3.1 Talking drums

Here are discussion points and four classroom activities designed to accompany an introduction to West African talking drums: Stretching Raises the Pitch , Tonal Languages , Talking Kazoos , and The Rhythms of Language . You may do any or all of the activities, in any order, either during or following the discussion.

Goals and requirements

• Goals - The student will understand and be able to define, describe, or demonstrate: tonal language, talking drum, message drum, the relationship between talking drums and tonal language, and how to change the pitch of a drum.
• Grade Level - K-12 (adaptable)
• Student Prerequisites - none
• Teacher Expertise - Teacher expertise in music is not necessary to present this activity.
• Time Requirements - The discussion with a single activity or with minimal demonstrations of each concept can be done in one (approximately 45-minute) class period. For more complete exploration of the activities, or to include presentation of a book or a demonstration by a guest, allow two class periods.

Introducing the subject

Materials and preparation

• For younger students, make copies of the handout. It is available as a PDF file or below , as a figure. (The PDF file will give a nicer-looking handout.)
• A globe, map of the world, or map of Africa would be useful as a visual aid.
• If you are going to use rubber bands or a guest percussionist to do the Stretching Raises the Pitch demonstration, you may want to be prepared to do this during your discussion.
• If you are going to have someone demonstrate a tonal language, or have a picture book, photos, or sound clips of talking drums to share (see below ), you may also want have these ready to present during the discussion.
• If you want young students to color the handout during or after your discussion, have their crayons or markers available.

If appropriate, give each student a copy of the "Talking Drums" handout. If possible, present photos, videos, or audio clips (see below ).

Tell the students: Some people confuse talking drums with message drums, but they are actually something completely different. Message drums , or slit gongs, are huge log drums that can be heard miles away, and their messages are usually in some kind of code, although the code may be based on spoken sentences. Message drums were invented independently by several different cultures around the world. Some other cultures also invented a kind of "waisted drum" (in Korea and India, for example), but only western Africa has "talking drums".

Tell the students: Talking drums are not made from big logs. They are a kind of drum called a waisted drum . They are called "waisted" because they have an hourglass shape, with a "waist" in the middle, just like a person's body has a waist in the middle. Skins are stretched over the ends of the drum, held in place by many cords. When the cords are tightened, the skin gets pulled tighter and the sound of the drum gets higher. When the cords are relaxed, the sound goes lower. The player holds the drum between his upper arm and left side and uses his arm to squeeze and relax the cords while he is striking the drum with a curved stick in his right hand.