.
Hi, I'm Lane Redmond, and I'm really excited to be here
and be able to share with you some of the history of the frame drum.
I'm also going to be showing you techniques of playing on the tambourine, which is a frame drum,
and also suggesting some ways that you can use these drums in the creation
of contemporary rituals and ceremonies. In the ancient world, the
frame drum was one of the oldest, most primal instruments, and it was played predominantly by
women. The frame drum is a small portable hand drum, and it's
probably based on the design of a woman's grain sieve, and it was used in ecstatic
rites associated with ancient goddesses and gods. These rituals of
drumming are an ancient technology for directly synchronizing
the mind-body complex, enabling you to access deeper and
deeper levels of awareness. Now, before we look at the slides, I just want
to explain the system of abbreviations that we're going to be using. Many scholars are
now using BCE instead of BC, and that stands for
before the common era, and they're using CE instead of AD, and that stands
for the common era, and I'm going to be using this system of abbreviations.
And now we're going to go to the first slide, which is of a wall painting
in Çedilhayak, an ancient town in Turkey.
This is a wall painting showing a group of people dancing and playing percussive
instruments in some type of ritual. This figure in the lower section of the slide
has what may be the earliest known depiction of a frame drum. This is from
2700 BCE.
This next slide is from Ur, a city in ancient Mesopotamia,
which is present-day Iraq, and this is from around 2000 BCE.
There are written texts describing Queen Shubat of Ur, 2700 BCE,
as making music on harp and frame drum with her priestesses.
The granddaughter of King Naram Sen was appointed player of the baladi drum
in the Temple of the Moon at Ur. This is some of the earliest written evidence
associating women playing the frame drum with religious activities.
Ishtar, an ancient Mesopotamian goddess, commanded a powerful religion
in which the frame drum and women played a substantial role.
The Sumerian goddess, known as Queen of Heaven and Earth, was the earlier
archetype on which Ishtar was drawn. In some of the earliest written
texts, Inanna is described as bringing the frame drum along with other
instruments to the Sumerian people. When she makes her initiatory descent
into the underworld, her instructions are to beat the drum to help
her return. The frame drum, along with other drums, was used in processions
to honor the goddess. This next slide is from
ancient Syria, from the city of Ugarit, from between 1300
and 1200 BCE. The excavator, C.F.A. Schaeffer,
suggested that this might be a depiction of the Syrian goddess, Anat,
described in a text found at Ugarit as a frame drum player.
This next slide is from Egypt, from 1475 BCE.
The tambourine appeared in Egypt beginning in the second millennium BCE.
Egyptian wall paintings show mostly women playing the frame drums
in religious ceremonies and processions and in secular celebrations.
From 1500 to 1300 BCE, this unusual-shaped
double-sided rectangular frame drum began to appear.
One of these particular frame drums has survived and is on display at the Cairo
Museum. Also at the Cairo Museum is an actual frame drum that has
survived from the Ptolemaic period, which is after Alexander the Great's
conquest of Egypt in the fourth century BCE. On the skin surface
is painted the goddess Isis being honored by her priestesses playing frame drums.
The inscription says, Isis, lady of the sky,
mistress of the goddesses.
This slide is from the island of Cyprus from the first millennium BCE
and shows a bird goddess playing her frame drum. Cyprus was an important
crossroads in the Mediterranean, easily accessible by water from ancient Cairo,
Crete, Palestine, Lebanon, Turkey, Syria, and the islands of Greece.
This next slide is also from Cyprus from the eighth
century BCE, now settled by the Phoenicians. The Phoenicians were great
traders and colonizers, and everywhere they went the Phoenician women took their
frame drum with them. Now we're going to jump ahead
to the sixteenth century CE. This is a Turkish representation
of a huri, which is a heavenly nymph, a sexual angel.
