Everybody has a dragon to their own self. The dragon, for me, is the conscious of a collaboration with your dreams. This means the dragon is not confined to the laws of our physical world. Always a function of my desire to make sense of our world. I have outlined scenarios illuminating the signs our heart can give us in ‘A Dragon’s Heart.’ I have written a method that covers everything relevant to discussing hand drumming that I have gathered as an essay for potential students. I have drawn art to further express the knowledge I am studying available in ‘Stone Halves.’ This book is about what I, Thomas Barrett, want to do.
The goal in engaging youth is not to mold the student, I believe that to be the work of parents, rather to expand their minds or abilities. Two years ago, I was on a trip hiking the Appalachian Mountains, a rare chance to ground myself with the mother earth. On this trip, I heard through its winds to listen and learn. I gained a fundamental understanding of persistence and have exercised this understanding to the best of my ability. I looked to my idols for what to do and many of them taught and or offered lessons via the internet in addition to playing covers and personal creations. I gathered all my thoughts on what I felt I had to share about hand drumming, kind of an essay. A year after the trip I got an astrology reading of my charts and was told that I was polishing off details of what I was doing. I was collecting drills and content to give to students during class. Much of what I prepared was inspired by the roots of my education; community drum circles/festivals, Flamenco and West African rhythms. Experiences such as performing in coffee shops and venues also contributed. A year after the astrology reading I got to have a tarot reading, during this session I was told to begin teaching from my pains. I drew up an outline to perform an introduction to hand drums and have since had the chance to perform with the assistance of professionals. This was a success and I have been invited back to further my influence on youth.
“Finish what you start.” I stuck around to play, isn’t that what the youth need? A chance to play? For me ‘play’ is engaging the class with the most intricate lessons that have simple steps to play and executing these with progress. I plan to make sure the youth gets their play by including toys such as jump rope, juggling sticks/scarves and percussion accessories. I have many drills conceived to highlight different skills to drumming. There is no specific order (unlike in the method/presentation which I modeled after the dimensions of our universe) to executing drills for our goals so I will randomly sift through them throughout the day, because I cannot go through all of them in a one-hour class but rather will address the whole body of students and hope they collaborate like a healthy community.
The drills I run will focus attention on specific skills, ingraining basics that hopefully will stick with the kids to be aware of as many fundamentals as they can hold. The following are examples of drills being used in order from easiest to hardest:
We will practice listening to the sounds our drum makes and the sounds others can make by giving each student a chance to hit the drum with feedback about what they can do with the instrument. We will try to instill love of the sounds and thus create more joy in playing.
We will practice pulse timing. One hand and two hand beats in tempo with examples of slow to fast playing. The objective is to catch on to the ‘tempo’ and have everybody hitting the beats at the same time.
We will practice mnemonic playing. ‘Mnemonic’ playing is hitting a beat to each syllable in a phrase. So, take ‘My name is Thomas’ as an example would be boom boom boom boom-boom. My favorite phrase for adults is ‘You, me, hit the train.’
We will practice balanced counterpoint. This is where I will play a pulse and have the students hit their beat exactly in between my beats. For students that catch on quickly I will get into fractions and have them hit two beats in between each beat of mine.
We will practice chanting while playing. Because many musicians like lyrics to their music I chose the vowels to be chanted in rhythm with the beat which is a simple one hand rhythm consisting of a bass and a tone or slap, everyone chants the vowel on slap and counts 4 ‘measures’ of each syllable.
We will practice soloing. At first solos will be improvisation simply expressing what each student is feeling. We will all play a rhythm together and listen for a ‘stop’ when I point or call out a student and they have the chance to play just them. I further the soloing into ‘call and response’ by having everybody jam to what the first student just did before another stop to return to the rhythm.
I plan on letting the students to try skill toys in silence and then to a rhythm everybody plays stating that everything has rhythm and teach that feelings change when two rhythmic activities are accompanying each other, why people dance to music. Toys in consideration are the jump rope which already has may many rhymes to and juggling scarves/sticks which can show the importance of momentum with beat.
I have prepared a simple song. This song starts out with a 2-part introduction, then a rhythmic groove that exemplifies the pulse timing exorcise so the kids already know what to do, then a call so everybody can stop at the same time, which can really impress a kid (working together). I use this song to introduce that what we are doing has African cultural roots.
