academie: Middle Eastern at ADS/NBD?

[Miriam Robinson Gould]

>>From the class I have seen on ME there only needs to be a minninal amount
>>of drumming to teach.. the reason for the hords of drumers is a lot of
>>people like it
>
>You've just answered my question.  You only NEED minimial drumming, but you
>GET lots of drumming.
>

Okay, I want to jump in here because I have actually taught Middle-eastern 
dance.  A drum beat is very helpful, just as with European dance, but you do 
not NEED live drumming at all.  In fact, I prefer teaching both European and 
Middle-eastern to recorded music.  A class on Middle-eastern dance is NOT 
the same thing as an open drumming session.  There may be some teachers who 
enjoy having live drummers, but my experience is that this is the minority.  
The LAST thing you need when teaching a bunch of beginners is a bunch of bad 
drummers banging noisly and drumming you out.

Now, it is VERY nice when you can have one or two really good drummers who 
both know how to keep a beat and can play the rhythm you want to practice to 
AND don't mind the fact that they are subordinate to teaching the dance 
moves, but if you've got drummers like that, they should also know how to 
play softly (yes, it can be done).

In any event, it's a pretty easy problem to avoid by telling teachers what 
noise level their classes are allowed to have.  The important point is that 
there is no INTRINSIC reason why either the teaching or performance of 
Middle-eastern dance has to be loud (*laugh* although you're more likely to 
have noise problems from zilling if anyone teaches a class with zills)

However, personally I don't think including ME dance in Nothing But Dance is 
a good idea because I think the two forms of dance are tonally dissonant, 
and, selfishly, I'd like to go to an event where I didn't have to choose 
between going to the Hafla or going to the Ball.
>A drumming jam session for European dancing?!?  Huh?
>
Galliards.  :)

In service,

Sayidda Tahira bint Ibrahim al-Ixbilyi

-------------------------------------------------------------
Be reassured: Of course God loves you, he's just not ready
to make a commitment.


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