Huris were ladies of the hour who kept time in heaven, tending the
souls of the stars and whose tambourines represented the brilliance of
the sun. Next we see a painting from India
from the late fifteenth century CE. This is a visual representation
of a raga, which is a complex melodic form and the basis of Indian
classical music. Visually the energy of this raga is manifested as
erotic interplay between human male and female archetypes. Although the frame
drum was already in India, the Islamic invasion starting in the twelfth century
saw the introduction of this specific type of tambourine.
Now we're going back in time to the early fourth century BCE Greece.
This beautiful statue is made from the original mold found
in the commercial center of ancient Olympus. This is a representation of
Chebele, a goddess originally from Phrygia and worshipped in
Greece and Italy. The followers of Chebele participated in rituals that were
similar to the Dionysian rituals. It was an ecstatic religion whose followers
were mainly women who were always depicted playing the frame drum.
This goddess was described as Chebele, the all-begetting
mother who beats a drum to mark the rhythm of life.
In ancient Greece some of the most beautiful depictions of the frame drum
are from the fifth century BCE from the red figured vase paintings.
By this time in history the frame drum has been in western
Asia and Egypt for over 2,000 years. It's theorized
that the music of Greece developed from Asiatic and Egyptian sources,
both of which used the frame drum in religious and secular context.
The frame drum arrived in Greece with the introductions of the cults of Dionysius
and Chebele from western Anatolia or Phrygia.
The tympanum, the Greek frame drum,
was used pervasively by the Maenads, the women initiates in the worship of
Chebele and Dionysius. Both single-headed and double-headed frame drums appear,
once again played almost exclusively by women with their bare hands.
In later centuries there are depictions of Eros, the winged god of love playing the frame drum.
Eros is one of the first in a long tradition of winged beings to appear playing the tambourine.
This slide shows two women playing over the planting of crops
with Eros watering the plants. The worship of Dionysius,
who had numerous manifestations, possibly originating in Thrace,
but also linked to Phrygia and Crete, was connected to the spread of the vine cult
over Asia, Europe, and North Africa. In Greece, he superseded
in supremacy Chebele, the Anatolian goddess, who inspired passionate dancing, drumming,
and chanting. From Greece, both the worship of Dionysius and Chebele
spread to Italy. Due to the survival of many writings on the Dionysian religion,
we know much about the psychological and spiritual aspects of his worship.
The practice of ritual trances were the main spring of the cult of Dionysius,
and these states were reached with the use of rhythmic music, chanting, dancing, and intoxicants.
Through ritual madness, initiates were moved out of their senses,
thrown into the state of unreason. Through the group rites, the initiates
were released from their individuality and possessed by enthusiasm, by inspiration.
The rites also functioned as a stimulus,
which intensified negative emotions, bringing them to a crisis state
and discharging them from the consciousness. These last two slides
are of Dionysian scenes from Roman sarcophagi.
This next slide
is of the Roman Chebele from 200 CE.
The Romans saw the last great flowering of these rites when the great mother Chebele
was ceremoniously brought into Rome in April of 204 BCE
in response to the prophecy in the Sibylline books that she would save them
from Hannibal and the Carthaginians. The interesting thing is that the Romans
had to obtain her from the Phrygians and what they obtained was a meteorite
that the Phrygians worshipped as the goddess. In later representations, this goddess was portrayed
as a woman with her frame drum, often surrounded by lions.
After the Carthaginians were driven from Italy, the worship of Chebele flourished
until the Roman Empire officially adopted Christianity in the 4th century CE.
The last of the great temples dedicated to the mother was closed down
and the instruments and music associated with her rites were banned.
They were banned, but not successfully. Although you never see the Virgin Mary
playing the frame drum, she's often surrounded by angels who do.
These slides
of angels are all from the Italian Renaissance.
Now this is a little side trip to 18th century England where the tambourine
had become a popular salon instrument and aristocratic ladies would whip out
their tambourines after a formal dinner and play music commissioned specifically
for the tambourine. Now we're coming closer in time to the present.
