Lesson video

Hello, and welcome to today's lesson entitled Warabadon - djembe and dundun parts.

My name is Mr. Norris.

I'm gonna take you through today as we start to explore some of the rhythms and the sonorities in Warabadon, and have a go at putting together some performance.

Our outcome is I can explain the context of the Warabadon rhythm and can perform the rhythms in compound time using untuned production.

Some key words.

Firstly, Warabadon.

This is a rhythm from Burkina Faso, often played at weddings.

We'll explore more of that in a moment.

Compound time, this is when each beat of the bar is divided in a three quavers rather than two.

12/8, this is a compound time signature with 12 quavers in a bar.

These quavers are in four groups of three.

And finally shuffle, this is a triplet rhythm in which only the first and third notes are played, skipping the middle one.

The first part of today's lesson then is looking at the Warabadon rhythm.

Warabadon is a rhythm that originates in Burkina Faso.

You can see that there, it's a landlocked country, so it's not on the coast like a lot of the countries in West Africa, and it's got a fascinating, deep, and rich musical heritage.

Now this is a dance rhythm, and it's played at weddings and other ceremonies and celebrations.

It uses a solo djembe, two accompanying djembes and dunduns.

The Warabadon on rhythm is in 12/8.

That means that there are 12 quavers in a bar.

These are grouped in threes.

Each beat has a triplet feel to it, which means it's subdivided into three.

That contrast with most time signatures that you will come across, which are simple time signatures where each beat has two subdivisions within it.

We would count it like this, one and a two and a three and a four and a rather than one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, 12.

It helps us to feel that feeling of four strong beats.

Now 4/4 and 12/8 both have four beats in a bar, but the division of the beat is different, as I've said there.

We can count or feel the subdivisions to work out the difference.

So let's listen to these examples here.

This is a bar of 4/4, and here, try and feel how each beat is divided in two.

So we're feeling one and two and three and four and.

Let's have a listen.

(upbeat rhythmic music) Now let's listen to 12/8 where each beat is divided into three quavers, so instead of one and two and three and four and, we've got one and a two and a three and a four and a, one, two, three, one, two, three.

Each beat is divided into three.

Let's have a listen.

See if you can feel that with this.

(energetic upbeat rhythmic music) What I'd like to have a go at doing is tap four beats in a bar and practice counting those different patterns over the top.

So start off with 4/4, one and two and three and four and one and two and three and four and.

Keep that beat the same, so keep the speed of the one, two, three, four the same.

One, two, three, four.

And try changing it to the 12/8 pattern, ♪ One and a two and a three and a four and a ♪ ♪ One and a two and a three and a four and a ♪ ♪ One and two and three and four ♪ ♪ And one and a two and a three and a four and a ♪ ♪ One and two and three and four ♪ ♪ And one and a two and a three and a four and a ♪ So you start to feel the difference between the simple time of 44/4 and the compound time of 12/8.

And you can do what I did there, which is to try switching between the two time signatures seamlessly as well.

So pause my video.

Have a go at doing this.

See if you can get used to the different feel of those two time signatures.

So as I've said, when the beat is divided into groups of three, this is known as compound time rather than simple time, which is where the beat is divided into two.

So 12/8 is an example of compound time.

4/4 is simple time.

And 12/8 creates a swaying, swinging feel and this sort of lilting effect that we get from that compound time.

It has a similar feel to swing rhythms or a shuffle rhythm.

Let's just have a listen to that shuffle rhythm.

See if you can count the one and a two and a three and a four and a along with this.

See how it fits in with the shuffle rhythm.

(upbeat rhythmic music) True or false? 12/8 and 4/4 both have four beats in a bar.

I'll give you a few seconds, and the correct answer here is true, and that's because the beats are divided differently, but the overall feel is still of four beats.

In 12/8, the beats are divided into four groups of three, and in 4/4, the beats are divided into four groups of two.

So they both have four beats in a bar, but the feeling of those beats and the subdivisions within those beats are different.

12/8 is in what time? Is it simple, compound, double or half? I'll give you a few seconds.

And the correct answer is 12/8 is in compound time.

That's where we've got those subdivisions of each beat into three quavers.

Now the call is an important part of many West African drumming traditions, and it signals the different sections.

