And the Beat Goes On

Sponsored by Connections Dance Theater, world music drumming is part of a new series of classes at the Fahs Theater of the Princeton Unitarian Church.

By: Susan Van Dongen
   Kindergarten, circa 1964, scarred me for life.
   I will never forget the time during one of our first indoor playtimes when I made a beeline for the drums and percussion instruments. I had secretly been eyeing them, fascinated by the claves, the maracas, the tambourine and especially the bongos.
   I was about to put my hot little hands on one of these items when the kindergarten teacher grabbed me and said, "Oh no, no, no Susie. Only boys are allowed to play with the drums. Girls are supposed to play in the kitchen."
   She spun me around and pushed me in the direction of the fake kitchen where the other girls had already taken their places. They laughed at me because of my "mistake" and appointed me a position at the very bottom slot in the pretend homemaking hierarchy — drying the little plastic dishes.
   Almost 40 years later, my teacher would have fainted if she had seen the women gathered to take an Afro-Caribbean drumming class at the Fahs Theater of the Princeton Unitarian Church.
   But this particular class isn’t about the battle of the sexes — it’s about music. There are plenty of New Age, neo-pagan and feminist drum circles that seek to take participants to a different level of consciousness. In contrast, the Wednesday night group is there to learn how to be better musicians, what the various rhythms mean and where they can find recordings that showcase more of them.
   Sponsored by Connections Dance Theater, world music drumming is part of a new series of classes.
   Founded by Liliana Attar in 1998 and known for its Latin-flavored dance performances in Central Jersey, Connections Dance Theater is branching out to offer a variety of educational opportunities. They’ve sponsored classes for children for some time, but last fall formed the Center for the Performing Arts and announced the addition of adult classes in salsa, Indian classical dance, acting and Afro-Caribbean drumming, in addition to modern dance. There are also classes for children.
   Also, instead of things being held at various venues, the Wednesday- and Thursday-night sessions take place at the Unitarian Church at 50 Cherry Hill Road in Princeton.
   "The center is a resource for people of all ages," says education director Cory Alperstein, taking a break from observing a modern dance class in a studio down the hall from the drumming. "It’s part of our ongoing student curriculum, artist performances and special workshops for young people and adults."
   As a couple of junior-high-school-age girls from an earlier dance class climb onto the stage to do headstands and stretches, would-be Tito Puentes come in, some carrying their own instruments. Drumming instructor Sebastian Guerrero takes a break from patting out an infectious beat on the congas and greets everyone.
   I’ve brought a djembe, a traditional Nigerian drum that served me well when I took more Afro-centric lessons in Philadelphia. Mr. Guerrero offers one of his drums instead, telling me the sound will be more appropriate to Latin music. You can bring your own, but Connections provides about half a dozen brand-new congas, beautiful instruments with a deep, resonant sound.
   Seven of us take our places behind our drums. More experienced class members warm up with what they’ve learned previously. Mr. Guerrero explains that tonight we’ll learn the basic patterns of a rumba.
   "This is a form of Afro-Cuban dance called rumba," says Mr. Guerrero, an animated man with an engaging smile, dressed in a red-and-white soccer jersey, cargo pants and sneakers. "Rumba is like a house with three rhythms living inside. ‘Wah-wah-koh’ is a fast tempo, flirtatious dance between a man and a woman. ‘Yah moh’ is a slow, easygoing dance for the elders. And the ‘Colombia’ is kind of a strong man’s dance. While the drummers play this rhythm, the men line up and then one by one they show off their dance skills."
   Mr. Guerrero breaks us up into twos and threes, playing different sub-rhythms. He counts out the 6/8 wah-wah koh rhythm for us on a cowbell and then has us clap it, while he plays a counter-rhythm on the conga in a 4/4 meter.
   This is my first class, so I play the simpler bass rhythm on a drum with a lower pitch, a three-beat pattern that sounds like goon GAH goon. Two women to my right play yet another pattern on the claves. The rest of the class raps out the wah-wah goh on the backs of their chairs with sticks.
   Even with three measly beats, the goon GAH goon is more complicated than it would seem. The lower-pitched downbeat requires me to hit the center of the drum with my full, relaxed open hand. For the upbeat, I have to close my fingers into what looks a little like a karate chop and slap the drum closer to the edge for a higher pitch. Then the downbeat utilizes another open hand.
   I shut my eyes to try isolate the patterns I’m playing. I don’t know why shutting my eyes helps, but it does. We go along for a while and then people, unfamiliar with the compound meters, stumble over each other with their parts.
