djembe technique

Develop a good djembe technique is essential if you want to be in-demand accompanist djembe or if you want to solo for dance classes or in the performance. Bass, tone, and slap the alphabet for your djembe vocabulary.

Body mechanics and breathing

Before you even touch your drum, get warm and get grounded. Walk around the block. Run in place. Swing your arms freely. Shake out your shoulders, arms, wrists, and fingers. Do yoga or tai chi. Meditate. Do what you do to get centered and grounded in your body before you start drumming.

Before you start to play the djembe, you should feel comfortable and properly oriented to the drum. Sitting on a stool or chair without arms is the right height for you and your drum, drum tilt slightly away from you and pull the upper arm laterally away from your body about 6-8 inches. Your hands should rest comfortably flat on the drum head at a 90 degree angle to each other, with your arms straight line from elbow to fingertips. To end with this position, you may need to experiment with different chairs and stools, or you may want to get adjustable-height stool or drum throne.

You can also play the djembe drum stand with hanging from a rope. Many players use a long strap that wraps around the drum and on their shoulders. You can also use a short rope that just walking around your waist. In both cases, the drums finally hanging between your legs. Adjust the length of rope so that your arms rest comfortably flat on the drum head at a 90 degree angle to each other, with your arms straight line from elbow to fingertips.

Remember to breathe. At the physiological level, playing djembe is a powerful activity, so you'll need all the oxygen you can get. From a mechanical perspective, if you hold your breath you will mess up your mechanics and your play will not be relaxed.

Finally, do not wear rings or other jewelry on our hands and arms when playing djembe, because they can damage the drum head. Also, keep your drum set and vice versa so that it is ready to play. Drums.org website has good tips on how to maintain your djembe. Perhaps the most important step you can take to protect your djembe to invest in high quality padded bag.

The basics of Djembe Technique

Most of the djembe sound open and unmuffled. For all the basic sounds, leave your hand rebound soon after to make his voice. A bass should be recovered as it comes from a trampoline. Tone that has to jump like you've just touched a hot stove. A spanking should snap back as the end of the bullwhip cracking.

Most played djembe patterns of "rolls," which means that if you fill in every note in a measure, your hands will turn left and right. In 4/4 time this means that the opening track and "+" beat (if you count the 1 e + a 2 e + a, etc.) who played with the right hand (if you are right-handed), while the offbeats (e and sa) played with left hand. (The "roll" the term can also refer to two time records; see my reels djembe exercises page for more on this.)

You want all your bass, tone, and slap has the same tone, pitch, and character every time you play them, so it is important to practice as much or more with non-dominant hand so that every note sounds the same, regardless of your hand to use.

Bass Djembe

Bass is the lowest-pitched sound djembe. To make the bass sound on the djembe, drop your hand down in the middle of the drum, with the heel of the hand right on the drum. The thumb is tucked in, parallel (or almost parallel) with a finger. Four fingers together. All the palms, fingers and fingertips hit the drum head once with the intention that gently but firmly. Not reach all the way to the center of the drum to make the bass sound, just get the bottom of your palms on the edge of the drum. Keep your hands soft and flat, or you may end up with a slap or other foreign vote. As soon as your hand hits the drum head, allow it to recover as belly flop on the trampoline. Movement to make the bass sound starts at the elbow, wrist but should be raised slightly more than the hand itself, imagine a marionette strings attached to the wrist held up his hand, and then just let it fall straight down to the drum head.

Djembe tone

The tone is the sound of djembe middle. Many teachers I call natural tone drum - the sound they make will be the default. But please note that, as a djembe player Lance Scott Seattle show, "This does not mean that making a good tone is much easier than making a good slap. Type of the earliest drummers sound made when hitting the drum is somewhere between tones and slaps (usually closer tone). To get the tone, both in the higher tone without much practice. "

To make the tone sound on a djembe, a straight line from your elbow to your fingertips and keep your arms, wrists, hands, fingers, and fingertips gently locked as a unit. Imagine that your arms are like steel and soft pads of your fingers and fingertips are a firm hammer will strike the drum head. With your thumb perpendicular to your fingers (so it will not hit the edge of the drum), drop your hands firmly into the drum head with the pads at the base of your fingers landed just outside the edge of the drum. Your fingers stay together all four of the motion so that they form a kind of paddle. Corner of the force is straight down into and through the drum head. As soon as your fingers hit the drum, they should be recovered as if you've just touched a hot stove.

