BIOGRAPHY

NEWS AND UPCOMING EVENTS
RECORDINGS
INSTRUMENTS
LESSONS
PHOTOS
CONTACT

LESSONS

Legend
H = Left hand landing fully on center of drum skin (as in a muted
bass stroke).
S = Slap stroke with Left hand (open)
O = Stick stroke with Right hand on center of skin (or rim shot for
variation)
(O) = Muted stick stroke (with the Left hand flat on the drum
head)

x = Silence (felt eighth note space)

l = Bar markings

The REPIQUE

This is the middle tuned drum that has great freedom of improvisation. Following are just a couple of "home base" patterns that you return to when just "keeping the groove". Remember that the Slap stroke of the Left Hand is as strong or stronger than the Stick sound, so when playing usually the hand raises away from the drum almost twice as far as the stick does (which constitutes an important characteristic of the "choreography" of Candombe playing).

a) x S x O S O x S I x S x O S O O S I

b) x S x O S O O S I x S x O S x x x I

The Repique drum uses lots of rim shots and press rolls when improvising and a lot of the phrasing is very reminiscent of the Samba style of Brasil (in which the soloing drum is called Repinique). When the drummer wants to bring the whole dynamic down he/she often plays "Madera", which is variations of Clave on the side of the drum (more on this on the next lesson).