This is 1890 and it's a Sicilian woman with her tambourine.
This is an old drawing of a woman with her grain sieve, more than likely the prototype
of the frame drum. And here's a grain sieve
made by the people in Sicily who still make the tambourines.
And finally we have a contemporary Sicilian tambourine
portraying the goddess, the Virgin Mary.
So that concludes the slides and now I'm going to be showing you
some techniques of playing these frame drums. And you'll also be seeing
my group of women drummers, the Mob of Angels, as we do some performances for you.
Now we're going to learn the basic strokes.
And what we're using here is an Arabic tambourine, a Middle Eastern tambourine.
And you can use any type of tambourine that has
a double row of jingles. That's the important thing in this
because you have to be able to hold the drum. And let me just show you
a holding shot. On the inside your thumb
presses against this set of jingles. Don't have your thumb over here.
You press against that set of jingles. And on the outside you have one finger
over the edge of the drum. And then you're going to play
on this jingle with the fourth finger.
This is if you're right handed.
I'm going to be showing everything as if everybody I'm talking to
is right handed. So you poor left handed people are going to have to do what you always have to do.
So you're right handed. That means you're going to play with your right hand. You're going to hold
with your left hand. Now the hold with the left hand is about like that.
You set it right in there. You press against the jingle. And you put this
your index finger up along the rim. And you're going to be playing on this loose set of jingles
with your fourth finger. Okay. That's all that your left hand
is going to do at this point. It's just going to be doing ticks.
Now the first stroke that we're going to learn is ka.
And it's with the whole hand. And it's like a slap.
And it's in towards the center of the drum.
And it's a contained sound. It's a sound that stops
any ringing on the drum from other strokes. It stops the ringing.
Slap. Okay. Now we're going to do this
in correlation with our feet. This is really the way to synchronize your mind
body.
Step. Step. Step. Step.
Ka. Ka. Ka. Ka. Ka. Ka.
Now that's good. Now in between the steps we're going to put a tick in
with the holding hand. So it'll be step. Step.
Step. Step. Ka. Tick. Ka. Tick. Ka. Tick.
Ka. Tick. Ka. Tick. Ka. Tick. Ka. Tick.
Ka. Tick. Ka. Tick.
Now the strokes, each of the strokes
on the drum are related to the elements,
the elements of earth, water, fire, and air.
Now, I heard this from Hansel Dinn,
who's a Nubian musician, a wonderful musician
from North Africa.
And he was explaining it in terms of the bendir.
So I've adapted it to the rick.
So this first stroke, ka, is the sound of the earth.
So what you're going to see next is my group of women drummers
called the Mob of Angels.
And they're going to be doing an invocation of the elements.
And the first stroke that they'll be doing is ka, tick,
ka, tick, ka, tick, ka, tick.
And you can play along.
And that's the way that you'll really develop
the sense of ka, the feeling of what ka means,
how it relates to the earth element
and what that means to you.
I'm also going to show you several other ways to do ka's.
And what we've been doing now is with the drum up,
and we're getting a lot of jingle sound.
Now, if we tilt the drum down and we go ka, tick, ka,
tick, ka, tick, ka, tick, we get less jingle sound.
There's also a way to do ka to get more jingle sound.
You hit like this, a little cup.
And you hit it a little bit harder.
And it goes.
And you get more sound.
You have this, no jingles.
And then you have this.
And there's one more ka.
And your hand swings in like this.
And the thumb hits first.
And you get a sort of flam sound, like this.
But the ka that we're going to use to practice
with the elements is just the first one that I showed you.
Ka, tick, ka, tick, ka, tick.
And now we're going to go to the live performance.
Ka, tick, ka, tick, ka, tick, the stroke, ka, tick,
is the sound of the nourishing and sustaining
energy of the earth.
It is the bones in our body.
Everything that we are comes from the earth.
And everything that we are will return to the earth.
