Drum Arabesque, the New Term.

Communique #1 – Improvisation and Practice

Of all the rhythms that we have learned together, Saiidi, Chiftatelli and HayAllah are the three I play the most when I am on my own. Each of them can be played in such an infinite variety of ways that I find I am never bored, or repeating myself. So what are your three 'home' rhythms? Do you have any? It is useful to think about the way that you practice, what are your routines (though you might not think of them as routines). Do you play when the kids are asleep or when they are awake? Do you play indoors, outdoors, in the park, in the car, at the family Easter lunch? Do you have a drum in the car and a drum in your room? Do you practice at all?

In a lot of ways, practice is superseded by play. Practice is made redundant by play, since every moment of contact with the drum is practising the art of being a drummer. So think about how you practice, when, where, and consider the first rhythm that comes out when you sit down to play. I find recording even short sections of unplanned improvisations to be a very useful resource for my own study. Often rhythms come out that I have never heard before, and listening to them over is exactly like having a lesson with a teacher. You are your own teacher. You draw inspiration from my discipline and my joy, but the drumming that you do is the result of your own practice.

I think of the word practice in the way that a lawyer practices law, or a doctor, medicine. We are in the practice of drumming, we draw from the same well, and it is a bottomless inner resource.

So today I offer you the last (most recent) notation for the Temple of my familiar song, and two videos of me practising this morning.

Temple of my familiar

(Third Draft, March 2018)

1. HayAllah (x8) Slow

2. Wahiida (A B A C x2) Steady

3. Hiiwa x3 (first two Doums of Hiiwa are last two Doums of Wahiida)

4. Fezzaanii (A B / A B/ A B B B) Quick, louder towards end.

5. HayAllah (x4) Quick

6. Wahiida (A B A C) x2 Quick

Break: DT_DT_DT_DDDTTT/DDDTTT/DT_DT_DT_DDDTTT/DDDTTT/DDDTTT

8. Fezzaanii (A B / A B / A B B B) Steady, louder towards end

9. Wahiida (A B A C) x2 Quick

10. Hiiwa (x3)

Break: DT_DT_DT_DDDTTT/DDDTTT/DT_DT_DT_DDDTTT/DDDTTT/DDDTTT

11. Fezzaanii (A B / A B / A B B B) Slow & funky

               A: kD-T--kD--kDkT- FUNKY VARIANT

               B: kD-T-T-T-D-T-T-TK

12. HayAllah (x8) Slow

Note: at number 6, at the transition from Wahiida to the Break, the the final cycle is played as shown, with the following D being the first D of the Break.

A : D_tktkt_tktkt_K_

B : D_tktkt_tktkt_D_

A : D_tktkt_tktkt_K_

C : D_tktkt_tktkD_D_

It will play like this.

A : D_tktkt_tktkt_K_

B : D_tktkt_tktkt_D_

A : D_tktkt_tktkt_K_

C : D_tktkt_tktkD_D_DT_DT_DT_DT_DDD_TTT_DDD_TTT

DT_DT_DT_DT_DDD_TTT_DDD_TTT_DDD_TTT_DDD_TTT

Temple of My Familiar (morning practice video)

Improvisation Chiftatelli

https://youtu.be/C-kG8p2AT6A