10 Rhythms Every Darbuka Player Must Know, Part 2 of 3: 4/4 Rhythms (Beginning) 

So how are you doing with the Darbuka?

Do you mean on the musical notation? That's just the counting, so you can tell which hit goes where in time. Though it's possible I misunderstood your question.

@@geoffchilders Many thanks for taking time and replying me Geoff. i have already learnt lot from you. when you write doum, tak etc thats clear to me. i got muddled up with 1*** 2***, was wondering what does that asterisks stand for. thanks again

@@darvaish4552 It's rhythmic notation. Think of the * as having the value of a sixteenth note.

@@geoffchilders many thanks Geoff. I am learning a lot of stuff from you and I play it in frame drum. Hope soon I get a darbuka. You are a fantastic teacher

That's a great idea. I'll have to think about how to teach that. Mostly it involves knowing a lot of variations on beats and being able to pull them out in the moment.

In many places, Masmoudi Saghir is referred to as "Beledi." Percussion teachers often use "Masmoudi" to refer to Masmoudi Kabir and "Beledi" to refer to Masmoudi Saghir, perhaps to avoid confusion, or perhaps due to regional differences in lingo.

beledi is a word mostly used in egyptian arabic to define something 'not pure' or even something particularly egyptian, from egyptian beer to half breed animals. So, I guess, beledi could be an egyptian denomination of the rythm. In such a vast cultural landscape, as it is thw arab speaking world, there maybe be a lot of variations in words

These are not mistakes but matters of deliberate preference, which I've arrived at by working with many teachers and spending a lot of time experimenting. I don't have a problem with anyone doing it the way you do; these things vary from culture to culture and from player to player. My influences are mostly Israeli and Turkish players. I've met lots of teachers who believe that they have the "correct" way to do things, and that any deviation is a mistake. But for every one of those teachers who thinks they have the "correct" way, I can show you amazing players who do it differently. This is why it's important to learn from more than one teacher. Was split-hand pioneer Misirli Ahmet "wrong" for using two fingers on each hand? If so, I don't want to be "right." The reason I don't use slaps in this video is because it's a beginner-level tutorial and there's no reason for slaps to be a prerequisite for the concepts and techniques taught here.

Geoff Childers no doubt that is good to explore new movements or just different. Arabic master would say that as long it sounds good than its fine. problem is when you learn a "wrong" position that will lead you into pain in long term or into blocked speed. for example I have an Egyptian friend who does rolls without the "butterfly" movement but using a big movement with whole shoulders, and he can't go very fast plus now he has massive pain problems with his back when he plays. so, some positions are not "right" but they just work better :) you use a lot your right shoulder to move from dum to tak, there is actually another movement that makes it faster and with less effort. big masters use the least movement that's it, didn't want to say you are wrong :) anybody should feel free to play, but comfortable and ancient ways are just smart, master ahmet didn't invent the split finger, it is coming from India. what I actually wanted to say is that rhythm should be taught properly, students should learn from basics and slap is basic, instead of study one style and than change it later adding new sounds, is actually more complicated like this. is something I strongly suggest you, than you are free to do whatever you want :)

Thanks for taking the time to chat about drum pedagogy with me; I love this stuff. Your experience has clearly been different from mine and it’s interesting to compare notes. I’ve learned from over a dozen different teachers from several countries-live, on RU-vid, and many of the big teachers who have DVDs out. I can’t think of a single one who doesn’t teach the basic rhythms using doums, teks, and kas, before moving on to teaching slaps. The reason is that it usually takes beginners months-to-years to get the slap consistent, and this struggle to get the slap right distracts from the other elements of learning the rhythms-it’s like telling someone to learn to juggle while riding a unicycle. But once you’re comfortable playing the rhythms with teks, it’s not so difficult to incorporate the slap. I know it’s less common to see players using the pointer finger to do teks. I use both, and the reasons I use the pointer finger are that my pointer finger tek is naturally louder than my ring finger tek, so it creates natural accents, and because leading with the pointer finger makes it more natural to move in and out of playing split-hand with 4 fingers. I don’t teach students to use the pointer finger; I tell them to start with the ring finger, but experiment with both and see what works best for them in the long run. You’re right to point out that I was using a lot of right shoulder movement in this video. Thanks for mentioning this. I don’t think I usually use so much in my playing, when I’m just playing free, but sometimes I exaggerate movements when I’m teaching, and that’s one that I shouldn’t be exaggerating. Filming myself always makes me anxious and then I do weird things. I appreciate the tip and will watch for this in my playing. :)

Geoff Childers Yes I see your point, video making doesn't feel comfortable. however, Yes the slap takes ages to come out. years ago I used to skip that teaching for more advanced people, but I realized they suffered a lot the integration of this new movement into their basic standards. is just my suggestion, doesn't mean it is a must, but it would be better to start from the very light slap, like a muted sound instead of the heavy hit slap for begin. also my big master used to tell me that left hand is the weak one, so we did for years very heavy training over and over only on left hand. weaknesses and difficult hits are the very first things to work on over and over from beginning, that's the Egyptian way at least, it worked for me. rest of people who just want to play like kids and that's it they lost already their training, people really should put effort, instead of swallowing easy and not complete tutorials, do you get me? not trying to be harsh, but this shouldn't be too easy, is true some people just can't get there, they are amazing forever students will bring work for ages, but let's not simplify too much the discipline :D What is intermediate or advanced are tricks rolls rhythms and solos. the sound of hits is beginner level. anyway because English is not my language it seems I'm very rigid even I see this, just wanted to share my view and help improve by pointing attention on little things!!! :)

My understanding (and I'm by no means an expert) is that in Egyptian style the beats you're talking about are usually slaps, where in Turkey (and other countries) they're usually a tek? I've also seen in various sources (Guy Shalom, etc) that in some rhythms the Egyptian style uses a 'pop' (muffled higher pitched Ka) in the left hand instead of the standard Ka, right? As Geoff says, different countries and cultures do it differently, just like the drum has different names, and the tones have different names (tek = tak = ta, slap = pa = saq = sek). It can be confusing for beginners like me, so I appreciate the discussion - thanks!

It's a bellydance prop sword that I bought from a bellydancer friend when she was leaving town. Other than that, I can't tell you much about it.

Eh, mostly just more playing! I usually start with simple beats and just try to relax into the groove and get my fingers moving.

They're synced for me when I watch it. Is it off the whole way on your end? Is the issue still there after a reboot of your machine?

California

@@geoffchilders I have made a lot of progress since watching your videos. You really are an amazing teacher.