Slap Djembe

Djembe slap was the highest-pitched voice. To make a slapping sound, djembe, assume the position of the same arm that you do to create a tone and then relax the wrist and let it drop down so your palms extended back about 10 or 15 degrees. Relax your fingers and let them spread naturally and curves. With a flick of movement / whip, drop your hands to the head drum with bearings at the base of your fingers land on (or just beyond) the edge of the drum. Only your fingertips should hit the drum head (in extreme slow motion they landed in this order: pinky, ring, middle, index finger). Once the tip of your finger hitting the drum head they have to recover as the tip of a bullwhip. Direction of the force is slightly tilted to the head drum (not like the tone, which goes straight down into the drum).

I had different teachers on exactly where the hands should land to make a slapping sound. Some people say that the bearing at the top of the palm / finger base should be in only a few of the places they are to make the tone. Others say that they have landed in the same place as they do when you create a tone. Experiment with this to find the best position for you. Your goal is to end up with a slap, clear crisp, clacking.

Muffled Slap

To make the muffled slap on a djembe, use the same technique as for the usual slap, but where the other side of the drum head to muffle the sound. The trick here is to deftly slip into the opposite side of the drum without a sound. Use swooping movement - comes at a flat angle - quickly and quietly slipped the hand that is played on the drum head, and then make the muffled slap you.

A comment from Professor Tam Tam Mandingue

When he read this article, Rusty Knorr, who is certified by Mamady Keita to teach traditional djembe playing, said, "I think it is important to clarify the relationship to the edge of the palm pad in creating the tone and slap. In my experience and learning from my teacher, crease bearing palms on the edge of the drum shell reference point for both the tone and slap. 'the knuckles of the palm' should be on the edge of the pads to prevent pain and long-term damage to the hand. None of the players I've seen to use a reference point have a bad hand, but some are not ... their hands like claws! I felt excruciating pain in learning to live up to Mamady showed this at the beginning of my studies with him. "

Rusty and I will be connected immediately to discuss this further, and I hope to get some pictures later to be added to this page to illustrate his point.

Differences Between Tone and Slap

I hope it's clear in my description on how the different tones and slaps, but it's useful to spend some extra time on the difference between the tone and slap. The main differences are in:

angle of attack: straight down to the drum head to the tone, at an oblique angle to slap a little
tension in the forearm: a strong tension to tone, relax for a slap
curve of the finger: a direct tone, curved to slap
the amount of meat hits the drum head: all fingerpads and fingertips to the tone, only to slap fingertips.
Mamady Keita to, the intention is to make a difference. He held her hand in the same way for each voice, but when he thought the tone, he makes a tone, when he thinks slapping, he made a slap. However you get there, the end result should be a thumping melodic tones and crackling crisp slap.

Vocalization

Many teachers and students find the sort of djembe vocalizations help. Baba Olatunji often say, "If you could say that, you can play it," and he developed a Gun / her Dun, Pa / Ta, Go / Will the system to help students sing rhythm before playing them. Most of the djembe teacher I have used several types of vocalizations scheme. To keep things simple, I suggest adopting the style of vocalizing your current teacher, but if you have many teachers, you may also want to develop yourself to your ongoing learning.

Many experienced djembe players voiced when they play. When Pepe Danza solo, he sounds non-stop. Ibrahima Camara said, "If I do not speak, I could not play." So if you see a djembe player muttering to themselves as they play, do not question their sanity, just assume that they work off their sentences.

Find a Good Teacher

Both the articles and written or recorded another source is a good substitute teacher. There are subtleties to play djembe and improvements that you can develop only under the guidance of an experienced teacher. If you really want to master djembe sound, looking for a good teacher.

Practice

Skills such as music, djembe master the technique requires a lot of practice. Practice more, the better you will sound. Tyler Richart, one of the most successful djembe player in Seattle, still spends an hour a day just working on basic djembe sounds. When he teaches djembe soloing, Tyler suggests that your djembe sound alphabet to create words that you use to tell your story. If you have not mastered the technique of your djembe, your story sounds like you're talking with a mouth full of gravel.

Source

I am grateful to the many and djembe hand drum teacher I have studied with over the years. For roughly chronological order they LaDrumma Simone, Bill Matthews, Babatunde Olatunji, Sanga Valley, Thione Diop, Geoff Johns, Gordy Ryan, Mamady Keita, Rusty Knorr, Rusty Eklund, Pepe Danza, Tyler Richart, and Ibrahima Camara. I also learned a lot from the players I have been playing djembe for dance classes in Seattle: Carold Nelson, John van Broekhoven, Thierno Diop, Ryan Harvey, Thaddeus Hunnicutt, and many others. I am also grateful to the two major dununfolas Seattle - Frank Anderson and Marc Langeman - for their support and assistance.