Anything we put into the earth, we are literally
putting into our own bodies, and the bodies of our children,
and their children, and their children, and their children.
Ka, tick, ka, tick, ka, tick, the stroke, ka, tick, ka,
tick, ka, tick, ka, tick, ka, tick, ka, tick.
Now, the next stroke is doom.
This is one of the hardest strokes to get.
It's because it's a deep, open, ringing sound and you've got to hit the drum and your hand
has got to bounce off and you're using your second finger, the index finger.
Now I feel it like right through me, right through my center.
It's a very deep, open sound and if you keep your hand too stiff, it's going to muffle
it.
So your hand has got to be relaxed.
You're throwing your hand in, but by the time it hits, it's very relaxed and it bounces
off the surface and we're going to do this the same way with a tick in between.
Doom, tick, doom, tick, doom, tick, doom, tick, and we're going to walk.
So step, step, step, step.
Whuh, kick, whuh, kick, whuh, kick.
Whuh, kick, whuh, kick, whuh, kick, whuh, kick, whuh, kick.
Whuh, kick.
Whuh, thud, thud, thud, thud thud thud thud thud thud.
Thud, thud, thud, thud thud thud thud thud thud thud thud.
Thud, thud.
That's good.
Now, there's a couple of ways to do doom.
What I just showed you was with your second finger.
But you can also do doom with your fourth finger.
Second finger and fourth finger.
Second, fourth, second, fourth, second, fourth.
And it'll depend on what rhythm you're working on,
which doom that you use.
But generally, you're going to use the second finger.
And you're going to use that when
you practice with the elements.
Now, doom is related to the element water.
It's the sound of the cleansing, purifying energy of water.
And now we're going to go to the performance.
And you can practice with us as we invoke the element water.
The stroke, doom, is the sound of water.
It is the sound of the cleansing, purifying energy
of water.
It is the blood in our body.
The next stroke is taak.
And this stroke is connected to the element fire.
And it is a very fiery sounding stroke.
It's a rim shot.
It's piercing.
It's bright.
And we're going to practice it here.
We're going to go taak, tik, taak, tik, taak, tik, taak,
tik, taak, tik, taak, tik, taak, tik, taak, tik, taak.
That's good.
Now, the thing about this stroke is you should practice it
without bouncing off.
I like to think of my fingers sticking there.
I mean, at certain times, in certain rhythms,
you're not going to.
But for right now, when you're learning,
let your fingers stick there.
It stays there.
Now remember, doom bounced off, bounced off.
And kha also sticks.
Now one bad habit about kha is that people
bounce off the drum head.
They go, that's not what you want to do.
When you do kha, your hand sticks.
Doom, your hand bounces off.
And taak, your finger sticks.
You can also do taak with your second finger.
But for now, we're going to practice it
with the fourth finger.
OK, so we're going to go to the performance.
And you practice with us.
["TAKK"]
The stroke, taak, is the sound of fire.
It is the sound of radiant heat and light.
It is the energy in our bodies.
The next stroke is kha.
Now, your hand is just hitting on the rim.
Your fingers are not touching the head.
You're not doing this.
You just want to hit at an angle.
And you hit with this sort of fattier part of your hand
right here.
Now, if you're hurting your hand,
you're not doing it right.
You know, kha, you don't have to do hard.
The purpose of kha is to make all the jingles crisp.
And kha is the sound of air.
So let's practice that.
Chah tik, chah tik, chah tik, chah tik, chah tik, chah tik,
chah tik, chah tik.
Good, good.
Now go and practice with the performance, we're going to go there now and remember that
this is the element air and make your own connection to this element and make that connection
to this stroke.
The stroke cha is the sound of air.
Without air there is simply no life.
It is the breath in our bodies.
It is the breath out of our body, it is the breath out of our body, it is the breath
out of our body, it is the breath out of our body, it is the breath out of our body,
it is the breath out of our body, it is the breath out of our body, it is the breath
out of our body, it is the breath out of our body, it is the breath out of our body,
it is the breath out of our body, it is the breath out of our body.
