[ HartBeats logo ][ Drumming is fun! ]School workshops

I work alone or with HartBeats (dependent on your needs) to give African drum workshops for businesses, schools and community projects throughout Herts, Beds and Bucks, also Essex, Cambridgeshire, Northamptonshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire.

[ Kids love drumming, photo by Ness ]We can offer various options, or tailor things to your needs:

  1. Regular weekly sessions for one class over ten weeks building up to a thrilling performance.
  2. A short 6-week introductory course of weekly sessions.
  3. Half-day workshops for a few selected classes.
  4. All-day workshops for all/most classes in school in turn.
  5. All-day carousels of rotating activities for up to four parallel classes in:
    • African drumming
    • African dance
    • African singing
    • World music songs
    • Cosmic Space Sounds

A typical Multicultural/Enrichment Day (Option D above) would often begin with a demo performance in assembly to the whole school followed by workshops for individual classes throughout the day (or half-day). Ideally all classes taking part could also gather together at the start of the day to explain the basic techniques to save time later in individual sessions. We find children's attention spans often wane after 45-60 minutes, no matter how much fun they're having drumming and singing, so prefer to limit sessions to an hour, or at least have a break and alternate activities: plenty of warm-up games to wake everyone up and perhaps some discussion about the cultural history of the music.

[ You bet drumming is fun! | For more intensive learning, regular weekly sessions allow children's innate rhythmic abilities to develop further, not to mention the many other added benefits of increased confidence and team spirit. A ten-week course gives enough time to develop their performance skills as well as covering all aspects of African Drumming, including the dunduns and percussion, which are always very popular. Unless all pupils are already experienced players, six weeks is not really enough time to cover everything and prepare them for performance, but it depends on the class, particularly on their ability to listen and focus. Playing together over a series of weeks and building up to a performance to parents/assembly is always very exciting, giving children chance to experience what it's like to work together as a band.

An after-school drumming club will encourage budding musicians, and as mentors we inspire them to practise. I am running one at Willington (just SE of Bedford) from January 2012, open to KS2-age children from any school - more details.

Costs depend on what you want, but are highly competitive. We aim to be as flexible as possible and do our best to accomodate your needs. For weekly sessions, we need to timetable other schools in a similar area on the same day, so if you can be as flexible as possible, or even better, can team up with other local schools, it will help in planning the sessions. We can't always guarantee your first choice of day if it clashes with other bookings. Please be sure to list in your enquiry any impossible time or day of the week, and your preferred (half-)term.

Class sizes can be up to 40 children, although smaller groups allow more focused teaching. Larger classes benefit from two facilitators, so I usually work alongside Justine from HartBeats. She also teaches traditional African dance, and it is always very exciting to get some children to drum for others who wish to get up and dance! We have both been CRB checked (Enhanced Disclosure) for working with children. We can provide a large number of drums, plus an almost infinite amount of diverse and curious percussion instruments: shakers, bells, thunder drums, claves, and even gongs, which are a massive favourite with the kids. (I am now also offering Cosmic Sound workshops - more details coming soon.)

We can also offer a fascinating presentation about Africa, complete with photographs from our trips out there and vital background on the origins of the drums, the songs and the people's way of life.

Notable recent assignments include:

I have also taught Wider Opportunities and 6-week Sound Bites projects at many Bedfordshire schools: