African Drumming

Quesiton: What do you already know about African drumming? 5 mins

Briefly explain that drums were often used as a communication tool
to send messages from village to village, with different beats and
rhythms representing words and messages.

Question: what skills do you need to play well in an ensemble? - 5 mins

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Listen
Eye contact
Watch
Know your part
Play in time
Be aware of everyone in the group

Warm ups: 20 mins

Stand in a circle
Copy the rhythms
Send the rhythm round the circle
Explain Call and response
Practice call and response in pairs
Rhythm lasts 4 beats, is simple & has strong sense of pulse
Polyrhythms more than one rhythm at once Examples together
Main activity 15 mins
Max 4 in a group: come up with a call and response piece/maybe with some
polyrhythm
Clear structure
30 seconds in duration

Example All start off playing the same rhythm or maybe two rhythms then call
and response before going back to the original theme.
Perform your pieces 5 mins
Recap over:
Call and response
Polyrhythms
Two main types of drum sounds
What skills do you need to play well in an ensemble?

Poly rhythm example