Listening to Rhythm

I don't think the drumming has made me pay more attention, but more of the volume and feel of the rhythm. If music is loud, I tend to listen for the smaller touches, such as what the kinkene was doing today. Our sounds are really starting to come together, and I can't wait for the show!

kt kkkt kt kkt kt kkt kt kkt ktktktk

i was glad to HIT THE drum like objact



re keke re keke trikty trikty tu muf muf

I feel like learning any type of instrument allows you to focus more on the beat when you're listening to music. It is because you have this new found ability of counting out a rhythem that makes you want to be able to apply it to the music you're listening to. It's the awarness that a heart beat exists within everything...

Does drumming make music sound different to you?

I found that learning drumming made me pay more attention to the rhythms in the music I listen to.  Has it done that for you?

== pjk

Last Time

I really liked the way we were taught last time, because it wasnt so slow. I liked the way we would play for along time, like until my hands hurt. The music sounded really goood when we did that because we were able to play and not worry about waiting for the break. I think we should play like that more in class. I really want to be able to play more intricate beats too.

Baba Osante

So I think i had an equal amount of fun and possibly learned more when he taught the class. It seemed like he just was very quick to correct mistakes and didn't care about being apprehensive in telling us we simply didn't have the rhythm down. If I'm not playing something right, I want someone to tell me, not allow me to wallow in mediocrity, and I felt Baba Osante effectively did that during our last session.

Drumming

Drumming is a lot harder than I expected, but it is still really fun. As you may have read in Anthony's blog, I am obviously not one of the better drummers in the group, but that's not important. Once we start jammin on those drums, I totally lose myself. It sounds so cool when we all play together. I can't wait to play a full song. This seminar is awesome.

It's been a while

Because these rhythms are not yet ingrained in our minds, it is very hard to 'practice', as in go over the rhythms we've learned, or even hear them in our heads; thus, I really have not Muntu-drummed since our last seminar... three weeks ago? So we haven't seen Baba PC for over a month? Like Mr. K, I wasn't sure about The New Guy at the beginning, with the unfamiliar rhythms (although of course the 'familiar' ones were only familiar by a week or two), but it grew on me, and I especially liked the way he listened to each person play (or attempt) individually.

Drums

So far this seminar has been pretty sweet. I am excited to see what Baba PC is going to have us do after a few weeks without drumming. Hopefully I can play the cowbell soon because cowbells rule. It was really funny to see Connor mess up. Haha. Good times. We are starting to sound good together and I think we can be a super team if we keep practicing. GO DRUMS.

The new guy

As much as I love Baba PC, I liked the new guy just as much. He was very funny and entertaining throughout the seminar. I know that at first it was kinda of strange learning the different rhythms that he was teaching, but I thought that at the end of the session, we really came together and sounded pretty good.

Learning Rhythms

What was so hard to play last seminars was how to get the rhythm down without speeding up. Also when everybody was off beat it clearly messed me up. I was so confused. What did ultimately helped me was looking at the other people's hands and tried to match it. Also the same with Mr. K, when Baba PC started playing the cowbell it helped so much. I was really happy and proud of myself when I played the break? correctly and he gave me a high five. This also helped me. :)

It was difficult to play my beat while others were playing offbeat. I've always had difficulties keeping rhythm and with others messing up, it made it even more difficult. I believe that is also much easier to play the song and try to zone out everybody else, but then you don't hear the break.
A trick i used to help myself stay on beat was to sing the notes in my head like Baba PC said to do. I also tapped my foot to a steady pace that was going the same pace as the song.

Week 2

I would have to say the hardest part about the drumming this week was that when I heard someone start to get off beat, my ear tries to make me match what others are playing. Playing by yourself is easier because you don't have to be in sync with other members and slight adjustments in tempo don't really affect you because you're the only one playing.

The trick I used to help myself was simply to tap my foot to the steady quarter note of the tempo we were playing in (assuming what we were playing was in 4/4). It's always helped in the 8 years I've played trumpet and piano, and it worked for the drumming too.

2nd week

I thought the hardest part of the day was going from one drum to another. I had to play one beat then, while keeping in mind that beat, go to another drum and learn a different beat. It was pretty difficult, but at the same time it was really fun. What made it easier was listening to the other kids playing the same instrument, so you can see if you are on the same beat as them.

The hardest part about playing the drums was keeping the rhythm and being on pace with everybody else. Everything was offbeat at the beginning, but it sounded a lot better at the end. I also liked how we switched drums to get use to them.

Some tricks that I used to help me keep the rhythm are saying the sounds as I played. I also tried timing myself so that I was on beat with everybody else.

- The hardest part about Muntu drumming during session two was keeping rhythm with all of the drums being played at once. It was hard to listen to your drum and make sure you're playing the right rhythm while your neighbor might be playing the complete opposite.

- Some tricks I used were looking at my drum, and saying the rhythm to myself. When I looked around, it was very easy for me to play whatever I was hearing at the moment.

October 1 Drumming

It's 10:34 right now... ahh!

Indeed, Muntu drumming is harder than it looks. The hard part about last week's drumming was that there were different beats going on that seemingly had no connection. I actually preferred using the 'tone, muff muff' method of 'counting' rather than using the counts of notes we're used to-- it seems more natural. Like Claire and Mia, I found it helpful to listen to the drummers around me-- although NOT the ones playing a completely different rhythm!

Naomi Klionsky

Thursday was hard for me because I’m usually off beat any ways. The cow bell didn’t help me at all it confused me even more not to mention when everyone else started to play.

The only things that seemed to help me were tone muff muff and watching my hands and timing it with everyone else’s beat.

The hard part about playing that day was having the off beat unity of everyones drum pounding against my ear drums. It sounded like random noise when people tried to perfect their beats with Baba PC. (It was still awesome to listen to though...)

To make it easier on myself I focused on the sounds I was producing. I watched Baba PC's hands and copied the movments. The music came smoother and easier for me.

You Can't Play the Drums Half-Heartedly

It's one thing to know what you're SUPPOSED to play, it's another thing to stand up there and play it. And even if you have the rhythm down, who's to say that the person next to you does? Playing in unison is going to be the most challanging thing for this seminar, I think.
Then again, you can't play the drums half-heartedly. If you really don't want to play, the sound won't be right and the audiance will be able to tell that you have no interest in playing. So you need to stand up there and HIT the drum, not tap it.

I found it easier to watch the hands of the people playing with me and timing my strikes with theirs. That helped me stay in unison. Counting in a slight whisper helped me stay on time and not speed up...which I think is another difficulty.

But on a whole it was exciting.

Learning Rhythms

So today we learned actual rhythms!  I actually found it easier once Baba PC started playing the cowbell, because then I could think about the rhythms in terms of musical notation I know:  dotted quarter, two sixteenths, quarter, dotted quarter, two sixteenths, instead of tone, muff muff, tone tone, muff muff.  A few of you commented that "it's harder than it looks."  So...

(a) What was hard about playing today?
(b) What tricks did you use to make it easier?

Again, answers by next Thursday @ 8am.

I signed up for Muntu drumming because i've always done seminars regarding school and I thought it would be really cool to try something new. I hoped to learn things I would never be able to learn on a daily basis and experience a whole different culture. The first day was a lot of what i expected, we learned all of the names of the drums and even got to know each other. It was different, because I didn't think we would be able to get on the drums the first day!