Who takes the lead? Who has the creativity? Who takes care of the coordination? During the workshop Teambulding we’ll find some unexpected qualities.
It’s all about the story. The concept must be clear.
At this very moment I am working at several workshops for companies. All of them with their own theme. A good story and useful information for many years to come.
You grab an instrument and immediately you start to play. That’s the intention of this workshop.
During the djembé workshop you will be introduced to this Western African drum and its family of percussion instruments, as you play. You act on your own level. However it will be different for everybody you will be able to play together as a group.
Fun during playing comes first. This djembé workshop therefor is not a journey trough history. Traditional rhythms are explained briefly, but as fast as they come we will leave them for what they are so that we replace them for your own contribution and ideas. Every lesson is a surprise of its own.
Not everyone feels comfortable in an individual les situation. You want to learn something, but a real course? Who takes soccer lessons of hockey lessons? You train and practice your sport. For fun. And if you learn something too? Well thats of minor importance. So you don’t take lessons, but go for a series of workshops. It’s fun to play.
I’m certainly not a purist. I use traditional music as a starting point to improve the creativity of the student. I am a musician, not an archaeologist. I don’t see it as my goal to reproduce the history, but I’m seeking for innovation, your own contribution and more creativity. The percussion workshop therefor are a combination of learning from the roots and developing your own ideas. Several rudiments mixing to free style. Learn to feel the groove.
What is traditional music anyway? The roots of many of our modern music are from Africa. But it’s not that easy to define those roots. Ask any Dutch to tell about the source of his music and don’t be surprised as he immediately mentions Bach, Beethoven and Mozart. Was there no earlier music? And oh yes, those composers are Europeans, but not from The Netherlands. How many years we have to go back in time to find tradition? What geographic radius do we have to handle? If al these answers are that hard to find for our own Western music, how complicated must it be to find African tradition, where hundreds of tribes have their own habits and speak their own languages.
This music too developes constantly. In each and every way. That’s a good thing. I’ll give an example. One of the most popular high pitched instruments in African music is the “break”; that’s actually a car break. Could that be for much longer than a century in use? Who are we to judge if this is a traditional instrument or not. Same story for the tin can.
African rhythms are developing constantly on several continents. Everywhere a little different. In my opinion I use the rudiments to improve creativity and erase borders. Learning by playing. I don’t want to be an imitator and don’t educate anyone to become a copyist.
Not CHAINED to the past but with FREEDOM to explore; two important words from the African history.