Hi this is Frank with the AZ Rhythm Connection. And this video is going to give you a little bit of play along interactive with a west African djembe drum. Okay? So, if you've got a couple of these with your hands, you can play and have some fun with the djembe drum. So I'm going to teach you one of the most basic things about the djembe drum. Which are the sounds. A bass, A tone, and a slap. And they work with either hand. And with those three sounds from the djembe drum, you can do lots of different things. So in our short time together today I'm going to teach you a very simple rhythm that you'll be able to do with me. And play along and interact. And have some fun. Now you may not have a djembe drum in front of you, use any type of surface.
It could be a table. It could be a bowl. If you did our previous lesson on using your the basics of hand drumming. As long as your hands are hitting any surface, it's going to work. So again let's
get into the djembe drum. A base. A tone. And a slap. Here's a little bit
of what a djembe drum sounds like. (playing Djembe drum) Okay, so those are the sounds. And now let's see what we can do. We do a basic thing which is, "If you say it, you can play it".
Again repeat after me. "If you say it," You: "If you say it, "You can play it." You: "You can play it." One more time. "If you say it," You: "If you say it." "You can play it." You: "You can play it." Great! Okay, so let's go over the basic notes of the djembe. Which are the bass, tone, and the slap. And if you'll notice this drum is tilted forward, because the djembe is a hollow drum.
So if you're using a box on your lap or whatever. Just know that the gdjembe drum you have to tilt it for the sound to come out of the bottom. Okay, so the hand you sign your name with. Which one? That's right. The hand you sign your name with, I'm going to give you a very technical term. And the word is BOOM. B-o-o-m. I'll say it then you say it. Boom. You: Boom Boom You: Boom That's what I'm going to call the bass
note in this session. Boom. Okay so when I say it, you played along with me on the drum. And you'll notice I'm going to take my drum, my hand, and hit it right down in the middle.
Boom! *hit* Good! Boom! *hit* Let's do it with me. Boom! *hit* Boom! *hit* Boom! *hit* And amazingly, this works for
the other hand in the same way. Boom! *hit* Boom! *hit* Boom! *hit* Now djembe drums are loud. You don't have to hit them hard. Some have a calf skin surface. Some have most are goat skin.
But you might be again, playing on your table. Hitting a pot or a pan. Or a bucket. Whatever it is, just kind of hit it in the middle. Boom *hit* / Boom *hit* / Boom *hit* Now I'm going to keep going alternating or switching my hands with booms. Play along with me for a little bit. (play along) Good job! Keep going! Keep going! Keep going! Yeah! Boom *hit*.
Always like to say that if your Boom Boom hurts after this you're drumming right. All right, And give yourselves a Boom drum roll. Good. Now take your hands and do like this.. Okay. And bring them up to your
right eye. And repeat after me. This has nothing to do with drumming. But keep your hands like this and bring
them down on the drum like that. Near you. Or on the table near you. Okay? And we're going to learn the second note of the djembe, which is D. Like the letter D. And I'll say it. Then
we'll all play it. Alternating our hands. D D D (play) DDD (play) DDD. (play) Good! Now you DDD. (play) DDD (play) Let's see if we remember our booms. (play booms) Back to d's. (play Ds) Now we're going to do this sound called a slap. And I'm going to call it "TAH". Like, T-A-H. I'll say it then you say it. Tah.. You: TAH TAH. You: TAH One last time. TAH You: TAH And the way that you play a tah, you just kind of open your fingers up a
little bit.
Not spread wide like a duck treading water. Just a little bit and
you kind of slap the drum just a bit. (plays Tah Tah Tah) Tah Tah Tah (plays Tah Tah Tah) And always remember, don't hit too hard. Okay?
Hit as hard as it is comfortable for you. Being mindful of the surface, if you're playing on a table or some type of animal skin. Like you might have a Native American drum. That you're using to make the sounds. Or cardboard box. Whatever it is there's three basic sounds a Boom, a D, and a Tah. A bass, a tone, and a slap. Let's do them together. Boom Boom Boom (play Boom Boom Boom.) Boom Boom Boom (play Boom Boom Boom) DDD (play DDD) DDD (play DDD) Tah Tah Tah (play Tah Tah Tah) Tah Tah Tah (play Tah Tah Tah) Good make noise with all of them put it together and have some fun with it all
of those sounds put together.