Now what we're going to do is to learn some exercises that will help you develop a really
good sense of time.
In a traditional culture you would go out and hang out with the drummers all the time
and this is how you would really learn a good sense of pulse.
But in our culture it's not happening.
So maybe you get one lesson a week, then you have to go home and practice, you come back
and you have to in the meantime really start to develop a sense of time on your own.
So how do you do this?
Well, you get a metronome.
Now there's many different types of metronomes and the most important thing is to get a loud
one because as soon as you start to play it's going to be really hard to hear the metronome.
So just get a very loud one.
And also it's a little confusing at first to work with a metronome because when you're
right with it you can't hear it.
So now we're going to do some of the exercises.
For purposes of this video Julie is going to play a bell instead of a metronome because
we'd never be able to hear the metronome.
Now you'll always want to be walking when you hear the bell so we're going to do some
exercises to develop a sense of pulse and we're going to start by marking out a space
of time with our feet.
So step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, step, good, that's good.
Now we're going to use a vocalization to help us mark out that time and it has no meaning
besides to mark out the time.
So here we go, step, step, step, step, da, ka, da, ka, da, ka, da, ka, and we're going
to mark that out for four beats, one, two, three, four, da, ka, da, ka, good, that's
good.
Now we're going to double that time.
Here we go, step, step, step, step, da, ka, da, ka, da, ka, da, ka, one, two, three,
four, da, ka, da, ka, da, ka, da, ka, one, two, three, four, good, that's good.
Now we're going to double that time.
Here we go, step, step, step, step, da, ka, da, ka, da, ka, da, ka, da, ka, da, ka,
da, ka, da, ka, da, ka, da, one, two, three, four, da, ka, da, ka, da, ka, da, ka, da,
one, two, three, four, da, ka, da, ka, da, ka, da, ka, da, ka, da, ka, da, ka, good,
that's good, that's good.
Now we're going to do four beats of the slowest one, four beats of the next fastest one, and
four beats of the next fastest one.
Then we'll go to the slow and the faster and the fastest one again.
So here we go, step, step, step, step, step, step, one, two, ready, go, da, ka, da, ka,
da, ka, ka, da ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka,
ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka.
Good, that's great.
Now what we're going to do is some clapping exercises.
So we're going to be working with the fastest speed, where we were going,
Dhaka Dhaka Dhaka Dhaka Dhaka Dhaka Dhaka Dhaka Dhaka Dhaka Dhaka dhaka Dhaka Dhaka dhaka Dhaka Dhaka dhaka.
One-two-three-four-one-two-three-four-one-two-three-four-one-two-three-four-one-two-three-four-one-two-three-four.
And that's what we're actually doing when we're going Dhaka Dhaka.
We're dividing the space between our feet into four little pieces.
So now we're going to accent each one of those pieces and see how that feels.
We want to really internalize what those accents feel like.
Okay.
Here we go.
Step, step, step, step, step, step.
We're going to clap only on one, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two,
three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two,
three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four.
Good.
That's right with the foot.
You're clapping right with the foot.
One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four.
Good.
That's really good.
Now what we're going to do is clap on three.
Here we go.
Step, step, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two,
One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four,
one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three,
four, one, two, three, four.
Good.
So, clapping on three is completely different from clapping on one.
One is the most grounded, most stable, and is referred to as the downbeat.
When you clap on three, it's still stable, but it has a very uplifted feeling and that's
called the upbeat.
Now what we're going to do is clap on two.
So here we go, step, step, step, step one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one,
four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three,
four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two,
three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four.
One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One,
two, three, four. Good! That's good. Now what we're going to
do is clap on the four. So here we go. Step, step, step. Step.
One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. One, two, three,
One two three four.
1-2-3-4.
Good!
