Learn to Play Doumbek!
*Special 2-HOUR DOUMBEK TECHNIQUE CLINIC!
SATURDAY, SEPT 27*
1-3PM
2707 NE Flanders
$25 in advance, $30 at the door
TRANSFORMATIVE TECHNIQUE CLINIC
A must for ALL doumbek players!
Play a resounding Doum, a ringing
Ka and the perfect Slap with optimal comfort, precision and tone!
Combine proper alignment and body mechanics to relax your shoulders,
hands, arms and fingers in order to fit the drum to your body and make your drum SING.
This testimonial came from a student in Alaska:
Lara Triback is a wonderment! Others teach, she infuses.
In her doumbek workshops, she lures you from the known and easy to the unknown and difficult without you realizing you made the transition.
Long after the workshop or private lessons have ended,
the body memory still holds the drills she taught --
but now they are your teks, doums, and slaps, not hers.
In the end, the students own the techniques.
Unlike musicians that try to teach others what they have learned,
Lara started as a teacher and brings all the patience and training
of an instructor to bear on her art, infusing it with her love of drumming,
and using kinesthetic techniques from massage and dance to create an integrated
and holistic approach to teaching the doumbek.
As much sensei as teacher,
Lara constantly thinks of new ways to convey a technique or rhythm when a
fresh approach is called for. She uses a whole bag of tricks from metaphors
and kinetic comparisons to visual, auditory, and tactile cues to help the
student understand at a visceral level rather than on a purely mental plane.
Hers is no mere classroom where the students can sit back and absorb.
Her sheer joy and love of Middle Eastern drumming imbues her teaching
with a boisterous enthusiasm that is downright infectious.
One of her greatest strengths is in tailoring her teaching for each student,
recognizing that one-size-fits-all doesn't work. Each musician has a unique
body construction with different aspirations, abilities, and training.
Lara targets each student's strengths, providing them with constructive
feedback to build on those assets so they emerge from the lesson empowered
by knowing what they do well as what needs more focus. In a group setting,
Lara can "hear" or pick out your drum(ming) from the mass and can fine tune
your playing within the group setting. While working with the group to
produce a cohesive sound, the contribution of each member is refined to
bring out the best individual performance.
Her workshops are, in a word, fun!
-Terri Moles, AK
All Levels Drum Classes: Beledi and Beyond!
COMING SOON!
Whether you are picking up a drum for the first time or are a seasoned percussionist, learn proper technique for playing darbuka and traditional rhythms common to bellydance music in a fun, comfortable, individualized setting!
This is done. It was fun.
JANUARY 13! RHYTHMS FOR DANCERS WORKSHOP!
Dancers! Improve your musicality; improve your zils playing!
Increase your confidence on the dancefloor by understanding and internalizing the basic rhythms common to Arabic and Turkish music.
Beledi, Saidi, Maksoum, Chiftetelli, Malfuf, Masmoudi, Ayub, Semai, Karsilama will be covered.
Bring zils and a drum if you have one.
(No drum necessary for this workshop).
Handouts provided.
Taught by Lara Triback, who, starting out as a bellydancer in 2001, turned in her hip scarves and devoted herself to mastering the rhythms on her dumbek instead.
Sunday, January 13
1-3pm
Euphoria Studios
1235 SE Division
$25 in advance, $30 at the door
Contact: [email protected] to register.
Lara Triback has her Master’s degree in education and teaches rhythm and movement to both children and adults. Her energy, enthusiasm and unique teaching approach help her students put the rhythms into their bodies and “feel the music.â€
Lara has performed and taught Middle Eastern drumming and musicality classes in Portland and at festivals around the Pacific NW and has had the privilege of accompanying master percussionists of Arabic music. She plays a mean davul with Krebsic Orkestar (http://www.gypsybrass.com), accompanies Balkan fusion band The Mora and leads her advanced student percussive ensemble, Rhythm & Muse.
http://www.laratriback.com
IT HAPPENED! IT WAS GREAT!
(And oh, what fun it is!)
A Special Four Week Drumming Class with Lara:
Developing the BELLYDANCE DRUM SOLO!
Tuesday nights, 7-8pm
Euphoria Studios
1235 SE Division St. 106
$45 for four weeks
Nov 27, Dec 4, 11, 18
Join Lara for a four week Middle Eastern drumming session devoted entirely to the highpoint of the bellydance cabaret performance, i.e., the drum solo.
*Learn the basic structure of the bellydance drum solo
*Learn techniques specific to creating pops, snaps and rolls
*Listen to the pros and develop a basic vocabulary of solo phrases
*Create, transcribe and perform your very own drum solo!
Level II Classes (with permission by instructor):
Thursday nights 7-8:15pm, $15 per class
*Private location!* Contact Lara for more information!
