Last semester I taught a class at Towson University called “Global Drumming”. The class was a hands-on exploration of some drumming traditions in the African Diaspora. I created the class specifically for students with little or no drumming experience who wanted to learn some ensemble drumming rhythms. The students learned hand drumming technique and all the parts of the ensemble rhythms. We also explored the cultures from which the rhythms originated. Over the course of the semester, we studied Fanga from Liberia, Guaguanco (pronounced Wa-wan-co) from Cuba and traditional Brazilian Samba.
I had a great group of students for the class. The amount of progress they all made through the course of the semester was very impressive! By the end of the semester, they had all of the rhythms memorized and some students were even taking solos! All in all, it was a great experience teaching the class. Having students who are smart, interested in learning and are nice folks all around certainly didn’t hurt!
We had our end of the semester concert in the very nice Studio Theatre of the TU Dance Dept. Check out the photos:
- We started off the performance marching in playing samba
- Samba! Colin Stevens on the caixa, Melissa Hamm playing agogo, Chelsea Genser on the cuica, Sherene Smith holding down the surdo part and Zak Fusciello playing repinique.
- Fanga
Thanks to the TU Dance Dept., Vincent Thomas for taking the photos and Scott Tiemann for generously loaning us the samba instruments!
I’m looking forward to teaching the class again next year!
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by Grupo Afro-Cuba de Mantanzas is another great CD worth checking out.
