and other class notes…
I’ve resumed teaching djembe in live local classes, and as always, the starting point, especially for beginners, is the “passport” rhythm, so called because it’s the entry into most 4/4 territories of West African rhythm.
Easy to play once you get it, but notoriously difficult to learn (or teach) at first. After trying a variety of techniques to break it down for students to learn easily, it finally occurred to me to reduce it to the simplest steps at the outset, or even for review for students who have been exposed to it already.
The basic structure to stress, marks the main four beats with the right-hand slap. This can be modeled as a call and response, followed by introducing the additional notes in the same way.
The call and response format is useful also to hone students’ listening skills, with practice in the ability to recognize and repeat patterns. Many rhythms are versatile with mixing and matching of half-bar patterns to form new variations, especially in the space of two bars, with a common structure being aaab, or abbb. For example, here are some half-bar patterns to vary or extend, from Kuku, and another from Kassa.
With the 6/8 building blocks, you can apply the same exercise using the aaab formula, as in Soko, below. Or, with a rhythm like Fula Fare, Soli or Mendiani with a 3/4 feel, I like to take a more advanced approach to change the emphasis (notes in bold) on the fourth half-bar.
The possibilities, as always, are endless! But this is a good start for how to structure your variations and shades of emphasis.
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