Now that might have seemed a little harder.
Just be sure that you keep your feet with the bell.
Now we're going to clap on 2 and 4.
So here we go,
step,
step, step, step, one, two, three, four, one, two three, four, one, two,
three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three,
four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three,
four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three
four, one, two, three four, one, two, three four, good, good.
So, that might've seemed a little complicated.
Just remember, keep your
feet with the bell. And if you have to, just rewind the videotape and do it over and over
again. So there's one more clapping pattern that I want to show you. And it uses the idea
of a stick drumming fundamental exercise called a paradiddle. And that is right, left, right,
right, left, right, left, left. And we're going to do that with our feet again. So here
we go. Step, step, one, two, ready, go, right, left, right, right, left, right, left, left,
para, riddle, para, riddle. Good, that's good. Now what we're going to do is double that
time, just like we've been doing all along. So here we go. Step, step, step, step, one,
two, ready, go, para, riddle, para, riddle, right, left, right, right, left, right, left,
left, para, riddle, para, riddle, right, left, right, right, left, right, left, left. Good.
Now what we're going to do is the fastest speed. And we'll walk a little bit slower
so that we can be able to do this. Okay, here we go. Step, step, step, step, one, two, ready,
go, para, riddle, para, riddle, para, riddle, right, left, right, right, left, right, left,
left, right, right, right, left, right, left, left, para, riddle, para, riddle. Good, that's
good. Okay, that concludes the clapping exercises. And what we're going to do now is use these
same ideas and develop ways to practice on the jingles on the tambourine. Now we're going
to be doing exercises on the jingles and using the same ideas of dividing up time as we were
before. Now we're going to be using our fourth finger, our ring finger, on both our playing
hand and our holding hand. And once again, I'm just going to assume that everybody's
right handed. I'm just going to talk as if everybody is. Okay, so right, left, right,
left, right, left, right, left, right, left, da, ka, da, ka, da, ka, da, ka. Good. Now
we're going to be walking. We're going to be using the vocalization. So we're really
going to be synchronizing our feet, our hands, and our mouth. So here we go. Step, step,
step, step. One, two, ready, go. Da, ka, da, ka, da, ka, da, ka, da, ka, ka, ka. Good,
that's good. Now we're going to go to double that time. Step, step, step, step. One, two,
ready, go. Da, ka, da, ka, ka, ka, da, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka,
So step, step, step, step, one, two, ready, go.
One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, good, that's good.
Now we're going to do the same thing we did before.
going to do four beats of the slowest speed, four beats of double that speed, and four
beats of double that speed. We'll step a little bit slower. Okay, step, step, step, step.
One, two, ready, go, da, ka, da, ka, da, ka, da, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka,
ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka. That's good. So practice that at a very slow tempo
so that you can do all three speeds, and then as you get better and better, you slowly raise
the metronome. It's always better to practice slowly and then get it faster. Okay, now the
next exercise will enable you to develop this roll. Okay, now the way to practice that is
by using the fourth, third, second finger of your right hand and the fourth finger of
the left hand. So it's four, three, two, four. Four, three, two, four. Four, three, two, four.
Four, three, two, four. Good. Okay, now we're going to do this exercise using all three
speeds. Four beats of the slow speed, four beats of the speed that's double that, and
four beats of the speed that's double that. Okay, here we go. Step, step, step, step.
One, two, ready, go. Da, ka, da, ka, da, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka,
ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka, ka. Good, that was good. Now the final exercises on the jingles
It's the paradiddle exercise.
And that's right, left, right, right, left, right, left, left, par-ra-di-dle, par-ra-di-dle,
right, left, right, right, left, right, left, left.
That's good.
Now we're going to do the same thing that we've been doing all along.
We're going to do the slow speed and then double that time and then double that time.
The difference with the paradiddle is that to complete the entire paradiddle takes eight
beats rather than four.
