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Hi Forum,

I go to a pretty relaxed church and so one Sunday I took one conga to church with the idea that I'd play quietly and get used to playing with others with a group listening. Well the drummer didn't show and I was the only source of percussion. LOL! It seems that God has a sense of humor.

For 2 songs I played son montuno that worked well though for one song I needed to lay back on the manoteo and play quietly to blend with a piano and flute offertory. For another song I played a steady Bass-Tip-Slap-Tip because the son montuno would not have worked. I played loudly and I'm glad I had been practicing enough to have stamina for the whole song. It was really interesting playing with the pianist and working to lock into her rhythm. While I got a positive response I realize that my son montuno and 4 tone pattern isn't enough. That morning one song had a caribbean feel. Another song had an old timey gospel feel accented by the congregation giving double claps. While I've comfortably picked up one variation of guaguanco, one adaptation from iyesa, and a few songo rhythms from Toma Cruz's volume 2 I feel like what I know is not quite a match for the music at church ~ mostly praise songs and contemporary gospel, along with some energetic hymns and anthems.

I'd appreciate some input on particular patterns to play. At this point in my development I'm not so good at picking up patterns only by sheet music if can't also hear how it's supposed to be played. I would like to play somewhat regularly with my two drums, a conga and a tumba. Sorry if this has been covered however when I did a search I didn't find help.

Peace and Thanks Forum!

Hi conguero,
I don't know what music they play in your church but I think you should know at least a caballo, bolero and bomba to cover many of the songs in 8 counts...

My 2 cents!

dabesa

Blessings nobleway. it sounds as if you had quite an adventure, a "desafio" as we say in Spanish, a "challenge" and It's was a good thing that you took that challenge, I have no doubt that at the end you as well as the people were blessed. But let's not forget that whenever we are involved with worship in any way it's about the heart. Of course that's not to say that if you would have had at least two congas it would have made it easier for you. Typically when I play at church I use three drum’s, for the obvious reasons, more variation as well as a wider range in melody, regardless of the rhythms that you apply, whenever you combine them with two or three drums they always sound fuller, also don’t forget that you can also use accent instruments to fill in such as a tambourine or a shaker.
God bless.
Juan

Thanks dabesa! I will look up caballo. I know bolero and the Cruz dvd I have shows a couple of bomba patterns that I can pick up. Thanks King Conga for encouraging range and use of other instruments for accent. I have a conga and a tumba and I want pick up bongos and some other percussion at some point next year. I think it might be helpful if I share some examples from the range of songs we actually do. Thanks to anyone for any specific rhythm suggestions for songs below. Peace!

Here's a praise song that we do. http://s0.ilike.com/play#Hillsong:Every ... 2486b65405
A fast gospel song we do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Exvd0MD7ok
A slow contemporary gospel song we do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVPLTB_72fE
My Pastor's favorite hymn: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tQYNIhlFPWI
A common medley song we do a bit slower: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_eIn5c8 ... re=related
Sometimes there are songs with a oom da da feel that this medley begins with. After there are songs done by our church as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNgvmi0e ... re=related

I look at it this way... you play based on what you know and trust yourself to play musically without hesitation for any given song. Given that, the lifelong objective is to always have something new that you are working on to expand your knowledge. This should be part of each practice. I think it (the musical conga journey) can be this basic.

In my mind there are a couple of ways I mentally file rhythm patterns: 4/4 and 6/8 (or whatever meter) is the first thing, then by name, because once you practice a folkloric pattern long enough, you know exactly how it feels on its own and how you can make it feel based upon how you swing it. In fact, if you have practiced enough, you will be waiting for the right musical situation to develop so that you can prove your creative leanings (inside your mind) feel the way you intended they should feel (in reality). So if the praise and worship team begins a song, you can quickly identify the meter and reduce the number of rhythm patterns your mental juke box has to search through to pick one that will be appropriate to a song.

I hope this helps - so the main thing is to be a student making progress, and that way you should always be able to play better with more expression than you ever have before.

Also consider that students have teachers, good students have good teachers, and great students have great teachers.

For the songs you linked, my thoughts would start as follows (based on my current body of knowledge):

Everyday - Fanga or Juka (whichever you haven't used yet that service)
My Desire - Acpala or Guaguanco or Mozambique (whichever you haven't used yet that service)
Bread of Life - Tumbao
At Calvary - tacit (don't play anything)
What a Mighty God We Serve - "and-ah's" varied with Kpanlogo high drum
Bless the Lord Medley - Yanvalou

LOL! Wow! Thanks much alabubba! You were so comprehensive. I appreciate comments about mentally filing rhythm patterns and the encouragement to continually grow. alabubba I hadn't heard of the west African rhythmns you suggested before reading them in your post and then looking them up on Youtube. So far I've been focusing on Cuban rhythms and the idea of learning rhythms for djembe and other African drums makes the universe of conga drumming incredibly large. Could you or anyone suggest a CD or DVD that teaches some of the West African rhythms for the solo drummer that you suggest? I'm not so good at this point in my development in translating sheet music to capture the feel of a rhythm without also hearing a single drummer.

Honestly it is kind of exciting to see how big the world rhythm is. However I know I can't wait until I know everything before I start playing. I love this forum and I continue to be open to the generous input I find here!

I have a teacher (Jeff Woods) that introduces me to many more rhythms than I can glean from YouTube. Many west African and world rhythms have been adapted to Conga drums, and sound great. However, I don't know of a DVD or CD to recommend. The Congabook has some of what I mentioned and a lot more that I haven't learned yet. YouTube can range from masterful to not so good but is definitely a great asset. I know that I have only scratched the surface since starting lessons last fall; but, what I have learned, I know I know it, and my hands are always ready to play on stage with other musicians. I am up in the mid-fifties as far as the number of distinct rhythms that I have at my disposal, only because of my teacher...I think no matter how good at searching the web or working from books or CDs, starting with a teacher has put me years ahead of where I would be otherwise.

As far as working from a paper transcription of a new rhythm, it is only hard at first and then once your hands have worked it out, over the next few days keep trying to do it slowly with a metronome for about 10 minutes at a time. The initial goal is to be able to recall it by name and play it correctly at any time without looking at the transcription, i.e. no crutches. I often am tapping out new patterns on my (oversize) belly as I fall asleep at night, working on drilling them into my heart. Discipline pays dividends. When on your drums, focus totally on the sound of the strokes and the melody of the open tones, leaving speed off the table completely. Then think of songs it might sound good with, get them on your iPod or whatever, and play along with them. Start with songs that are slow enough to let you execute the rhythm under control and with all tones sounding right.

nobleway wrote: Could you or anyone suggest a CD or DVD that teaches some of the West African rhythms for the solo drummer that you suggest?

Michael Spiro has a new DVD "Introduction to the Conga Drum" which I am watching right now. It is excellent.