Playing the Frame Drum

Great beginners instruction for aspiring hand drummers. Easy to understand even with no prior knowledge.

I was extremely disappointed with this book. I was hoping for lesson plans. What I got was some photos that purport to teach you how to strike the drum and a long list of patterns. I have used three or four systems for describing drumming patterns in the past. This book used none of them. It uses boxes which may or may not represent a single measure of music. I found it extremely difficult to use, as my brain had to translate each pattern into standard notation while trying to maintain the rhythm. I won't be using this book.

First of all, it is challenging to demonstrate the strokes mechanism with only photos, therefore learning to play frame drum with a book (instead of video or in person) is already difficult. Mel Bay has also published a book on South Indian tambourine playing, which I also found somewhat difficult to follow, but the accompanying DVD helps a lot to clarify the technique. Books, however, are great in listing a bunch of patterns, which is the best feature of this book. Otherwise, it is a rather incomplete and misleading method book.The cover shows a handheld playing position, but the content only includes methods for the sitting position for a tar (all the pictures were taken with a bodhran.) It is really misleading to call this book "Playing the Frame Drum" without including the handheld position. His notation system is constructed with a single-row, 8-column table - 8 boxes to indicate rhythm. So, 2 boxes for each beat. To indicate the strokes, he uses "T" (for thumb) and "R" (for ring finger). This "box" system is nothing new, but I find it very difficult to follow in this context. As the "T" and "R" defy the oral component of frame drumming, such as Dum, Tak, Ka. Moreover, when he lists the traditional rhythms, he translates them all into his system, which makes speaking out difficult without translating them back. It is disturbing to dismiss the oral component of frame drumming; his system could be useful for extra explanation, but not to stand alone. As other review has indicated, there is no lesson plan. This book is basically a list of strokes and patterns, even so, the notation system makes it hard to even be a reference. I think it would be easier to just learn from YouTube video, as I myself have. Of course, even better when you can learn from a person.