   "That’s ‘Colombia’ — sometimes you’re feeling it in 6/8, and then suddenly you’re feeling it in 4/4," Mr. Guerrero says.
   "You’re doing real well, but you’re kind of putting me to sleep," he adds, teasing. He talks about the intensity needed to master Afro-Caribbean drumming. It doesn’t have to be fast to be captivating, but it needs a high level of energy and a certain amount of soul. Here we are — a bunch of suburban students and professionals, trying to light the flames of the rumba. I picture lean men with burnished brown skin sitting along a Havana street, smoking cigars and smiling at the pretty women passing by, drumming to impress them. Now they would be able to pull it off.
   Mr. Guerrero describes how concentrating on our hands can help bring some of that energy into the drum.
   "It goes down through the hollow of the drum, into the earth and back up," he says. "Let’s try again and this time, try to pick up the tempo a little."
   Amala Viola, a new participant, arrives with her own drum. A little later, G.G. Armstrong, one of Mr. Guerrero’s private students, sits in. She’s good and peps us up a little.
   Dee Mann — who sounds like she has classical music training — asks if you can predict when the switch from duple to triple meter will come in an Afro-Caribbean drum circle. Absolutely not, Mr. Guerrero says.
   "African (inflected) music is polymetric," he says. "You can always find a three pulse in a four meter."
   Mr. Guerrero explains that drummers can play this combination of rhythms for an hour or more, while singers show their stuff and occasionally a hot-shot percussionist takes off on a solo. Then the dancers come in.
   The class, which has been meeting since last fall, keeps up with the tempo and compound rhythms. After a while, we have a spicy hybrid of meters going. It’s fun and I can understand how really good drummers could do this for hours — although their endurance still mystifies me.
   Mr. Guerrero, 26, lives in Millstone and connected with Connections Dance when Ms. Alperstein invited him to teach drumming in their young people’s summer programs. He teaches occasionally at the Lawrenceville and Pennington schools, as well as giving private lessons and doing studio work in New York. He recently won a grant from the New Jersey Council of the Arts specifically to study Afro-Cuban folklore.
   He’s been spending a lot of time in New York studying with Los Afortunados (The Fortunate Ones), a group of Cuban musicians, and particularly master percussionist Felix Sanabria, who is teaching him some of the more esoteric aspects of the subject. For example, Mr. Guerrero explains how the drums really can "talk" in the Afro-Cuban tradition — and it’s not Morse code.
   "You can tell jokes through the drums," he says. He describes visiting a master percussionist one afternoon, who paused to drum out a special pattern. A few minutes later, someone knocked on the door with a bottle and a couple of glasses.
   There are also links to the ancient Yoruba religion of Nigeria, where the various beat patterns represent orishas — earth deities. Even Babalu — yes, the Babalu made famous by Desi Arnaz — is a deity, associated with health and an abundant crop.
   Mr. Guerrero also works with percussionist and recording artist Michael Spiro in San Francisco and has studied in Brazil, Peru and Cuba. In addition, he performs with other Central Jersey musicians in the multi-cultural percussion ensemble Sura.
   The hour goes by quickly and the class disperses, feeling energized and with an assignment to practice their parts. Mr. Guerrero holds up a CD by Grupo Afro Cuba as a listening suggestion, to help hear an example of music from the Matanzas region of Cuba.
   "Drum circles are popular, but there’s very little direction as far as playing and the culture behind the music," Mr. Guerrero says, packing up his collection of drums and percussion. "In my classes, I show people some of the traditional parts (to the music), so they have a common rhythmic language to play if they want to get together with other drummers in the future.
   "I recommend stuff to listen to so they know what they’ve learned in class and can play along if they want to. It’s all part of building a community, giving a peek into the cultural influences of Cuba, Peru and other countries."
   Best of all, girls can play too.
Sebastian Guerrero teaches world drumming classes at Connection Dance Theater’s Center for the Performing Arts, 50 Cherry Hill Road, Princeton, Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. A new 8:30 p.m. class begins Feb. 12. $120 for 8 sessions; $15 a session. Other Wednesday classes include Modern Dance, 6 p.m.; Salsa, 7:30 p.m.; Argentine Tango, 8:30 p.m. Thursday classes include Theater, 7:15 p.m. and Indian Classical Dance, 7:15 p.m. Modern and Indian classical dance is $90 for an 8-week session, $15 per individual class. Salsa and tango is $90 for an 8-week session, $15 per individual class, or $24 a couple. For information, call (609) 895-2981. On the Web: connectionsdt.tripod.com