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Learning goals
These rhtyhms are meant to be used as a warming up exercise. You can also think of them as the equivalent to the classical "etudes" that exist for other instruments.
In the course of this exercise you will also learn a variety of things:
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Reading notation and playing music directly
from paper
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Memorising the parts and their names
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Developing a feel for "how long" 4 patterns are
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Improvising variations on patterns
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Improvising an ending to a pattern and playing
a call
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Seamlessly switching from one pattern to
another
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Mixing patterns to create longer and more
interesting patterns
How to practice
Make it a habit to start each practice session with a warming up on the djembe. Make sure you know at least 2 to 4 of these rhythms already, so if you need to puzzle out the notation, do that first. Some rhythms are long, some are short. For the purpose of this exercise, you play each rhythm 4 times 4 bars, 16 bars in total. Just double short rhythms, or halve very long rhythms.
This usually corresponds to 4 dance patterns. If I refer to "times" or "patterns", I mean the length of a dance pattern. Play a call, play the first rhythm 4 times, play a call, play the second rhythm 4 times, and so forth.
You should vary how often you play a rhythm: play a rhythm
4 times and then give a call, and another time do a rhythm 3 times and give a call. Depending on the dance, sometimes the dancer needs 5 patterns (4 rhythm patterns plus a call) and at other times the dancer needs 4 patterns so you should play 3 rhythm patterns plus a call. If the doundouns have a long pattern, the call should always be synchronised to the
end
of the doundoun pattern, so all parts and the call end at the same time!
More information on how to create a breather and give a
call in
Solo dance phrases
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Practice tips
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Start slowly so you can play continuously and
switch seamlessly to the next rhythm.
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Take special notice to form your tones and
slaps properly.
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At the end of the fourth pattern, create a
"breather", a pause, so the dancers will hear your call coming. During your call, they will usually continue with the current pattern but
mentally prepare for the next one. And so will you!
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Play the same pattern again but introduce small
variations, fills, rolls or triplets.
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Play the same pattern again but leave notes
out, creating more space.
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Combine patterns to create longer and more
interesting sequences.
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Make an effort to practice reading the notation
whilst you play, so you learn to play on sight (even if it goes slowly)
and you memorise the rhythm names as you go along.
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Don't forget to play from memory too - you
should be able to do both! So play a set of 10 rhythms and rehearse their
names from memory.
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When your muscles are becoming supple, increase
the speed, taking care that you can still keep up the seamless switching
over to the next pattern, and your tone and slap stay clearly defined.
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Vary the order in which you play these rhythms,
from begin to end, from end to begin, starting halfway, doing the odd ones
first and so forth.
If you practice, then
practice
means that you take a small subsection that you cannot play
properly, and practice that over and over again until you can. So if a
switch from rhythm A to B doesn't work right yet, do not practice the
whole rhythm A four times and then try the switch. Instead, do the last
bar of rhythm A only, and then the first bar of rhythm B. Or if in a
rhythm a left-hand tone sounds woolly instead of clear, then practice that
tone!
If you practice such a small section, then stay in the beat,
keep tapping your feet, wait for the correct amount of bars until you play
the practice part again. This is especially useful in groups - it avoids having to count down every time, it avoids sloppy starts which make it impossible to practice properly. If you practice any combination of 2 bars, tap the next 2 bars to make it four. It gives you a rest, you can mentally prepare for the next start, etc. Plus, it would allow you to practice
whilst the rest plays something else - who knows what you may discover!
Group practice tips
If you do the warming up as a group, there are all sorts
of games you can think up:
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"Pass the solo" round the circle:
Everyone plays a simple beat, one person plays a call, then one rhythm (4
patterns long), then a call, which is played together with the next
person. Then the next person plays one rhythm (4 patterns long) and ends
with a call together with the 3rd person, and then goes back to playing
the single beat. And so on.
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The first person plays 1 rhythm once only, the
next person completes the other 3 patterns, plays a call, plays another
rhythm once only, and the next person copies that rhythm 3 times, etc.
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Two people play a call together. The first
person then plays one rhythm once only, the next person answers with
another rhythm. They "talk" either with one rhythm each, or with
different rhyms, for 4 patterns each. Then give a combined call, and go
back to the beat.
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More complicated patterns of "talk"
can be devised. If you keep eye contact and maybe a few facial
expressions you can indicate if the other person should answer, or "talk" at the same time, or do the combined call.
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Pay special attention to starting and stopping
on time and at the correct speed!
Special points of attention for groups
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Focus on playing exactly in time. A single note
should sound as a single note, not as "brrrr".
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As soon as you play exactly in time, you will
notice a certain restfulness and openness in the music. All of a sudden it
feels like the music swings, it is laid back and you have room to speed up if you want to.
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If the music sounds out of sync, 9 out of 10
you need to slow down, and/or make the pause between notes longer.
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For each "pulse" or note in the music,
there is a small time slot during which that note can be played. You can
play just in the middle of that time slot, or slightly slow, or slightly
fast. These are very very small changes! See if you can make these small
changes. Notice how the atmosphere of the rhythm changes from "laid back" or even "dragging" to "straight" to "brisk" to "hurried".
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In a group, you don't need to play at top
volume all the time. Give other people "room" to play a solo, both by having room between notes, and also by having "room"
in the volume. Playing a clear tone and slap at low volume is the
true sign of a master!
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Enjoy, and Happy Drumming!