It signals changes between different parts of the song.

The call in 12/8 is different to the call in the 4/4 Kuku rhythm.

This is a seven-note pattern that we're gonna use here.

I'd like to listen to this call three times, each time it gets faster.

There's a four-beat count-in each time.

Try and get familiar with this rhythm.

See if you can embed it in your memory.

Let's have a look.

♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (upbeat rhythmic drumming music) ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (upbeat rhythmic drumming music) (upbeat rhythmic drumming music) (upbeat rhythmic drumming music) <v ->Let's break this one down.

</v> So this call, like the call that we used in 4/4, only uses tone, and here it's got seven notes.

If we're counting, ♪ One triplet, two triplet, three triplet, four triplet ♪ ♪ One, let two, let three, let four ♪ ♪ One, let two, let three, let four ♪ ♪ One, let two, let three, let four ♪ That's our pattern, or if we're doing ♪ One and a two and a three and a four and a ♪ ♪ One, a two, a three, a four ♪ ♪ One, a two, a three, a four ♪ That's our call in 12/8.

We can create the call on djembes or with our hands.

Three djembe drum sounds with our hands are bass, which is the middle of the drum.

We imitate that with our low pitched cupped hands.

Tone, which is fingers on the edge together.

We do that with a palm clap, and then slap, which is fingers on the edge apart.

We do that with a full clap with the fingers split.

Let's have a go at clapping the call rhythm along with the drum.

♪ One, a two, a three, a four ♪ It's that rhythm.

Wait for the four-beat count-in each time.

And for this, 'cause it's just tone on the drum, we're gonna be using the palm clap to imitate that.

Let's have a go.

♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (upbeat rhythmic drumming music) ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (upbeat rhythmic drumming music) (upbeat rhythmic drumming music) (upbeat rhythmic drumming music) Okay, so when you were doing that, did you manage to start at the right time after four beats, copy the seven note rhythm in the video, and use the right sonorities in this case, that was that mid palm clap imitating the tone sound? Well done if you managed to do all three of those.

So wit Warabadon, the part one djembe rhythm uses only tones and slaps.

Let's have a look at that being played.

♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (upbeat rhythmic drumming music) <v ->So if we're counting that, we're gonna go</v> ♪ One, a two, three, a four ♪ ♪ One, a two, three, a four ♪ And the slaps are played on each beat.

♪ One, a two, three, a four ♪ ♪ One, a two, three, a four ♪ If you're counting it using the one triplet, two triplet method, it'd be ♪ One, let two, three, let four ♪ ♪ One, let two, three, let four ♪ Let's put that into action.

Wait for the call then join in clapping the djembe part 1 rhythm at the right time.

Remember a high sound, that's the slap, is a full clap, and a mid pitch sound, that's imitating the tone, is a palm clap.

Let's go.

♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (upbeat rhythmic drumming music) <v ->So when you were doing that,</v> did you manage to start after the call, play the same rhythm as the djembe, and play the pattern using the mids and highs in the correct places? Well done if you managed to do all three.

Now let's look at part 2.

So the part 2 djembe rhythm is similar to part 1, but with a bass added on the strong beats, and here we're just using bass and tone.

This is one that might be played on slightly lower tuned drums. Let's see it in action.

♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (upbeat rhythmic drumming music) So here, we've got eight beats to count, and it's different in the second set of four beats from the first four.

We're going ♪ Bass, tone, tone, bass, tone, tone ♪ ♪ Bass, tone, tone, bass, tone, tone, tone ♪ ♪ Bass, tone, tone, bass, tone, tone ♪ ♪ Bass, tone, tone, bass, tone, tone, tone ♪ If we're counting it, ♪ One, a two, three, a four ♪ ♪ One, a two, three, and a four ♪ ♪ One, a two, three, a four ♪ ♪ One, a two, three, and a four ♪ Let's put that into action.

Wait for the call, then join in clapping that rhythm in the part 2 section.

Remember we've got the mid sound, that's our palm clap, which is tone, and we got the low sound, which is the cupped hands imitating bass.

Let's give it a shot.

♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (upbeat rhythmic drumming music) So when you were doing that, did you manage to start after the call, play the same rhythm as the djembe, and play the pattern correctly using the lows and the mids, the bass and the tones? Well done if you managed to do that.