So we're going to do eight beats of the slow speed, eight beats of the speed that's double
that, and eight beats of the speed that's double that.
So here we go.
Step, step, step, step.
One, two, ready, go.
Par-ra-di-dle, par-ra-di-dle, par-ra-di-dle, par-ra-di-dle, par-ra-di-dle, par-ra-di-dle,
par-ra-di-dle, par-ra-di-dle, par-ra-di-dle, par-ra-di-dle, par-ra-di-dle, par-ra-di-dle,
par-ra-di-dle.
Right, left, right, right, left, right, left, left, right, left, right, right, left, left,
left, right, right, right, left, right, left, right, left, right, right, right, right, left,
Good, now that's the end of the jingle exercises.
Now what we're going to start doing is combining some of the strokes that we learned earlier.
So we're going to take doom, and we're going to combine it with tock.
So it'll be doom, tock, doom, tock, doom, tock, doom, tock, and we'll put a tick in
between them, so it'll be doom, tock, tick, doom, tock, tick, doom, tock, tick, doom,
tock, tick, doom, tock, tick, doom, tock, tick, doom, tock, tick, doom, tock, tick,
doom, tock, tick, doom, tock, tick.
Good, now just remember that you want those sounds to be very different.
Doom is very low and open.
Tock is a high-pitched rim tone, and this is doom.
Okay, next, reverse that, go tock, doom, tock, doom, and you can put a tick in there also.
That's good.
Now we're going to do ca, tock, ca, ca, and then tock.
So ca, tock, ca, tock, ca, tock, ca, tock, ca, tock, ca, tock, and put a tick in there
also, so ca, tock, tick, ca, tock, tick, ca, tock, tick, ca, ca, tick, ca, tock, tick,
ca, tock, tick, ca, tock, tick, ca, tock, tick, good!
Now we're going to do Ka-doo, Ka-doo, Ka-doo, Ka- important, do-ka, do-ka-re.
Ka-doom-tic, Ka-doom-tic, Ka-Doom-tic, Ka-Doom-tic, Ka-Doom-tic.
Good.
Now we're going to do doom-ka.
Doom-ka, doom-ka, doom-ka-tic, doom-ka-tic, doom-ka-tic, doom-ka-tic.
Doo, ka- reseet, doom-ka- DMC-doom-tic.
Good, and the final one we'll do is doom cha.
Now remember when you're playing, if you keep the head over, you have less of the sound
of the jingles.
Now for purposes of this video, I've been keeping the drum more upright so you can see
clearly what I'm doing, but that gives you a lot more of the jingle sound, which is something
that you don't always want.
It depends on the rhythm and what kind of sound you want there.
Now, these exercises are to give you fluency between the different strokes, and you can
make up any kind of pattern that you like.
But I'll show you one that I made up when I first started to learn to play, and I just
figured out the hardest combinations of strokes for myself at that time.
And it turned out to be a seven beat pattern, and it ended up that I used it in a lot of
the pieces that I was playing at that time.
So here it is.
Doom, cha, tick, ka, doom, cha, tick.
Now, what I just did was add a shake-in to the rhythm that I was playing.
And that brings us to a really unique aspect of the tambourine.
Now, what you just saw was a mob of angels.
And that's making use of the shaking of the jingles.
From the most ancient of times to the present, the shaking of jingles, the ringing of bells,
the clanging of cymbals, and the striking of gongs has resounded at the moment of most
intensity of rituals.
From ancient Egypt, Greece, Italy, Anatolia, right up to present day African traditions,
Tibetan Buddhism, even Roman Catholicism, the ringing of bells, the ringing of metal
has marked out the most important moments.
According to Lisa Maniche, the Egyptologist, the jingles have retained their ancient meaning
of protecting the sanctuary, protecting the shrine, the divinity, and the divinity's attendance.
The purpose of the ringing metal is to dispel negative energies and to attract or magnetize
beneficent energies.
