Indaba drumming ensemble
after school drumming ensemble
time and time to be announced
Indaba is a Zulu word that means to invoke the spirit of collaboration and community.
It refers to a gathering or forum for sharing ideas, and it embodies concepts that are central in our music room.
This group is open to students who like to play drums and percussion instruments and are looking to create and perform world music. The students in the Indaba Drumming Ensemble will learn African, Cuban, Latin, and Caribbean rhythms. Each performer will play unpitched percussion instruments in this ensemble. Students will use instruments such as congas, tubano drums, bongos, dundunba drums, guiros, woodblocks, cowbells, and ginkoque.
We will always begin with a warm up that allows room for improvisation. We will be focusing on rhythm: a pattern of sound moving through time, and polyrhythm: two or more rhythms sounding simultaneously and in a repetition creating multiple layers.
It is these characteristics that creates not only the complexity of this music but also its unique sound.
We will always begin with a warm up that allows room for improvisation. We will be focusing on rhythm: a pattern of sound moving through time, and polyrhythm: two or more rhythms sounding simultaneously and in a repetition creating multiple layers.
It is these characteristics that creates not only the complexity of this music but also its unique sound.
Brandon african drumming invitational April 27, 2013 10am-3pm
Indaba Drumming Ensemble hosted our first annual Invitational! Guests included Oxford, Berkley and St. Regis. Brandon's Performing Arts Center had about 97 drummers performing on stage at the parent pickup concert. Clinicians included Stephanie Perlaki, Sarah Hannigan, Michael Medvinsky, Karina Lepkowski, and Mark Stone.
Pieces included Kpanlogo (a condensed version), a piece from Ghana. Kpanlogo was created to celebrate Ghana's independence, gained in 1957. Students learned and performed parts for bell, shaker, 2 supporting drum parts, and a master drum part, as well as some songs and the dances that go with it and The embaire xylophone, a giant 21-key instrument requiring six to eight musicians to be played, comes from the Basoga people of Uganda, East Africa. This hands-on session will explore the unique communal approach to xylophone performance in East Africa. Drummers learned how to interlock starter and mixer xylophone parts to create a combined stream of tones on the instruments high notes and learned how the low notes of the xylophone are used to play drum rhythms.
Pieces included Kpanlogo (a condensed version), a piece from Ghana. Kpanlogo was created to celebrate Ghana's independence, gained in 1957. Students learned and performed parts for bell, shaker, 2 supporting drum parts, and a master drum part, as well as some songs and the dances that go with it and The embaire xylophone, a giant 21-key instrument requiring six to eight musicians to be played, comes from the Basoga people of Uganda, East Africa. This hands-on session will explore the unique communal approach to xylophone performance in East Africa. Drummers learned how to interlock starter and mixer xylophone parts to create a combined stream of tones on the instruments high notes and learned how the low notes of the xylophone are used to play drum rhythms.
2012 oakland university's percussion day Jan. 26th 9am
We had a wonderful time presenting our session "Drumming in the classroom" in Varner Hall on the campus of Oakland University. Our ensemble had the opportunity to teach other music teachers the ways that we use drumming to understand the dimensions and metadimensions of music. This is the third year Indaba has been a featured group and Mark Stone, director of world music at OU, has told us that the day would not be complete without us. We look forward to next year.
Redesigned Logo
The Indaba logo, originally designed by a BFIS drummer Skyler Kochan in 2009, was revisited this year. The drummers decided to redesign the logo with 80s style sunglasses and changed the name to BSD rather than BFIS to reflect the middle school musicians who have remained in the group. We had a rich discussion about the decision to change the logo to reflect new members of the ensemble, while staying true to the original design. This will be this years logo.
Indaba Happenings
The Indaba Drumming Ensemble is becoming an invited touring group. For the past few years we have been a featured group at Oakland University's World Percussion Day, where we had the unforgettable experience learning and performing with Bernard Woma, master of the Ghanaian Xylophone. This year we hope to tour some surrounding districts to share our rhythmic expression.
OUs World percussion day 2012
The Indaba Drumming Ensemble from Brandon Fletcher Intermediate School was invited to present a session for World Percussion Day at Oakland University on January 28, 2012. Students presented on arranging and composing original pieces while staying true to the authenticity of the origins of drumming music. The ensemble demonstrated drumming pieces and the drummers discussed their composition process and answered questions.