Dance 118 - 2002

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Intro

This is a participation oriented class in which we will play drums at least 2 out of 3 days. Videotape from my personal collection, Shain Library, and Connecticut College Dept. of Dance will support the current topic. This year I will try a new approach. We will not read "Drumming at the Edge of Magic" by Mickey Hart as in the past. Instead I will ask students to do some research on the internet relating to the topic at hand. This will save students $25.US, be more ecologically sound, and encourage the move to a more modern approach to learning. This valuable group experience will you to recognize and play some of the most important and motivating drum rhythms in the world, and, you will hopefully gain some cultural appreciation and understanding from a musicology point of view. You will also learn how to tune and maintain a drum. I will simplify some info to make it more digestible for novice drummers.

Course Description

This course will introduce the student to several basic and essential rhythms from around the world. The concept of combining popular dance rhythms, obscure tribal drumming and everything in between gives my class a unique perspective. I will lead you through Clave rhythms, basic Brasilian Sambas, Cuban Rumbas, Haitian Vodou rhythms, Middle Eastern belly dance drumming, Puerto Rican Bomba, Plena and others.

Requirements

ATTENDANCE - 2 unexcused absences are allowed for the semester. Thereafter every absence will cause the drop of half a letter grade. Being late twice or leaving early twice is equivalant to one abscence.

PERFORMANCE - Participation in at least one performance is required. Earth Day is a yearly event and a good cause. We will perform at Earth Day again this year.

Grading

I will ask for occasional papers which should be submitted by email. Students who feel that their work in class is weak can read one of the listed books and write an extra paper. The biggest factor in grading is attendance, participation, attitute, and auxilliary assignments to be announced, not drumming ability.

Key Texts

Some of the material covered can be found in the following books. You may be required to read one to make up shortcommings in regard to attendance or other factors.

AVAILABLE HERE!

• Divine Horsemen-Deren (an excellent account of a personal experience with Haitian Vodou)

• Black Music of Two Worlds-Roberts (a facinating work tracing the roots of modern popular music)

• African Rhythm African Sensibility-Chernoff (perhaps the most important book of our time about African music and culture in english). Supporting CD available

• The Music of Santeria-Amira and Cornelius(not for beginners- you will need to know traditional/european music notation.) Supporting CD available

• The Inner Game of Music-Green and Gallwey (useful mental excercises and practice ideas). Remember The Inner Game of Tennis?

• Drumming at the Edge of Magic-Hart (easy to read lots of photos and a good starting place for beginning drummers or drum enthusiasts) This book used to be required reading for my Connecticut College class.

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