North Central Teachers' Convention 2020

In African music, the further south you go on the continent, the more the emphasis is on singing as opposed to drumming and percussion which is prevalent in northern and western Africa. In Namibia, southwest Africa, nomadic communities carry fewer drums and have thus developed ways of making group music without as many drums as in typical drum-circle traditions. Drawing from these methods, we learn and teach students the importance of group listening. In a classroom setting, drum-circles are useful but can pose some challenges. The southern African music techniques require only two drums per classroom and serve as a an excellent precursor to full drum-circles.