(plays Djembe) Yeah! That's the fun of drumming. Is just being able to hit stuff really loud really soft and having fun with it. Now what I want to do is teach you a rhythm. And remember if you can say it, you can play it. Now the rhythm that I want you to say hear the words. And these are like little rhythmical training wheels. Okay? So for every syllable we're gonna hit the drum on something. Okay? So here's the phrase I want you to say. "I can play the rhythm." I'll say it again, then you say it. "I can play the rhythm." You: "I can play the rhythm." The notes we're going to do are Bass/ Bass/ Tone/ Tone/ Tone Tone Bass/ Bass/ Tone/ Tone/ Tone
Tone. Or.. Boom/ Boom/ D/ D/ DD. Just saying that phrase, "I can play the rhythm.", helps us to know what speed, what cadence to play at. Let's do it together.
One, Two. And it doesn't matter if you hit booms when they should be Ds. Don't worry about it. Play the cadence first. Okay? And we can always work on the handing later. And the sounds later. One. Two. Here we go. And, "I can play the rhythm." "I can play the rhythm." "I can play the rhythm." "I can play the rhythm." "I can play the rhythm." "I can play the rhythm." "You can play the rhythm." Keep going. "I can play the rhythm." Bass/ Bass/ Tone/ Tone/ Tone Tone (play Bass/ Bass/ Tone/ Tone/ Tone Tone) (repeat) Yes.
(repeat) Yes. Keep going. Yes! Great job! This is a very common West African Djembe rhythm. Keep playing. Yes! This video is just to give you a little intro into this culture and music. Good job! Good! A little faster here. We go. A little faster. (play faster) (play faster) You got it! Now when it goes too fast, I just want you to get the bass notes in there. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. I can. So you can go as fast or slow as you want.
"I can play the rhythm." "I can play the rhythm." Excellent job! (continue to plays "I can play the rhythm.") Excellent! Now what I want you to do, is think about this. Your Djembe drum is always with you. Let me show you what I mean. That particular pattern again, Bass/ Bass/ Tone/ Tone/ Tone Tone. Okay? Here's a way that you can transfer it to your body if you're ever just sitting down. And you're like, I think I want to play some Djembe. Here's one of the things I do.
I'll hit my thighs right here, for my bass note. And then for my tone, I do this. And I just tap the sides of my knee. And then for my slap, I open up my fingers and just kind of grab the tips of them just a little bit so it's like, "I can play the rhythm." "I can play the rhythm." Or Bass/ Bass/ Tone/ Tone/ Tone Tone.
Bass/ Tone/ Tone/ Tone Tone. Now you might be asking what about that slap? Let's put that into now, Bass/ Tone/ Slap. Again. Bass/ Tone/ Slap. And you can do this same thing with your other hand here. I go Bass/ Tone/ Slap. So when we
think about the Djembe drum, It's always with you. If you're sitting down, Bass/ Tone/ Slap. And that transfers to the drum. (plays Bass/Tone/ Slap.) So the purpose of this video is to give you some fun with the Djembe drum. What are the basic sounds and what's a common rhythm that I can play and have fun with it? "I can play the rhythm." Now let's
do one more thing together. Okay? You're going to hear me clap because a thing came in and I'll pick it up
from let's do one more thing together the video is still rolling. Okay I'm going
to tap it one more time, then I'll say let's give me time check two please.
All right, Thank you. So I'll clap
one more time. Then I'm going to say we're going to do one more thing together. Three, Two, One. One more thing we can do together
as well. Now we put the Djembe on our lap. If we were sitting down, but another way that your Djembe is always with you. It's in your hands. So here's what I want you to do. Curve your hands like this and repeat after me, "My Djembe" You: "My Djembe." Repeat after me again, "My Djembe." You: "My Djembe." "Is always with me." You: "Is always with me." "is always with me. Great! So let's curve our hands like this, and we're gonna do like that. Boom Boom Boom *clap three times* Boom Boom Boom. *clap three times* That's where the bass is. Now take your other hand like, this hand you sign your name with here. DDD DDD *clap three times* DDD *clap three times* TAH TAH TAH *clap three times* Boom Boom Boom *clap three times* DDD *clap three times* TAH TAH TAH *clap three times* So you can have fun with the sounds of the Djembe.
Boom, Ds, and TAHs. Wherever you are because that drum is with you always. *plays Djembe* Let's play a little bit along together as we
end. "I can play the rhythm." "I can play the rhythm." *Plays "I can play the rhythm."* Good! Keep practicing. Keep
enjoying West African music. Yes!.