In class this week we give kids a first introduction to polyrhythms. We often hear polyrhythms in West African drumming, which features multiple drummers playing a differing number of beats within the same amount of time. The conflicting rhythms create a musical tension which inspires us to dance. In our lesson we start simply — half the class drums three beats, the other half four. While we don’t aspire to anything but enthusiasm, sometimes even with the littlest kids drumming our African polyrhythms sound pretty darned good.
We are revising the AllAroundThisWorld.com site — the information you’re seeking may still be here, but a lot of links are broken and details may be out of date. We are currently using a new (better!) site — ExploreEverywhere.com — to tell you all about our class offerings, our “pen pal” program and how to become one of our teachers, and will eventually be moving all the goodies from here over to there. So, GO TO THE NEW SITE!
