insights on practicing world percussion -...

PERCUSSIVE NOTES 44 APRIL 2003

How does world percussion fit intothe practice puzzle? For most per-cussionists, it is added to a foun-

dation of orchestral or keyboard percus-sion, drumset, rudimental drumming, orsome combination of these. Rarely doesa Western-trained percussionist startout with the intention of becoming aworld percussion specialist. More typi-cally, it gets added to the mix like somany spinning plates in a juggler’s act.Fitting it all in does indeed take prac-tice, but it also requires a great amountof respect for the diversity of our world’scultures and their musical expressions.

Practicing world percussion requiresmany of the same skills employed inmastering any musical instrument(scales, timing patterns, exercises fortechnical development, etc.), but thereare also broader issues to consider, espe-cially when one is learning an instru-ment from another culture. Eartraining, transcription skills, familiaritywith language (at least in terms of pro-nunciation for singing), and an under-standing of cultural background andhistory are essential aspects of apercussionist’s development in worldmusic. In addition, and perhaps mostimportantly, one should make every ef-fort to contact a qualified teacher, pref-erably an authentic culture-bearer.

Because of the amazing breadth ofworld percussion performance practicesfound today, I asked several prominentworld music practitioners to share theirinsights on practice, either from a cul-tural or technical point of view. Eachcontributor’s response follows a brief in-troduction.

Mohamed Da Costa is a masterdjembe drummer, dancer, and choreogra-pher from Guinea, West Africa. He hasbeen teaching and performing in theUnited States since 1990, and currentlyresides in Greensboro, North Carolina.

In traditional African society, youwould establish an apprenticeship witha teacher who allowed you to play at

BY B. MICHAEL WILLIAMS

Insights On PracticingWorld Percussion

community dances. You would play thesame part for months or even a year, de-pending on how fast you learn. You’dplay “pa, ti pa, pi ti pa, ti pa,” over andover. The teacher observed your playingand if your sounds and timing weren’tright, you wouldn’t be allowed to moveon to a more advanced part.

The teacher knows if you are practic-ing or not, because he is always around.When the wind blows, it can carry thesound of a drum for miles, and yourteacher can tell if your practicing isn’tright. My teacher once came to our re-hearsal in a village three miles away. Ashe approached the village, he could hearus playing, and when he arrived, he im-mediately began correcting our mis-takes!

The apprenticeship with a teacher is avery important relationship. It is veryspecial to receive your teacher’s bless-ing. You must be willing to run errandsfor your teacher at any time, even in themiddle of the night! It isn’t about money.It is about respect. Today, things arechanging in Africa. There are more regu-

lar classes now, much like what youwould find in Europe or America. Thatisn’t necessarily a bad thing. Everythingchanges, but the apprenticeship basedon respect for the teacher is being lost.

Michael Spiro is recognized as one ofthe foremost authorities on Afro-Cubandrumming. He regularly performs withthe group Talking Drums with DavidGaribaldi and Jesus Diaz, and presentsperformances and workshops worldwide.Michael lives in San Francisco. Web:http://kayoakes.home.mindspring.com/mspiro

Traditionally in Cuba, there weren’treally that many instruments on whichto practice. Especially with bata drums,for example, you learned by watching,sometimes for many years. You would do“service” to the maestro (tune drums,carry drums, run errands, etc.), and inexchange you would go to the ceremo-nies and get to watch and memorize. Youdidn’t sit down to play until you alreadythought you knew what to play. Youpracticed on your legs after watching theparts and then slowly “worked” yourway into the battery. You wouldn’t evenbe allowed to “hang out” if you didn’t dothe apprenticeship part first.

Mohamed Da Costa

Michael Spiro


Now things are different in someways. There are schools where you canlearn (as part of an overall curriculum),and where you can be “tested” and“yelled at” if you don’t do your home-work. The serious guys still do it like theold days—attach yourself to a maestroand go from there. In this traditional en-vironment, technical exercises wouldnever be required.