That will really help you in the upcoming task.

Finally, let's look at the break.

Now this is used to break up the different parts, and it uses just tone.

Let's see it in action.

♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (upbeat rhythmic drumming music) ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ (upbeat rhythmic drumming music) So if we break that down, we've got ♪ One and a, and a three, a four ♪ ♪ One and a, and a three, a four ♪ ♪ One and a, and a three, a four ♪ ♪ One and a, and a three, a four ♪ And that's all played using tone.

So so far, we've got this structure, and we've learned these different rhythms and parts.

Let's see all those put together.

Try and follow the structure through.

(upbeat rhythmic drumming music) (upbeat rhythmic drumming music continues) (upbeat rhythmic drumming music continues) And it's important to say here, there's no fixed amount of cycles of repetitions in parts 1 and 2.

Performers could decide how many times they want to play each part, and it depends on how it feels during the performance.

Fill in the missing sections of this structure, and pause my video while you do this.

And the missing sections here were call, a break, and then part 2 towards the end.

Well done if you got those three.

Now Task A, practice the Warabadon rhythm on djembes or with hands.

Here's some success criteria.

You practice in sections at first, doing the call, break, call, then the part 1 section, then the part 2 section and then you put them together in the complete structure we can see at the bottom there.

Make sure you keep a consistent tempo and practicing slowly to begin as well.

Here are your different rhythms. You can pause my video now and give this task your best shot.

Now we're gonna watch this performance of the djembe parts, What is accurate, and what could be improved? Let's have a look.

(upbeat rhythmic drumming music) (upbeat rhythmic drumming music continues) So pause my video while you finish off your answer.

And you might have picked up on some of the following things.

The performance of the rhythms is accurate, and there's a consistent pulse.

So the rhythms are played correctly, and there's a steady, consistent tempo throughout.

In terms of things that could be improved, well, the performance does not include the call at the beginning or the end, so the structure's not correct.

It also skips out all of the break sections, which are a really important part of the structure.

So well done if you picked up on either of those two points.

The second part of today's lesson is looking at adding the dundun parts.

The dunduns play the bassline that accompanies the djembe parts.

The first part to enter is the kenkeni.

That's the highest pitch of the dunduns.

This keeps the pulse and plays on the beat.

Let's have a look at this part.

(energetic upbeat music) Let's break that down.

So we've got the kenkeni played on each beat.

♪ One, two, three, four ♪ ♪ One, two, three, four ♪ We've then got the apitua, which plays a triplet shuffle part.

That's where it plays the first and third of each triplet.

♪ One, a two, a three, a four ♪ ♪ A one, a two, a three, a four, a ♪ I'd like to tap the apitua rhythm with one hand and the kenkeni rhythm with the other hand.

Remember the kenkeni plays on each beat, and the apitua is doing the ♪ One, a two, a three, a four ♪ and that shuffle rhythm.

Let's have a go.

(upbeat rhythmic music) So when you were doing that, did you manage to start after the call at the correct point, tap on the beat with one hand, that's the kenkeni part, and tap that shuffle rhythm with the other hand, that's the apitua part? Well done if you managed to do all three.

The sangban and the dundunba parts are played together by one person.

Playing more than one part together like this is known as playing ballet style.

Now this rhythm is much more syncopated.

Let's have a look at it first.

(upbeat rhythmic music) Let's break that down then.

So the apitua is still playing that shuffle rhythm.

♪ One, a two, a three, a four ♪ ♪ A one, a two, a three, a four, a ♪ The dundunba is playing on the first three beats but an offbeat on fourth beat ♪ One, two, three ♪ ♪ And one, two, three ♪ ♪ And one, two, three, and ♪ So it's playing on the and of four, which makes it a little bit trickier.

And then the sangban is playing on the third triplet, in beat one in beat three.

♪ One and, three and ♪ ♪ One and, three and ♪ If we take the dundunba and the sangban parts together, they'll sound like this.

♪ One, a two, three, a ♪ ♪ And one, a two, three, a ♪ ♪ And one, a two, three, a ♪ ♪ And one, a two, three, a, and ♪ So that syncopated part at the end is quite tricky and will take some practice.

Let's put that into practice.

We're gonna approach this in two different ways.

