congaplace.com

This questions may seem silly, but I will throw it out there anyhow...

I have been practicing some of the Oro Seco with a few friends who have experience with the music. When we practice, I play the parts for okonkolo.

These have been my first experiences in playing bata, and I have enjoyed them. Unfortunately, when I go home - I do not have an onkonkolo to practice with?

I practice the rhythms on my congas, but the hand action is obviously different.

Any suggestions on what might be the best methods to practice without a onkonkolo?

I remember some guys here made their own onkonkolo. They attached a bongo head on either end of a large peice of pvc pipe. Probably you could just get some long tube and put something on both ends to practice on until you decide if you are going to buy a bata.

Although you can certainly practice and moemorize the rhythms by taping on your leg or playing with one hand on the top of a conga and the other hand on the side, you will not be able to develop your technique this way. This is OK, because it' almost as important to just memorize the parts and get comfortable playing them with the other drums. But, eventually, if you want to really get comfortable, you will need to get your own drum to practice on.

I'm fairly new to Bata myself and have gone through just what you are going through. What i'd recommend is getting a cheap Okonkolo to practice on. Actually the worse the drum the better, because if you can make a crappy drum sound good you will make a good drum sound excellent. I've been told that in Cuba they would make you practice on a drum with the heads tuned down so far that they are almost falling off.

Anyway, try this website:

http://www.interstatemusic.com/12221-To ... -3308.aspx

This is the cheapest that I've seen new bata on line and this is where I got my set of Toca (which are pretty nice once you change the heads).

Hope that this helps.

congamasterclass.com, and play the sides of your legs. Getting some notation and playing with a metronome is also a great practice! - that was the only way I was able to get some of the more difficult parts.

If you work with wood, you might consider making a batajon out of plywood. These are great to practice on! The feel and technique are about the same as the real thing.

If you're watching a batá group and hoping to sit in, you need to learn how to play on your legs and memorize everything that you see and hear in such a manner. Honestly, batá technique is fairly remedial (except for the callouses required to protect your hands, there's not a lot of technique compared to the amount of listening and understanding required to play the instruments). Do you listen to batá recordings of your own group or other groups and "play along" on your legs? Do you know the calls and can you sing the parts, calls, and responses?

My point is that there's a lot of work that can be done away from the instruments, and modern technology allows you to "practice" along to recordings nearly anywhere on a more technically-simple instrument such as batá.