A Sweet Treat: Learning About Drumming

On Valentine’s Day, all of us in the MAC class received a sweet treat. Chocolate, you might ask…doughnuts?  A heart shaped cake?  No…it wasn’t food at all, but it was quite a treat!

Carlos Cabrera, Ana’s dad, came to our class to share his passion for drumming with us.  He brought several drums and some other percussion instruments.  Using the map, he traced his experience and that of his drums from Puerto Rico (where he grew up) to west Africa and south America.

We got to see and hear the djembe, a drum from west Africa.  We learned how it is tuned using the ropes along the side and how to tilt the drum to allow air to pass through and create a resonance.  We watched Carlos’ capable hands nimbly move over the animal skin as he hit the drum in different places to create different sounds.

djembe

djembe again

We looked at the difference between the more modern conga and learned how it is tuned by tightening or loosening the metal screws along the side.

tall drum

looking in the drum

He also brought in the more familiar bongos and surprised us with information about them.  Did you know the bigger drum of the two is the female and the smaller is the male?

bongos

And best of all, we not only listened to some recorded music featuring these drums, we also got to watch and listen while Carlos played for us. It was obvious that Carlos has a passion for music, drums and drumming…and that love is infectious!  We know that many of our students probably went home talking about drums and drumming and may have even practiced a few beats on the edge of a table, on the arm of a chair, or maybe even on their own thighs.

Here’s a short video of Carlos playing in our classroom.

Thanks, Carlos and the rest of the Cabrera family for sharing this passion with us.  What a treat!

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