Master Drums
In almost all West African drumming ensembles, there is a lead drum or master drum which leads the group. The master drummer tells the ensemble when to play and when to stop, he also plays signals telling the other players to change the tempo or the drumming pattern. In some West African drumming ensembles, the master drummer is to play the main theme of the piece and improvise. In Ewe drumming, the master drummer does drum dialogue with the kidi. It enriches the kidi phrase by filling in the empty spaces on the kidi’s part. The master drum can also improvise.
In Ewe drumming, the term master drum is not limited to one particular type of drum. A master drum can be an atsimevu, sogo, kroboto, totodzi, or an agboba; these are the only types of drums used as master drums, however. Different master drums are used in different pieces. For example, if a group is playing "Agbadza" (an old Ewe war dance), the master drummer will be playing the sogo. The master drum techniques and playing styles are generally the same regardless of which drum is used.
Read more about this topic: Ewe Drumming
Famous quotes containing the words master and/or drums:
“And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.”
—Bible: New Testament, Luke 16:8.
“It was soldiers went marching over the rocks
And still the birds came, came in watery flocks,
Because it was spring and the birds had to come.
No doubt that soldiers had to be marching
And that drums had to be rolling, rolling, rolling.”
—Wallace Stevens (1879–1955)