Most Important Drumming Rhythm to Learn
I remember when I first started learning percussion ensemble music and how exciting it was to play drums with other percussionists. I loved the energising rhythms, musical arrangements and how much my timing improved and rhythm skills I developed.
It’s a big difference playing in a jazz or rock band compared to a world drumming percussion ensemble. The intricate rhythms of each drum and percussion for each drumming song and how in-depth dialog of each precise beat. Totally inspiring experience.
I love how we can simplify all these rhythms down to just one – the clave rhythm. When we think about it, it’s the most important rhythm of all and played in many cultures across the globe.
The clave becomes one of the most important foundations of music genres and once we understand this universal rhythm, we are on our way to more creative expression and awakening, connection with others and transformational experiences within any facilitated drum circle.
Just as I share with my online drumming students with the variety of rhythms based on the clave rhythm, I watch their confidence and knowledge expand and grow each session. Having a deep understanding of the clave rhythm can accelerate our learning and help develop new rhythm skills.
Djembe master drummers’ guidance
One of the most exciting ventures was the time I lived and studied African drumming in Africa.
The wonderful opportunity to learn from master djembe griots has been a life changing experience. Their deep knowledge of rhythm seeps through every word, walk and movement. I was lucky enough to capture every djembe and dundun lesson on mini disc.
I studied and studied the rhythms and loved how each rhythm of the dundun drums and djembe drum connected and played a role to help support each drum to create a beautiful percussion song. I also learnt that we can simplify the most complex rhythms into an achievable rhythm for all levels of experience – which is great yes?
My experience has been at the heart of African music is the clave rhythm, making djembe drumming relatively easy to access for beginners. Keep it simple and success will happen.
Learn to play and feel the clave rhythm in and out – singing it, play it, feel it, dance to it, and let your hands do the dancing on the drum.
Don’t stop until it is in the body. Once you have this rhythm permeating within the body, then we can expand and really explore the possibilities of rhythm, timing, feel and flow.
To the simplest of djembe grooves to the most intricate of djembe solos the clave rhythm is the biblical rhythms of all rhythms.
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A little gift for you as you continue to build your djembe drumming skills.
I want to help you out as much as I can so I’ve added some great hand drum beats for beginners and ensemble drums that accompany the djembe, called 7 Easy Steps to Develop Rhythm, Technique, Timing and Feel PDF.
It’s filled with lots of tips on technique and how to improve your timing and feel, to really take your playing to the next level. This is my gift to you and something that can accompany you on your drumming journey.
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