Now, what I'm going to do is show you some ways of incorporating the shaking into some
other rhythms.
Now, the simplest one is just straight ahead shaking.
One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four.
Now when you start to shake, you want to put your fingers on the jingles here to brace
it.
See, before you had them up, now you put them down so that you have something to hold on
to.
So, here we go, we're going to do this shake one more time.
One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four.
Okay, now we're going to do a simple rhythm that uses just the straight ahead shaking.
So first I'll play the rhythm, so it's one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one,
two, three, four, two, ta, ta, ta, two, ta, ta, ta, two, ta, ta, ta, two, ta, ta, ta,
two, ta, ta, ta, two, ta, ta, ta, two, ta, ta, ta, two, ta, ta, ta, two, ta, ta, ta,
ta.
Good, that's good.
Now shaking, it entails some strength in your wrist.
And you want to make sure that it's just your wrist turning.
It's not your arm going up and down.
It's just your wrist.
Now I'm going to show you a couple more patterns that you can incorporate the shakes in.
One, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four,
one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four.
The rhythm would be, good, good, that's good.
And I'll show you one more.
Now, we're going to go to the piece Rattlesnake as it's performed by the Mob of Angels.
And this piece utilizes a lot of this shaking technique.
And it's an improvisational yet structured piece.
It's made up of different segments and each segment has its own cue.
I give the cues signaling which segment to go to.
And there's a lot of mirroring and call and response.
I do something and then the group does it.
Now we're going to see this footage of Rattlesnake.
So, this is Rattlesnake.
And this is Rattlesnake.
Now, I just want to say a few words about the circles we've been performing in.
The oldest known dances were circular, ritually repeating and making manifest the cyclic nature
of reality.
In a circle, each participant faces equally into this still point around which everything
revolves.
Each participant is in relationship with every other participant.
For me, the circle is the most perfect way to play and it's a really great way to teach
because everybody can see me and I can see everybody else.
So what I want to show you is just a few seconds of a circle dance that the Mob of Angels created.
Rattlesnake.
And this is Rattlesnake.
Rattlesnake.
And another concept that I wanted to talk about is the one about processions.
Processions are another very ancient form a community used to mark important days.
Parades and processions have immense power.
And this summer, I was in Greece and I was really fortunate to see a festival day where
they took the icon from one church in the village and processed down through the village
to the other church.
And everybody had a big meal and then they carried the icon back to the first church.
So what you're going to see next is some footage of the Mob of Angels in concert doing processions.
And then what I wanted to show was a simple way that you could use that idea yourself.
What you need is somebody playing the bell and you want to put your best player on the
bell because the bell holds everything together.
And you may have noticed if you're playing with a group of drummers what starts to happen.
People get faster and faster and faster and faster and faster until everything breaks
into chaos.
So it's very important not to rush.
In fact, we visualize ourselves as very elegant, stately elephants, slow, very slow.
So it's important to keep things slow.
And a good stroke to do for a basic procession is cha.
And the reason cha instead of doom or taak is because it's a fatter sound so people will
sound more together.
So here we go, step, step, cha, tic, cha, tic, cha, tic, cha, tic, cha, tic, cha, tic,
cha, tic, cha, tic, cha, tic.
Good.
And now we'll go to the footage.
Here we go.
Music
Drumming
Now, we're going to go to some footage where I'm playing this drum, this large frame drum,
and the Mob of Angels is doing a vocal chant to raise energy, and you'll see that this
drum can be very powerful in that situation, and you'll notice that I get faster and faster
as the moment of intensity comes, and I don't have time in this video to go into the techniques
on this drum, but I'd like to recommend the fantastic world of frame drums, the instructional
video distributed by Interworld Music of my teacher, Glenn Velez, and he is a wonderful
frame drummer, and he goes into the techniques on this drum and some other styles of frame
drums that I haven't had the chance to show you.
So now we'll go to the footage of the Mob of Angels.
Here we go.
.