Start by tapping the sangban and dundunba rhythm with one hand along to the video.

♪ One, a two, three, a ♪ ♪ And one, a two, three, a, and ♪ You can then also try adding the apitua rhythm, which is the shuffle rhythm, with your other hand.

♪ One, a two, a three, a four, a one, a two, a three, a four ♪ You can replace the apitua with finger clicks or ta sounds if you prefer.

Putting these syncopate rhythms together is a tricky task.

So if you don't manage it straight away, don't get disheartened.

It'll just take some practice to get there.

So let's give it a shot.

Start off with the two drum rhythms and then have a go at adding the apitua as well.

(upbeat rhythmic music) So it was a tricky task that.

combining these different parts, but did you manage to start after the call, tap the correct rhythm for the sangban and dundunba part on its own, and then did you manage to tap the shuffle rhythm with the other hand as well? Well done if you did.

The break splits up the different sections, and this matches the rhythm played in the djembe break that we looked at earlier.

It generally starts and ends with a call, but there can be some variation.

Let's have a look at it here.

(upbeat rhythmic music) So let's break that down.

The break, the dunduns and the apitua play the same rhythm.

♪ One and a, and a three, a four ♪ ♪ One and a, and a three, a four ♪ ♪ One and a, and a three, a four ♪ ♪ One and a, and a three, a four ♪ Quite a tricky rhythm to get that.

It's quite syncopated, so it takes some practice doing it slowly to get that accurate.

♪ One and a, and a three, a four ♪ Let's have a go at tapping it along with both hands to the video because remember, this is both the dundun and the apitua at the same time.

Let's give it a shot.

(upbeat rhythmic music) So while done with that if you managed to start after the call and tap the same rhythm for both dundun and apitua parts.

♪ One and a, and a three, a four ♪ Let's check your understanding.

Which of the following is not a dundun? Is it dundunba, kenkeni, apitua, or sangban? I'll give you a few seconds.

And the correct answer is apitua.

The dunduns are all drums, whereas the apitua is the metal bell that is played alongside the dunduns and is often attached to them on the side near the top.

Which of the following best describes the apitua part in Warabadon? Is it syncopated, improvised, or a shuffle? I'll give you a few seconds.

And the correct answer here is it's a shuffle.

♪ One, a two, a three, a four, a ♪ So for task B, you're gonna practice the Warabadon with the added dundun rhythms. Some success criteria.

Make sure you first practice each rhythm on its own slowly.

Then you add the kenkeni parts to the performance.

Add the sangban and the dundunba parts.

Remember they come together, and you can replace the apitua with finger clicks or verbal ta sounds if you need to.

Try and perform the complete structure with all of these parts here.

Here are all the dundun parts.

You can use these while you're doing this, and without further ado, you can pause my video and get started now.

Now I would like to have a look at this rhythm grid for the sangban and dundunba parts in Warabadon.

Are these the correct rhythms? So this is testing your knowledge of how well you know the sangban and dundunba rhythms. Pause my video and see if you can work this out.

Let's go through this then.

So those were not correct.

The correct rhythms are much more syncopated with the sangban on the let or the a of the first and the third beat ♪ One, a, three, a ♪ And the dundunba should play on all four beats rather than just two, as we can see in this example with that really key offbeat during beat four.

♪ One, two, three ♪ ♪ And one, two, three, and ♪ So the two parts together.

♪ One, a two, three, a, a, one, a two, three, a, a ♪ Much more syncopated and complex rhythm than we can see there.

Let's summarize today's lesson.

Warabadon is a dance rhythm which originates in Burkina Faso.

It's in 12/8, so the rhythms have a shuffle feel.

12/8 is in compound time where the beat is divided into groups of three quavers rather than two, which will be the case in simple time.

And we have performed the Warabadon rhythm, changing rhythms between the different sections.

So that's the end of today's lesson.

I hope you've managed to get really stuck into those practical tasks there and managed to come out with some really great performance.

Some of these rhythms are quite tricky, and certainly, getting your head around compound time when you've not practiced much in it before can be quite tricky.

So well done for getting stuck in, and hopefully that's opened your eyes to these different kind of rhythms, rhythmic patterns, that we can get in some West African drumming traditions.

I look forward to seeing you in another lesson.

Thank you.