Essential Elements of African drumming.

African drumming is a term that covers the music of a whole continent! Different tribes and countries have developed a whole range of different instruments and stylistic approaches to drumming ensembles. We focus on a number of elements that are common across the genre and tie them directly to the National Curriculum for Music of any particular age group.

At Junior level you could expect:

Performance:

• Learn hand drumming skills
• Learn Bass drum and percussion skills
• Work with audio and visual orchestration signals.
• Maintain their own part with awareness of how the different parts fit together.

Composition:

• Improvise around a basic structure
• Learn the essential elements of a drumming ensemble piece
• Create and conduct signals to mark points of change
• Creating rhythms for different sections of the ensemble within the given structure

Appraisal:

• Noticing when we are in or out of “groove”
• Recognising the connection between the different rhythmic elements
• Making suggestions for improvements or alterations