Workshops for schoolsI trade under the name of Tambai Promotions running workshops rooted in the Sub-Saharan Africa traditions. These involve music and dance from the Southern African and West African regions. My workshops run from an hour and half, half a day to a whole day, up to a week or a term and occasionally a whole year.

The workshops consist of drumming using the Ngoma, djembe, ndandanda and Chigubhu drums, we have a large selection of drums up to 40, rattles and shakers to accomodate every student within a group. The dance and singing workshops can be done as a separate workshop but we find the link of all 3 gives a better understanding of the music of Sub-Saharan African culture. Maximum numbers per session is 30 pupils lasting anything between 45 minutes to an hour and 20 minutes depending on the age of the group. However times can be negotiated.

A typical day either starts with a brief introduction of myself the tutor and a demonstration to the whole school, this last 20 minutes. Then workshops with a brief explanation of Africa as a continent, followed by some words in Shona language. Please note performances usually require  between 1-6 artist depending on what type of performance is required

The group then move on to learning multi clapping rhythms, we then hand out the drums and show the pupils an african rhythm which gets split into two, three, four or five rhythms.

Singing is used in every day life in most cultures around the world so i always sing to the students to allow them the opportunity to understand how the singing and drumming links, ululating is encouraged in all sessions as it encourages energy within the group.

Finally we add the dance complete with African costumes and props, the session is rounded up with a question and answer session. Where possible we like to do the demonstration at the end of the day to the day and where possible involve some of the groups who have taken part in the workshops and in all cases all students wants to show off their skills.

For more details please contact me.