We will practice an endurance jam where the kids can opt to lead us into a song, then everyone will join and find their place in the song and possibly change things up during the body. When 2 or three kids seem to drift I will reintroduce the interest by speeding everybody up at an end where we can play wildly through previous attention spans and break barriers and use a dramatic finish to induce a very thoughtful silence for reflection of what we have just done.u
I will teach students 3 different ways to count. First being a mimic of the number line by counting within the phrase of the song; boom ta boom boom ta boom boom boom ta… We will count the beats and learn about common signatures like 4/4, 6/8, or even 12/8. In the exorcise we can call out different numbers then hit the drums that many times. The third way to count is by measure. We will focus on a 4/4 measure and try counting 4 of them; one two three four, two two three four, three two three four, four two three four. Counting the beats and measures are kind of the elements to counting rhythm and the mimicking of the number line is just a fun exercise in rhythm creation which seems to take on shapes and patterns.u
I will teach them about ‘polyrhythms’ or multiple rhythms being played in unison which is a chance to understand partners play a role in drumming. To show how synchronicities like hitting the bass at the same time can be fun and playing different hits at the same time can be lavish. An easy one; 1) boom ta boom boom ta 2) boom boom ta ta boom. This may be tricky so an easier one may be; 1) ta boom ta 2) boom ta boom. If they master these I’ll come up with some with pauses in them because the space in between hits is just as important as the hits.
Open free jams are an excellent way to let everybody play. I start with my rhythm and I will instruct the kids to listen and feel the rhythm before they jump in to contribute, this will give them a chance to catch on and help the circle sound better. That’s what I suggest for anyone who loses their place, that they stop for a second to listen and catch on before beginning again. I stretch the attention span by jamming for longer than the average two and a half minute songs.
Guided jams will be had to show the significance of putting on member in charge. The leader will tell the members when to play, shuffling through different ranges of sound. Leaders will take the members through loud and soft song and may work percussion toys into the mix. Emphasis will be put on how our actions are the story of our play. Time will be put into helping the students prepare for a role as leader and everyone will be given a chance.
Suggestions will also be given for how to explore. I will suggest looking for what sounds good to the ear. They should look for what’s fun for participants and for performers alike, what makes the most sense, what’s easy to remember, what others are teaching, and what others are coming up with.
Theory will be used intermittently between drills to instill the education I should offer. Much of this theory is available for reference in my method essay. We will cover the science behind perception of audible frequencies. We will cover cultural diversity of the hand drum topic. While covering culture I will use examples to create tips for how to identify their own culture and earn merit by accomplishing good deeds. This is to implement a sustainable approach to community and barter, through working together to build our lives we can truly share. I will discuss the spirit of setting intentions through activities and help the kids feel thankful for the ability to do what we are. I will explain what I want the students to develop from each of the drills. I will give examples of what I have accomplished as a drummer and why it is so important to me. I will define the different terms I introduce through my language. I will entertain with metaphors or analogies that can offer different perspectives to attain a more thorough understanding. I will also use proverbs developed by the ancestors who’ve laid down important structure to a thriving lifestyle. Some of the theory will be simple history tidbits. And I will offer Tips for studying should the students take it upon themselves to learn the trade.
I plan to make songs about the elements and elementals related. Earth, fire, wind and water have characters related. The characters Sylph, Angels and Fairies reside in air. The characters Undines, Mermaids, Nymphs, Huldra, Selke and Siren reside in water. The characters Pygmy, Gnomes, Fauns and Dryads reside in earth. The characters of Salamanders, Djinn, Dragons, Basilisks reside in fire. This lets me do a little storytelling during which I’ll let the children play out the characters on their drum. The idea is to ground them in an open global and diverse community. We work with the elements through the diffusion of plants. We use the fire to activate the diffusion which sends the plants (rosemary and lavender) through the wind to everyone involved. The water fuels the plant’s diffusion by acting as a safety net between the fire and the plant. The use of stones in the concoction will represent the ‘home’ or mother earth and all her elements that are the building blocks of our technologies.
I first appeal to students’ interest and then work to keep up with their appetite. Then we can all party with the creations. I bring a mural of a castle and a tree to play under to create symbol to the eccentric class time. I have gathered the best instruments I can achieve for sound which have been goatskin and wood djembes’ and snared cajons, even one bass drum. My classroom size is everybody that I have roles for and I am encouraged by the guise that smarter people are happier and healthier.
I knew the youth are very special, just as special as miracles. I believe they deserve the shoulders of giants to stand on. It is a super power I am learning to be able to instill basics that the kids take through their whole lives. That is why I am seeking to spread what is being taught so others they encounter will be of similar mind, ideally making friendship easier. Those who are first prepared should have the upper stride. Could this be a tool of war? What if we brought 2 nice drums and one good drummer. Then, we play for the enemy or teach them. Hand the second drum to the enemy and agree to meet up later. This gives the enemy time to prepare. Come back together and collaborate. Wouldn’t that be a fun end?
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