*Percussion Ensemble! Learn challenging drum solo compositions, facilitate rhythm changes for a group of drummers and perform whenever the opportunity arises! *
*Learn to switch between various instruments as part of Middle Eastern percussive ensemble: riq/bass dumbek/dumbek
Lara has been studying Middle Eastern/Balkan music and folk dance since 1997 and has performed and/or taught at music and dance festivals around the US and internationally. Combining strong percussive technique, creative musicality and impressive
dancing-while-drumming skills, Lara can be found dancing with goc/davul with the Krebsic Orkestar (http://www.gypsybrass.com), or remaining in a more sedentary position while providing percussive support for Middle Eastern band Sarab and Balkan Band The Mora (http://www.myspace.com/themora). Lara puts her Master's degree in education to good use by teaching popular Middle Eastern drumming classes in
the Portland area as well as music and movement classes to children and adults.
Here's What People are Saying about Lara's Classes:
"I feel so much gratitude and joy to be in your class.
I finally get to
learn proper technique and to play on the 'correct'
side. (I'm still figuring out what side works best for
me)...
"You are such an awesome teacher. I learned a lot of
important things last night. The world is so lucky
to have you here as an enthusiastic and effective
teacher."
"I felt so much joy and energy at class last night
especially to see your teaching style...I had
attempted to teach basic rhythms to folks
and had a hard time with it. The experience felt so
lackluster. I was marveling at how you taught with
levity, humor and the 'gross motor' method. I see how learning with you
gets a lot of mileage--people are able to pick things
up quickly AND have fun!"
"As a teacher Lara is very energetic, enthusiastic, yet patient, funny, creative, & flexible. I like how the classes have similar pattern each time - technique, call and response, then rhythms, but Lara is very easily able to juggle and change focus depending on class interest and questions."
"Lara's classes have exceeded my expectations, I've been having a good time in them, enjoying the learning experience. My only concern is that her runaway popularity will cause us to end up with too many students..."
"Thanks for putting on a couple of excellent sessions this past weekend. I always thought that anything other than 4/4 meter as being way out of realm for me. Your classes provided a great introduction and gave me the confidence that I can now begin to follow odd metered rhythms. Since taking a drum class last month, I've become more aware of rhythm in movement.
I think you have a wonderful teaching style. Your hand/arm motions complement your audial instruction beautifully (and, for me, they really add to the mystical aesthetics of the 9-beat rhythms). And, as I walked yesterday, the power of that format really came through to me. It's almost like the 1-2 allows the 1-2-3 to gain its great momentum which is then unleased with pounding effect. Pretty incredible! And, I loved the way you threw so much stuff (movement, sound, energy) into the space of the beat. I don't know, maybe it's because so much of it was so new to me, but I found your classes to be magical."
"Had an amazing dumbek experience last night in my first of many-to-be-had Middle Eastern drumming classes. It was so energizing and inspirational,
really pulling me back to the musical root. I had forgotten...how many little tributaries there are that need to be remembered and explored. At first just trying to follow the beat, I found myself with closed eyes, completely letting go as it became as inward as the rhythm of my own heart.
(Lara) made the experience feel more like a directed drum circle than a class as she jumped around with excitement showing different sections of the
students variations on the original beat. It was so fluid. . .amazing at how well it sounded considering the mix of experience levels in the class."
"High energy. Intense. Fun."
"That was the most fun drumming class I have ever taken!"
"I'd done a small amount of hand drumming in the past, but until I started taking
Lara's class recently I'd never touched a doumbek and knew almost nothing about
Middle Eastern rhythms. Lara's patience and enthusiasm have made even the
first lessons fun, and her drumming is so impressive that I'm very much looking
forward to learning more!"
"I want to learn the tabla to help in the healing process. I lost 17 people in the conflict of the Middle East within a period of three years. I thought the pain was going to kill me. But nothing like music to bring back the desire to be alive. And I'm writing again.I always come home in the best and happiest mood after class. Thank you for teaching me."
"Out of all the sessions I went to at the World Rhythm Festival, I really liked yours. I not only liked the combination of sounds put to the different rhythms but the awareness that I can play without hurting my arthritic thumbs. The African drumming sessions I went to had the group play the same pattern while the teacher varied theirs. You kept it lively and creative by teaching many rhythms and then combining them. Thanks for a great job!"
"I am a year and a half into learning doumbek and I went to both of Lara Triback's classes at the Rhythm Festival and learned a lot from her. She is quite knowledgeable and organized and has the skill to pass that knowledge on to others, and she has an excellent handout. Both classes were interesting, fun and challenging. She patiently taught the basics, moved to more challenging material and while we were working with that material, demonstrated what the instrument can do when played by someone with much more skill and experience.
I would love to work with her again next year."