The conga drum, however, is a differ-ent story. In contemporary Cuban soci-ety, almost all the young musicians go tomusic school (for which they have to au-dition), and they all read, write, andplay all the percussion instruments,from classical to folkloric. The competi-tion is as fierce as you will ever find,even in the States, so the young playersare all monsters, just to be able to stayin school. Then, in turn, to be able to getpaid by the government to be a musi-cian, you must have extremely highskills, for which you are evaluated everythree years or so. This “academy style”has very exacting standards that aremet through an array of technical exer-cises.

I was taught by the old masters, sotheir approach with me was, “Learn thisby tomorrow, don’t waste my time, andbe lucky I don’t hurt you if you make amistake. You should be grateful I let youeven be around this stuff.” I don’t teachlike that, but most of my students thinkI’m much too mean, and that I carrythat same mentality with me. I don’tthink I do, but to some real degree, Iteach from the perspective that “this isserious stuff, and I don’t have time towaste, so get with the program, or else!”It is also true that I have students who“apprentice” themselves to me, and sodon’t pay me any money, but they pay ahigh price in “service.” Money is actuallycheaper!

Bruce Carver recently moved to LosAngeles from Chicago, where he was afirst-call percussionist in studios andtheater productions. In addition to mas-tering the core orchestral percussion in-struments, keyboards, and drumset,Bruce is well versed in a wide variety ofethnic musical styles and regularly per-forms on an impressive array of worldpercussion instruments.

Practice may be a cruel word to some,but to me, it just means playing. I loveto play. I’m just having fun when I’m sit-

ting at an instrument, discovering itsvoice and taking it through its vocabu-lary.

I do a lot of theater and studio work,which requires experience with a largefield of instruments. So practice alsomeans attaining an understanding ofthe instrument you are playing, its his-tory, performance techniques, etc.

After understanding what it is you aregoing to play, you want to find and pur-chase the best instrument possible andspend time near it. At this writing, I amspending the majority of my time withtabla, tonbak, daf, bodhran, mbira, con-gas, djembe, and marimba. In time,some of these nucleus instruments maybe replaced with others, but I alwaysmake time to practice tabla, marimba,and hand drums such as congas ordjembe.

I spend one to four hours a day play-ing. I have percussion instruments inevery room of my house, and sometimesit takes a while to get from one end ofthe house to the other! I don’t practiceall instruments in one session, but I loveto spread it out through the day. Thiskeeps me fresh and focused. My biggestconcern before I start playing any newinstrument is that I know exactly how toplay it. I will have researched the in-strument, collected several recordings,and found a qualified teacher. The restis simple. The rest is fun.

Alan Dworsky is the author, withBetsy Sansby, of Conga Drumming, Howto Play Djembe, Hip Grooves for HandDrums, Slap Happy, World-Beat & FunkGrooves, A Rhythmic Vocabulary, andSecrets of the Hand. He has just finished

Lesson 3 in his new video series calledLearn to Solo on Djembe or Conga. Alanlives in Minneapolis. Web: http://www.dancinghands.com

I’m a hand drummer who loves Afri-can and Afro-Cuban rhythms: rhythmsconstructed of many interlocking partsplayed on a variety of instruments.Since I don’t have a community or groupto play with on a daily basis, my chal-lenge has been to approximate this richrhythmic environment when I practicealone.

One way I do this is by playing alongwith traditional rhythms on CDs, butwhen I want to play continuously, I pro-gram my drum machine with a tradi-tional rhythm and practice along withthat. Then I can play as long as I wantwithout having my concentration brokenevery five minutes while I wait for a CDtrack to repeat. This also allows me tocontrol the tempo, so I can start outplaying a part slowly and gradually in-crease the speed.

Whatever I play along with, I alwaystry to tap the pulse in my feet while Iplay. The “pulse” is the term I use forthe steady underlying beat people feel intheir bodies when music is played. If youplay sitting down and it’s hard to holdyour drum steady and tap the pulse withyour feet at the same time, run a strapfrom your drum around your waist tofree up your legs.

