beat but should return to your natural playing position just above the drum. A good way to achieve this technique is to imagine that the drum head is very hot, like a radiator, and so you do not want to leave tour hand on it any longer than necessary.

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Excerpt from Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 1, page 6 Slap The Slap is a more advanced technique that can take quite a while to master.

Moreover, whilst an adequate sound for a Bass Tone or Open Tone can be created with a loosely tuned drum, it is imperative that a Djembe is correctly tightened in order to get the most out of a Slap.

The type of sound that you are aiming for is a short bright crack. Some people mistake the Djembe’s natural harmonic ringing as the sound they are after, but it is more than this.

To play a slap you need to the pads of your hand on your palm (opposite side to the palm knuckles) down onto the edge of the Djembe where the skin is being pulled onto the wooden shell. Have your fingers relaxed and slightly apart and the hand angled slightly proud. If your fingers are relaxed enough then they will continue follow through onto the skin and create the whip-crack sound of a Slap. The sound will not be muted as your pads will be not be impacting on the resonant area of the skin.

Slaps are great to throw in as Open Tones now and then to wake things up during a performance.

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Master Drummer No doubt as the teacher or group leader in other avenues you are used to being at the front of others leading a session. In Djembe performances a Master Drummer is essential to keep things running smoothly. They will be the ones making the Calls to tell the others when and what to perform, as well as ensuring that everyone else is on track. Quite often they will be the ones playing the solos over the top of the set rhythms, but within a group such as yours this activity can be delegated around the class.

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Grid Notation Grid notation is a very efficient way of documenting African Drumming rhythms and patterns. Most rhythms are in 4/4 meaning they can be subdivided into a grid of sixteen beats, although more or less can be created as required.

Some rhythms are based around a swung rhythm or triplets and in these instances a grid of 12 or 24 can be constructed and sub-divided into threes instead of fours.

The blank section underneath the numbers can be used to indicate which type of note is to be played (Bass, Tone, Slap, Low Tone, Open Tone, etc.)

They can also show which hand you should use in the rhythm, ‘R’ for right, ‘L’ for left and ‘F’ for Flam. Other two-handed combinations are possible for more advanced performance techniques.

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Warm-Up Exercises Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 1 contains some warm-up exercises that are great for getting people to find their way around a Djembe simply and confidently. One of the main basics of Djembe Drumming is to maintain a consistent ‘right, left, right, left’ pattern as this will give the performer an ample amount of fluency. If the performer is left-handed and would prefer to lead with the left, then reverse all of these instructions for them. The important aspect is their timing and their consistency of tone which can be created either way around, so long as they stick with the leading hand that they choose in the first instance.

Technique 1 – Right, left, right, left Maintaining an even basic flow is a good starting point for all performers and will encourage an understanding of tempo and performing as a unit.

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Technique 2 – Altering tempo Moving from a ‘right, left, right, left’ pattern to a similar pattern with longer gaps inserted will show the underlying pulse and tempo of a piece of music as well as develop the skill of altering to a different pattern efficiently with no errors.

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Double speed is another aspect of tempo altering and on the first few occasions that this descends into racket can provide an excellent discussion point on where things went wrong and what performers can do to avoid this.

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Click here to watch the accompanying video which shows how both of these tempo alterations can be put together as an additional exercise.

Technique 3 – Double tapping On rare occasions it is more efficient to use the same hand twice in a row and this warm-up does just this. It is not common practise to do this whilst Djembe Drumming but is a valid warm-up exercise.

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Technique 4 – Paradiddle A Paradiddle is a constantly altering focus of left and right. There are many variations of a Paradiddle and with a little research you will see just how complex they can become. For now, though, this particular rudiment can be a great warm up for all, especially those unfamiliar with the concept as it gets their brains working.

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Technique 5 – Ghost notes For the more advanced performer you may wish to introduce the concept of ghost notes. For this, you take a rhythm which has some gaps in it and for each gap you play the Djembe as light as possible so as to create a constant rustle underneath. This helps to develop a sense of dynamic awareness as well as create a subtle click-track to keep all of the other players in line. To utilize this in a performance, however, all ghost note players need to ensure that they perform as a tight group with impeccable timing.

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Technique 6 – Highs and Lows This warm-up exercise begins to explore the Djembe further and has performers playing Low sounds (Bass, ‘L’) and High sounds (Tone, ‘H’). The ‘right, left’ technique should be retained and is scored here below the tonal information.

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We can further speed up the rhythm without altering the pulse by playing two Highs and two Lows instead of four.

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We can also bring in the Paradiddle concept for the High and Low tones as well. This one can be a bit tricky at first as the hands are alternating two concepts at once – the tones are altering but the ‘right, left’ hand pattern should remain.

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Elements taken from Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 1, pages 12-15

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Call and Response Call and Response patterns (sometimes referred to as Question and Answer) are an integral part and a key characteristic of African Music. Listen to any African Music, particularly vocal music and you will notice that it is filled with examples of Call and Response, often with a vocal solo being answered by a response from the chorus.

Call and Response patterns are also a common part of communication in the natural world. Animal calls, football chants and even political speeches (the addresses of Martin Luther King are a good example), are all punctuated with calls and responses. African Drumming can be seen as a conversation between different drums with Call and Response patterns being a dialogue between the leader and the rest of the group.

The simplest Call and Response method is to play a direct repeat of what has been played by the Master Drummer.

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Alternatively, and a little more impressive, are the types of Call and Response where the rest of the Djembe group play a different response to that of the leader, showing that a complex set piece or interaction has been learned.

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To make both styles of Call and Response easier, people quite often attach words to the rhythms. Spoken word does have its own natural rhythm and if you repeat a phrase over and over you will hear patterns form.

With call and Response some simple phrases can turn into really good syncopated rhythms that can be used effectively and be easy to remember.

Click here to watch the accompanying video Elements taken from Andy Gleadhill’s African Drumming Book 1, Pages 19-21

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Soloing When a rhythm has been established it is usually down to the Master Drummer to do some solo work over the top. There are many established approaches to soloing, so whichever route you take will be acceptable in a classroom environment.

A good technique to latch on to is to find the gaps in the accompanying rhythm and start your solo on one of those. The audience will be used to hearing the gap so when an instrument suddenly plays at that point and continues it draws attention to it. The soloist may not be louder than the core group, but that initial punch is enough to grab focus for people to key in to. The off-kilter or syncopated feel that this may create will also lead to an interesting polyrhythm of sorts.

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