Drummer Oo's Rhythm Adventures: Exploring rhythm through language, story telling, and spacial analog imagery. Paperback – March 20, 2025

Drummer Oo's Rhythm Adventures is an ensemble drumming curriculum for children starting as young as toddlers. It’s a hands on participatory experience exploring rhythm through language, story telling and colorful spacial analog graphics. I’ve observed children learning drumming as a language, or associated with language, in Africa and the Caribbean, and I’ve had great success with the techniques I’ll show you for the past 40 years. Catchy verbal phrases help participants hear the syncopation and make the part easier to remember, and the spacial analog graphics provide a visual and mathematical reference for the structure of the rhythm that pre and beginning readers can understand. The antics of Drummer Oo and his friends will engage the kids, and by visually exploring at the graphics they'll become familiar with the 'shape' of each rhythmic part as it's displayed. The book is meant to be used by group leaders to facilitate a drumming experience, and I've included suggestions regarding the introduction and execution of the rhythms, and some photos of kids playing drums in Haiti and Africa for further discussion with your students. On line audio support for the rhythms is available. Read more