Drum brothers offer lessons
Lessons available from studio in Arlee via Zoom
courtesy photo
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News from the Drum Brothers
In January, Matthew Marsolek and Tracy Topp of Drum Brothers will be offering a five-week online hand drumming series to students of all ages around the region. This special online hand-drumming course is for new drummers and will start from the ground up and cover all the basics of West African drumming.
We haven’t been able to offer a new beginning series since April, but after getting requests from friends and folks in isolation, we wanted to give new drummers an opportunity to jump in and give online drumming a try.
For many of us, music and art-making has been a calming and healing balm during this pandemic, and coming together with our students and friends in a relaxed setting each week has been a much needed taste of community connection and fun. More information can be found at www.drumbrothers.com.
Points of Interest: when the first pandemic shutdown occurred in March, Matthew retooled his recording studio in Arlee to accommodate three different camera angles and quality streamed audio. Since mid-April, he and Tracy have been offering weekly Zoom classes to students in Montana and around the Northwest and Canada. Considering the issues around latency and audio/video streaming, how do these classes work? Matthew mutes the audio of the students and they follow along to the sound of his drum and Tracy’s accompanying low drums (Dunduns). It really works.
Classes will cover all the basics of West African hand drumming: rhythm awareness, tones and technique and traditional rhythms. Everyone is welcome. If you don’t have a drum, you can fashion a temporary drum out of a bucket or use the bottom of a cooler or other object. In addition, these Zoom classes will feature live djembe and dundun accompaniment and three camera angles, which include a front view and overhead cameras above the djembe and dundun drums.
The suggested payment is a sliding scale of $12 to $20 per class. Please contact us if you’re experiencing financial hardship because of the COVID-19 pandemic. We’re happy to help. It’s important for us to share the healing grooves with anyone who needs them.
The link to the registration page is at www.drumbrothers.com. For questions, don’t hesitate to reach out at matthew@drumbrothers.com or call 406-531-8109.
