Andy Gleadhill takes a detailed look at the African Drumming – Secondary – 20 Player Class Pack – Buddies. New for 2016, this 20 player African Drumming pack is perfect for lunchtime, after school groups or for smaller class groups of KS3 and KS4 (age 11 and older) pupils or adults.
For full details of the pack: https://www.drumsforschools.com/product/african-drumming-secondary-20-player-class-pack-buddies-2/
The Pack includes 10 top quality djembe drums and 10 percussion instruments, to give you a wide range of authentic African Drumming sounds and to make it easy to split the group into pairs, each with a big and smaller instrument. There are three sizes of djembe, all with appropriately sized playing heads, and the three sizes will enable your group to differentiate the low, medium and high parts of many African Drumming pieces. Also included are two acclaimed teaching guides by world music expert Andy Gleadhill: African Drumming Book 1 and Percussion Buddies. The African Drumming book will take you from basics through to your first performance in just 10 lessons and there’s plenty of repertoire for a year or more of playing. The Percussion Buddies book will show you how to develop percussion accompaniments for almost any piece, whether drumming, choral, ukulele or any ensemble.
The djembes have been specially designed for use in the classroom: the drum heads are extra strong, the shells are smooth inside and out and the rubber edging protects both the drums and the floor surface. Special storage/carry bags are also available and will help to prolong the instruments’ lives as well as making it safe and easy to move them around for outside events.
African Drumming is an ideal group music making activity for schools from KS1 to KS4 as well as for adult players. Everyone is able to participate regardless of ability and at school it’s often the ‘difficult’ or ‘hard-to-reach’ pupils who make the most startling progress. Drumming reaches the children other lessons fail to touch and the transformative power of music can be seen and felt very strongly in African Drumming classes. There are simple and advanced parts, and although relatively simple in its component parts, the music can be developed into exciting and rewarding performances.