African Drumming Workshop by Benedek Varga-Szabó

9^th October 2013

Last Wednesday our evening activity was African Drumming. We didn’t really know what ’African Drumming Workshop’ is, but we thought it will be loud. When we arrived we met Richard „the african drummer” from England. First, he asked if we knew the name of the drum he was holding. He told us it is called Djembe and he showed how to hold it to get sound out of it. 

Then we went out to his van and everyone got their own Djembes. We took the drum inside and started to make noise, while the others were outside waiting for a Djembe. The first thing that Richard taught us was the sign to stop making noise. After that we learned the first basic rhythm and started to play it as a ’band’. We didi t well, even Richard was surprised, and the rhythm got the name ’Rhythm 1’. Next we learned ’Rhythm 2’! After jamming on this rhythm we had a short break. We could give our hands a rest. 

On the second lesson we’ve been divided into two groups. Group one played the first, group two played the second rhythm at the same time. Both groups did well so Richard let us improvising. After playing the two basic rhythms everybody could play their own rhythm and the whole group repeated it. In the end the whole group played Drum N’ Bass and I think only Richard could keep the right speed and rhythm. I think this was the loudest, the most entertaining and popular program. Personally this was my favourite.