When I can’t practice on a drum, orwhen I’m stir crazy and want to get out-side and move, I do what I call “rhythmwalking.” Rhythm walking is my adap-tation of the “Ta Ke Ti Na” methodtaught by Reinhard Flatischler. I walk

Bruce Carver

Alan Dworsky


the pulse, clap or tap a clave or timelinerhythm in my hands, and vocalize adrum pattern, all at the same time.Rhythm walking is a form of rhythmiccross-training you can do anywhere: at apark, on a beach, down a city street. Itloosens up those muscles and joints thatget stiff and sore when you over-practiceon your drum. And it’s a great way towork on your rhythmic vocabulary whileyou get some exercise and fresh air.

Erica Azim is a Californian who fellin love with traditional Shona mbiramusic when she first heard it at the ageof 16. In 1974, she became one of the firstpeople from outside Zimbabwe to studywith traditional mbira masters. Herworkshops and performances have intro-duced international audiences to the tra-ditional music of Zimbabwe. Hernonprofit organization, MBIRA, is dedi-cated to helping Zimbabwean musicians.Web: http://www.mbira.org. For moreinformation on Erica’s teaching methods,please refer to her article available athttp://www.mbira.org/onteaching.html.

I find that one of the most importantaspects of practice for the mbira studentis to spend at least half of each availablepractice period playing old, well-knownmaterial, rather than mastering newmaterial. The average North Americanmbira students, in my experience, havean easier time learning new materialthan “getting out of the way” for thesongs and improvisation they know toreally flow in the traditional Shona way.

I also find from my own learning expe-rience that the most important times topractice new material, even for ten min-utes, are right before sleep at night, andfirst thing upon waking up in the morn-

ing. This way, even learning a complexoral tradition with no notation whatso-ever, nothing is forgotten. This is not al-ways possible, so I have found that arecording of each mbira lesson is a valu-able reference for use during practice.

N. Scott Robinson teaches classes inworld music and culture at Kent StateUniversity in Ohio as part of The Centerfor the Study of World Musics. His per-forming and recording credits includework with Benny Carter, Glen Velez,Malcolm Dalglish, Annea Lockwood,John Cage, Paul Winter Consort,Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman, MarilynHorne, and Jeanne Bryson. Scott’s mostrecent recording, Things That HappenFast, features performances of his origi-nal compositions for frame drums,berimbau, udu, cajon, karimba, congas,and many other instruments fromaround the world. Web: http://www.nscottrobinson.com

Percussionists have so many choicesas far as what they can play. Eventhough Western percussion instrumentsare diverse, they tend to be more relatedin terms of rhythmic concepts and physi-cal technique than non-Western percus-sion instruments. A Westernpercussionist needs to build a founda-tion before trying to absorb so many dif-ferent things, like Indian drumming,African drumming, gamelan, mbira, etc.Developing a strong rhythmic concept,coordination between the limbs, eartraining, reading, and improvising abili-ties are things that all Western percus-sionists should spend the proper amountof time practicing. A thoroughly devel-

oped foundation will serve a musicianwell in the future no matter what direc-tion he or she decides to go in later intheir respective careers.

One of the issues I think is essentialfor successful music practice is to in-volve the mind in everything you do.Percussionists often spend a great dealof time doing “physical practice,” such asrunning scales on mallet instruments,snare drum rudiments, or drumset time-keeping, without really thinking deeplyabout everything they are playing. I no-ticed improvement in my focus and con-centration after having practiced thingsthat required a great deal of thought toexecute. I try to spend a short amount oftime on “physical practice” and a longerperiod on “mental practice.” By “mentalpractice,” I don’t mean just thinkingabout something. I mean to involve themind in whatever it is that you’re doing.

I noticed that after spending a greatdeal of time learning South Indianrhythms and hand drum technique, notonly did my playing improve, but my un-derstanding, concentration, and confi-dence grew. I think this had to do withthe fact that I was involving my mind byvocalizing rhythmic phrases and yet stillhaving to think about the rhythmic cycleand physical choreography of the handson the drum. My studies with Glen Velezon frame drums often led me to involv-ing my entire body by walking whileplaying, playing intricate rhythms withthe fingers, vocalizing, and thinkingabout all of these things simultaneously.

I enjoy working on something I callthe “Rule of Opposites.” If a particularrhythm I want to learn is in a compoundmeter, then I’ll practice it in a duplemeter as sixteenth notes. For example,southern Italian tamburello technique isoften in a very fast compound meter in-volving a triple stroke-turning techniqueof the hand. I spent a lot of time workingon this as sixteenth notes in three-fourmeter, which made me really think hardabout every single position of the handand where it was in the rhythm.

