– Okay, Prince. What do you think? Do you wanna try doing some rhythm today? Oh, you want to snuggle? Okay. Hi! My name is Signe, and I'm a Teaching Artist
with New Victory theater. And I love exploring rhythm. I'm hoping that, today, we
can explore rhythm together inspired by the djembe drum. Let's try. So, in order for our exploration today, you're gonna need two things. One, you're going to need your body. The second thing you're going to need are some found objects
from around your house that you can use safely to explore rhythm. Here's some things that I found. I'm gonna try a coffee tin. And I found some metal
parts and an empty cup. Even some old candy that I
wanted to try to play with today.
And I grabbed a spoon. Take a minute to go around your house and find some objects that you can use to explore rhythm safely today. They should be things that won't break. So, now that you found some objects and you're ready to get started, let's think about what
we know about the djembe. Well, one thing I've learned
about the djembe drum is that it makes low,
middle and high tones. So let's start with exploring how we can make low, middle and high tones with our body.
Starting with low tones. Well, (slapping thighs) I could start on my thighs. That feels… that feels like, maybe, low. (slapping chest) Oh, when I hit my chest it's even lower. But what if I wanted to make
a low sound with my hands? (hands clapping) Oh, a regular clap sounds pretty high. I wonder if I changed
the shape of my hands, if that could change
the shape of the sound? (clapping cupped hands) I think so. So, what I've done is
I've cupped my hands, (clapping cupped hands) and now I've been able to make
a low sound with my hands. Did you find a low sound
on your body that you like? Good.
Hold on to that. Try to remember it. So now let's think about a middle sound. (slapping thighs) Going back to my thighs. I like the thighs as a middle, but again, I wonder if I could make a
middle sound with my hands. (clapping hands) That's still feels pretty high. (clapping just the fingers) Ooh, I like that. When I take my four fingers
and I put them together, (light clapping sound) that makes a nice middle sound for me. I'm going to choose that as
my middle sound. Awesome. Did you find one you liked? Hold on to that. And now let's find a high sound.
(slapping chest) Um, my chest feels low. Let's
try something different. (slapping on back of hand) Oh, that sounds high to me. (clapping palm of hand) That sounds high too. I think I'm going to go with this one. (clapping palm of hand) I like this one for my high sound. Did you find a high
sound you liked? Great. So here's my low on my body. (clapping cupped hands) My middle, (clapping fingers) and my high. (clapping palm of hand) Oh, I like that. Now let's see if we can try
to find a low, middle and high with some of our found objects.
This is my coffee tin, and I grabbed a spoon that
I knew was safe to play with from the kitchen. (spoon banging on lid of container) Oh, that's a nice low sound, I think. (spoon banging on side of container) Oh, seems like we've got low on the top, (banging spoon on lid of container) and on the side, that
feels kind of like middle. (banging spoon on side of container) Low, middle. (banging spoon on top
and side of container) Great. The bottom is metal, let's see. (banging spoon on bottom of container) Whoa. Okay, okay. That's high.
I think we found it. I think we found it. I think this is our low, (banging spoon on lid of container) middle, (banging spoon on side of container) and high. (banging spoon on bottom of container) Oh, yeah! Now, hopefully you found some
fun low, middles and highs with the objects that you're exploring. Or you could use your body. Pick what you want to play with for the next part of our exploration. I'm gonna stick with my
coffee tin for the next part. So, now that I've found
some low, middle and highs, I wonder if I can put that
together to make a short phrase. (banging spoon on container) I think that works for me. And I could go slow like that, (slowly banging spoon on container) or I could speed it up.
(quickly banging spoon on container) Can you find a phrase
that you want to try slow and speed it up too? I bet you can. So, I just wanted to say thank you so much for coming and exploring with me. I loved exploring rhythm inspired by the djembe
drum with you today. Hope you can have more
explorations with rhythm all the time. Bye-bye for now. (upbeat music playing).