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Title: How to Play Djembe (Book/CD set) by Alan L. Dworsky, Betsy Sansby, Alan Dworsky, Joh Camara ISBN: 0-9638801-4-4 Publisher: Mel Bay Publications Pub. Date: August, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95

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Average Customer Rating: 4.6 (5 reviews)

Rating: 5
Summary: Great for the basics!
Comment: This book/CD set has given me a couple of things I could not get from taking drum classes. First of all, it documents--in written notation and in sound--the basic rhythms. Even the best drummers are not always the best teachers, so before I got this book, the rhythms were kind of a mishmash in my head. Now I am getting to the point where I can hear & identify them.

I also could not produce a slap tone at all until I saw the drawing of the hand/finger positions for it in this book--again, because people cannot always explain things well, or different people tell you different things. This book is a great SUPPLEMENT to lessons and drum circles--I'd say you need both the book/CD and drumming with others to really learn and retain the information.

Oh, and the section on "How to Tune Your Djembe" is really a great thing to have.

Rating: 4
Summary: Solid lessons for beginners
Comment: This book teaches you the basics of Djembe drumming. The book includes a great sounding CD to play along with. However; the authors should have included more complex patterns and rhythms. But, with only 1-2 hours per day of practice for a month, you will probably surprise yourself with how much you have improved.

Rating: 4
Summary: Great start, but could be better.
Comment: In general, this book/CD combination is great. The text of the book is clear, the authors' approach in starting with simple patterns and then adding to / subtracting from the simple pattern to arrive at the traditional pattern is very effective. The authors' present the material clearly and succinctly, and is paced very well. This book is a good resource for getting started on the djembe.

There is only one thing that keeps me from giving this book/CD five stars.

A previous reviewer says the CD allows you to hear what the "whole rhythm" is like, which isn't entirely true. The book doesn't address bell and djun-djun (bass drum) parts at all, and these parts are not present on the CD. These rhythms are incomplete with just the djembe parts. The book/CD never gives the student a complete view of what the African rhythms, as played by a proper ensemble, should sound like. I don't fault them for not teaching these parts, as this is a book about playing djembe, but much of the rhythm context is missing.

With the excess space on the CD, the removal of the sample tracks from the "Jaguar..." album, and a bit of creative work, the authors should have been able to give the listener a taste of what the full rhythms sound like, even if only for a couple minutes each.

I still recommend this book to the beginner, but recommend that the beginner seek another source as well that better emphasizes the whole of the rhythms.

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