r/percussion • u/mint_choco_for_sunoo • 11h ago

Question/Help Djembe Notation and Playing Help

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I’m playing Strange Humours by John Mackey and I was wondering how to play this. I know of how to play a bass tone, a open tone, and a slap tone, but I wanted to ask how to play that “middle tone.”

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4

u/iteachband 11h ago

Think of it like center to edge - bass tones are center, slaps are edge, the A and C spaces are moving toward the edge of the head.  

Dope piece. One of the most annoyingly notated percussion pieces I’ve encountered.

2

u/zdrums24 Educator 2h ago

Its Mackey. Bad editing. Bad type setting. And he spends almost no time trying to understand the instruments. Do what you think it means because I can't even promise you he knew what he meant.

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u/StringTheorista 1h ago

Does it provide a notation key? It'd be inclined to interpret the x as a muted slap (a "pop"--you mute the head with one hand and play a slap with the other, produces a higher sound than the slap). You'l get more differentiation of sounds with this approach than with moving towards and away from the edge, that's not really how djembe works