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Workshop Studies African Drums

By Heather Bowser, Daily News-Record

Ben Yoder, 6, of Harrisonburg tries his hand at drumming Saturday at an African drum workshop at EMU. More than 20 students, faculty and community members gathered to learn the drumming style from University of Virginia Instructor Michelle Kisliuk.
Photo by Thomas J. Turney

A little part of Africa grooved its way onto the EMU campus on Saturday.

For a few hours, 20 students, faculty and community members gathered for an African drumming workshop in the Main Stage Theater. African students, farm kids from Pennsylvania and local children worked together to make music with various African drums, bells and rattles.

The idea, says theater director Heidi Winters Vogel, was to prep students for the drumming scenes in EMU’s newest play, "Ti-Jean And His Brothers," which opens March 22.

Several members of the Harrisonburg community — including Ben Yoder, 6, and his brother Sam, 7 — also joined in Saturday’s free lessons.

"I like the African drums best," said Ben, who just got his first drum set for Christmas. "The top feels so soft and the sides of it are so beautiful."

The Beginning

Saturday’s event was more than just a jam session — although the students improvised a few rhythms using buckets and trash cans while they waited for their instructors.

Five African Drumming students from the University of Virginia and their instructor, Michelle Kisliuk, taught the group how to "internalize" the African beat.

"The idea is to open your ears and listen to your body tell you the beat," explained Kisliuk, all the while stomping and tapping beats on her legs.

But this was easier said than done.

The group spent about an hour learning how to simultaneously maintain two different beats — a double and a triple — with two different hands.

They started with claps and later added singing.

Half of the group chanted, "Ti-pa-pa, ti-pa, ti-pa, ti-pa-pa" while the other sang, "Coom ka-ka kaa kaa ka-coom" — each with accompanying claps and knee taps.

It Gets Harder

Next, the instructor added African bells and rattles to the equation.

"I see some of you really have it, some of you… some of you need a little more work," Kisliuk said.

After about an hour, 80 percent of the group managed to keep up with one rhythm or another. Two or three students, on the other hand, still "needed a little more work."

"African drumming has a sort of domino effect," Kisliuk explained. "When one person messes up, the rest or the group tends to follow. So try to concentrate."

Just when the slower students about mastered the task, they put down the drums, took off their shoes and danced.

"We’re just trying to get everyone up to speed for all those drumming and dancing scenes we’re going to have," said the director, referring to the upcoming play. "I think it’s going to be a great show."

— article by: Heather Bowser, Daily News-Record; posted January 29, 2007