Rehearsal: August 12, 2009

First and foremost, it was awesome.  I am still utterly buzzed from the rehearsal last night, and I am very excited about our upcoming gigs. The dancers, as always, looked great.   They were working last night on sword routines, and trios, duos, and solos while doing the sword dances.   They are so good that none […]

The importance of random

When we first started I had the troupe vary the rhythms we played a great deal during performances, going from Beledi to Maqsum to Saiidi to Nawari and back again.  We play them all in 4/4, and all at the same tempo, but shifting constantly.  We are not playing with a lot of ornamentation, and […]

Variations: How to make it fun

Fun psychology experiment # 21: The coffee shop! Here is the game:   Go to a coffee shop that you are not well known at, and don’t mind never going to again.   Grab a mocha, or hot chocolate, and find a table where you can sit with your back to the wall and facing the room.  […]

Flirting with a workshop

I have been giving some thought to hosting a Doumbek Basics for Beginners Workshop.   I think I have enough skill and confidence to be able to give new drummers a good overview, and not create bad habits or turn anyone off of drumming.  The last few months have done a lot for my teaching abilities, […]

Rehearsal: August 5, 2009

We got a lot done tonight, and our mistakes and miscues gave us all a firm idea of what needs practice and what needs more discussion and thought. The rhythm changes that we will be responsible for from now on with the dancers were our focus of course.   We decided, after a few miscues, train […]