About a month ago, my church asked me to be a camp leader for girls camp (ages 11-18). I said I would. Afterwards, I wandered my apartment thinking, what did I just agree to? That's when I walked by my hand drum. Oh, yeah!...
So, I created a goal to learn to play it, take it with me to girls camp and be the "cool" hippie camp leader that plays the drums by the campfire. There's a girl going with us that can play the ukulele, and I thought it'd be perfect to know just enough that I could accompany her. Or just play a steady rhythm while marshmallows are a roastin'. I daydreamed about that for a bit until it got me excited for girls camp. But now it's time to do this. I dusted off the drum, started tap-tap-tapping, but---needless to say, even though I play the drum set, learning to play my Bookman's drum has been a little trickier than I realized... 5 things about doing djembe: 1. Know that you're playing a djembe and not a bongo. (Similar instruments, but different techniques.) 2. Learn to spell djembe: D-J-E-M-B-E (weird!) 3. Learn to pronounce djembe ("jem-bay") 4. Learn to talk djembe ("gat-goo-gat-goo-gat-gat") 5. Practice, practice, practice! I'm at the beginnings of learning, but it's been fun so far. I've learned that my djembe has three sounds: bass tone, open tone, and slap tone, that the drum goes between your legs and should be pointed away from you, never towards, and that you're not supposed to play with any rings on (oops!). Below are a few videos suggested by Simon, my drum teacher. If you want to learn more than djembe, like the bongos, shakers, and more I suggest you check out Kalani's yoututbe channel and website. That's what I'll be doing up until camp. I'll be sure to write a follow up post about my experience playing by the campfire. Until then, happy drumming! Videos to get started: PROPER DJEMBE TECHNIQUE BUILD YOUR DRUM SKILLS TWO POPULAR DJEMBE RHYTHMS
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I'm what you'd call a "hobbyist" drummer.
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