African Drum Ensemble showcase student talent.
The African Drum Ensemble showcased the work of the African drum course during its performance on Wednesday, Dec. 5, in the Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center.
The African drum courses are offered every semester and are led by Adjunct Music Professor Arthur Reiner. Reiner has taught the course for about 20 years. The course consists of two sections of mostly non-music majors.
“It [the course] is a performing ensemble, so the kids have to learn some basic instrument techniques, and they have to learn rhythms,” Reiner said. “They have to learn how to play together in a group. They all try all of the instruments at some point.”
The course not only covers African music, but also different forms of it that have been tailored to other regions in what is called the African diaspora.
The performance began with the Tuesday section of the course performing a Nigerian traditional song entitled “Odunde.” Reiner led the group in the song and brought the instrument sections together with hand movements. The song included four solos from the sections and singing that resembled a call and response.
For the next piece, the students switched instruments. The piece was called “Samba-Batucada,” a traditional southern Brazilian song. According to Reiner, “Samba-Batucada” is played at the beginning of Lent in Brazil during the time American culture thinks of as Mardi Gras.
Reiner also took time to identify some of the instruments that the students were playing. Some of the instruments included the tasha drum, which resembles a snare drum, and the ganza hand shakers. Sophomore political science major Gina Bettag attended the event and enjoyed hearing the differences in the instruments.
“Whenever the professor was up there explaining what they were using, you [the audience] can just tell that the kids up there obviously learned that in class, and this was something taken seriously,” Bettag said.
Reiner led into the song with what he called a samba whistle. The song was short, but included solos from the tasha drums and ganza bells. Reiner used the whistle to lead another call and response section of the piece.
The Wednesday section of the course performed the Puerto Rican traditional “Yuba-Bomba” and Northern Brazil traditional “Baion.” “Yuba-Bomba” included bongo and maraca elements with a big bass drum presence. The piece included a solo by Reiner and ended with a dramatic crescendo. For “Baion,” the students switched instruments again, and tambourine players danced along with music.
The last piece was entitled “Gpan Logo,” a traditional piece from Ghana. The piece combined both sections of the course and was crowd favorite.
“I liked the last one [piece] just because everyone was out there. There were so many people, and they were being fun, dancing and singing,” Bettag said. “And I just thought it was cool how they could all play with so many people and still stay on beat while still keeping the music going.”
The last piece included dancing and singing elements, which Reiner integrates into the course.
“Singing is something that a lot of people haven’t done and so I think that’s probably kind of little scary sometimes,” Reiner said. “So that’s why I say in some ways the kids feel like they get a bit of accomplishment when they can play their parts right but I think [singing is] probably the most fun in a way.”
The Tuesday section came back to the stage to perform a choreographed dance that they kept going after getting into place in front of the Wednesday section that was performing. Halfway through, the sections switched, and the Wednesday section picked up on the dance where the Tuesday section left off. The students combined modern dance steps during the solos.
“I’ve been to an actual percussion ensemble where they were music majors, and it was good. It was more intricate, more tailored to the musical ear,” Bettag said. “But this was more for the performers to just go out there to have fun. You can tell they were having fun, and that made the audience have more fun.”
The University of Indianapolis offers two sections for African Drum Ensemble next semester. The course meets Tuesday and Wednesday nights from 6 p.m. to 7:20 p.m.