Another thing I do with Indian rhyth-mic phrases is to say the opposite ofwhat I’m playing. If I am playing aphrase in sixteenth notes, simulta-neously I’ll recite it twice as fast asthirty-second notes and then switch somy voice recites the slower version insixteenth notes while my fingers playthe faster, denser version in thirty-sec-

N. Scott Robinson

Erica Azim


ond notes. This makes me think reallyhard, and both my mind and hands aregetting a great musical workout.

Another issue with percussionists andpractice is having a clear notion of whatyou’re going to do with what you’restudying. Everything I practice leads toa single goal: improvisation. I play a lotof really different instruments, but Ipractice them all in the same way. Oddmeters, improvisational techniques, andinvolving the mind and other parts ofthe body in what I’m doing gives me

B. Michael Williams

more awareness in both the body andmind while I play. This helps me feelconfident and relaxed when I improvisein performances because I’ve spent thetime thinking about what I might playin a lot of different ways. Having pur-sued Western percussion and jazz for along time, I rely on that foundationwhile pursuing non-Western percussion.The physical techniques are different be-tween the instruments I play but mygoal is always the same, so it makes fora more related concept as to how I ap-

proach the instruments and music Iwant to play. Without a foundation, itwould be too overwhelming trying tostudy so many instruments and musicsthat aren’t really related in any practi-cal way.

Having the proper context in which toutilize what you practice is another im-portant consideration. Non-Western per-cussionists usually grow up and developwithin a culture strong in tradition.That context allows their skills to be uti-lized in a practical manner. Western per-cussionists don’t always have the propercontext in which to use non-Westernskills. I think that’s why it’s common forWestern percussionists to use non-West-ern percussion instruments in a creativemanner outside of the respective tradi-tions. Jazz and modern dance classesare contexts in which non-Western skillscan readily be utilized. They provide anaccessible and logical context in which todevelop your own voice as a musician.That’s something that many importantimprovising percussionists, such asCollin Walcott, Glen Velez, Trilok Gurtu,and Naná Vasconcelos, among others,have spent time doing and benefitedfrom in terms of developing an originalvoice.

B. Michael Williams is Associate Editorfor world percussion for Percussive Notes.He teaches percussion at Winthrop Uni-versity in Rock Hill, South Carolina. PN

The Percussive Arts Society is seeking applicants for our six-month internship program beginningin July 2003. Many successful candidates for this position have either used internships at PAS ascapstone semesters to complete music business degrees or have been recent graduates of suchprograms. However, all percussion students who wish to gain industry experience as a way ofpromoting career goals are encouraged to apply.

PAS interns acquire broad industry experience by assisting with a variety of staff projects. The fall2003 intern will be part of the team that is planning and producing November’s internationalconvention in Louisville. The opportunity to work closely with our Director of Event Production andMarketing, Jeff Hartsough, on artist and manufacturer relations and marketing projects will makethe fall 2003 internship especially valuable to any young adult who is considering a career in thefield of music business.

Interns live in a furnished apartment provided by PAS (water, electricity, and cable bills are alsopaid). In addition, interns receive a $500 stipend each month.

We invite prospective candidates to send the following information:• a résumé of academic and work experiences;• a copy of a paper submitted in an upper division course that includes an evaluation written bythe student’s professor;• a list of persons who have agreed to provide academic and work- related recommendations,along with contact information; and• a cover letter that both describes the applicant’s career goals and also discusses (based on areview of the public-access pages of our Web site) how an internship with PAS could help torealistically promote those goals.

Completed applications can be forwarded as e-mail attachments to [email protected] or may besent to our postal address: Intern Coordinator, Percussive Arts Society, 701 NW Ferris Avenue,Lawton, OK 73507.

Priority will be given to candidates whose applications are received before June 1, 2003.Please encourage students in your program to consider the advantages of six months of industry-related experience with the Percussive Arts Society.

FALL 2003 INTERNSHIP APPLICATIONS

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