In a world where there is practically ONE frame drum book I have managed to get my hands on, you have no alternative. So, if you are looking to get a grasp of the instrument you are bound to buy this book.BOOK BREAKDOWN:This book is 55 pages long. The first 20 pages are full of pictures to aid students understand the different strokes and the notation system used in the book. He also provides basic rhythic patterns so that students can understand and practice these first basic strokes.Pages 22-30 are regarding what he calls "middle-eastern music". There is a brief discussion over the Dum-Tek-Ka system and why he does NOT use it, accompanied by 52 notated rhythic patterns (and he doesn't have audio reference for any of those) .On p.29 there's a bit on western music and on how we organise sound in our system (what bar, beat, note, rest is). Then he introduces advanced strokes and concludes with further rhythms that incorporate these advanced strokes.In total there are 96 audio recorded rhythms in this book.This is my honest review, as a trained musician and a Greek person, who holds a Bachelor's of Music from Brunel University London. I will describe what I found to be good, what bad and what sloppy/lazy about this book.THE GOOD:-Good book for beginners although maybe not so much, as it does introduce "advance technique" elements at the end of it. By this I mean more ellaborate strokes that go beyond the basic 3 strokes everyone will learn (Dum - Tek - Ka).-The part which is also good for beginners is that it does not use traditional/standard music notation system. This will be confusing and upsetting for musicians who will be looking for standard drum notation - you will not find it here, and I think it's a good call as standard notation can be daunting for beginners and absolutely difficult to teach through a book! This is a book with beginners in mind anyway, so musicians will have to go out of their way I suppose. He could have included both types of notation and cater for both types of people who might purchase this book. Have no idea why he didn't go down that road to be honest, it would solve a lot of problems.-presents a somewhat wide selection of rhythmic patterns, HOWEVER NOT ALL OF THEM ARE INCLUDED IN THE AUDIO RECORDINGS.- A lot of his rhythmic patterns are based on 4/4 time signature (4 beats per measure) so it's easy for beginners.- Brief mentioning on what he calls "middle eastern" patterns. I have a problem with the term middle eastern, because honestly, geographically, musically and culturally it really means nothing and is an inaccuracy Americans make all the time, just because. However he does not go into depth to explain how these "middle eastern" patterns work, the philosophy behind them, adding to the confusion.-He uses a short paragraph to inform students how to transcribe his notation to the Dum-Tek-Ka system, which is the most obvious system with which people learn how to play frame drums.THE NOTATION SYSTEM USED IN THIS BOOK (good and bad):I have read comments bashing his notation system. What he is actually using is called TUBS (Time Unit Box System). It is a popular notation system for notating complicated polyrhythms that are impossible to read using standard notation, and is an excellent system of drum notation if you are to teach beginners or children.The problem is that he is using his own sort of variation of TUBS. While in TUBS you decide which will be the shortest note duration and you base your boxing on this (say if the shortest note I have in my rhythm is a 16th note, each box will represent a 16th note) he messes things up by keeping his boxes representing the BEAT. So at times there is one "note" in one box, at times there are 2, at times there are 3 and at times there are 4. This can be confusing to beginners.THE BAD:- Inconsistent use of his "box notation system". He should stick with the TUBS method which is cleaner and always clear, and which is the system he is based upon.- Briefly mentions what I assume is solkatu/konakkol sylables, to aid people to count odd meters. (Ta-ka / Ta-ki-ti which he calls Tah-Kuh / Tah-Kuh-Tah on p.52) . Does not reference the system so that people can learn more about it and be autonomous and able to apply it to more complicated rhythmic styles.- The pictures make it very difficult for people to understand posture and hand positioning. He needs to make a video that will accompany the book. Digital era - not that hard to do or that expensive!- Minimal exposure to odd measure rhythms (5/8, 7/8, 9/8 there is not a single 10/8 rhythm in the book) Frame drums and the places they were birthed and continuously used, extensively use these odd measures which are a huge part of the style.- The whole "middle eastern" section of the rhythms does not have audio samples to guide the students. Is provided as a mode for students to exercise reading notations. Sorry, this should never happen on a method book that has chosen to have recorded materials.- In the "middle eastern" section rhythms from the Balkan area, Bulgaria and Macedonia are included. Music is universal and nations and regions borrow from each other. We collectively own a bunch of rhythms among us, the many countries of the Balkan area, along the many Arab nations. However, grouping everything as "middle eastern" is very poor understanding of history, geography and music origins. It just reminded me of an American soldier I was chatting online to once, who was based in Iraq and told me he is next to me (I was in Greece at the time). No concept of space at all.THE LAZY:Not a single reference. NOT A SINGLE REFERENCE.There is a vague mentioning that people can find more on "middle eastern rhythms" online and elsewhere. This is not serious book writing.There isn't a single source mentioned, a book, a CD, a method, a musician, a teacher, NOTHING. Shocking, really!I find this extremely lazy and extremely poor form. He doesn't reference the notation system he uses, the sing along syllables he uses, where the rhythms come from. Nothing.I get the feeling this book is a collection of rhythms found in this vague "elsewhere online" place and put on paper.VIDEO IS REQUIRED IF BEGINNERS ARE TO PROPERLY LEARN HOW TO HOLD AND PERFORM THE STROKES ON THE frame drum.Would I recommend people to buy it? Sure, do you have an alternative? However, I am seriously thinking about writing my own version of a guidebook to people wanting to frame drum. With respect to the people who taught me stuff and with proper references.

This is written from the perspective of an absolute beginner. So far I have been following Youtube videos but there aren't many which concentrate on basic instruction. This book is perfect for beginners. It's well laid out and thoughtfully written with good advice for the beginner. My only criticism is that the black and white photos could have been clearer but that's a minor point. The book comes with a cd which contains the rhythms to be practised and these are clearly listed in the book. The author starts right at the beginning in how to hold the drum and then moves on to the basic strokes, all clearly explained. He also introduces his method of notation. He then moves on to the rhythms to be used and initially offers about four pages of simple rhythms, which are not on the cd, to practise. There are a few pages relating to western music theory and then he gets into the longer rhythms and stroke combinations.

Surprisingly good quality book. I was a little hesitant to buy it because of the price and that it was only 55 pages long. But it is A4 format so those pages are quite large. It contains over a hundred different practice tunes, both western and middle eastern, explaining both music theories. The tunes start from complete beginner and slowly build up in complexity and adding new hand strokes, there's months of work there. Also it is a good reference book giving lists of base rhythms to be embellished. The explanations in the book are also very clear. I can already play the drum kit so know much of the techniques already, but still I found a wealth of info in this book. Tip, the book comes with a CD, but in the book preview is the address of a website where you can download the CD contents in a zip file, meaning you can have the example rhythms as mp3 files and not use the CD.

music notation is substandard and inaccurate, cannot be understood on its own

Easy to use