The Big Drum is the lively ancient dance rite of the small island of Carriacou, Grenada. This book introduces 120 of the song texts & dances that call & entertain the ancestors who are central to Carriacou religious experience. Performed since the early 1700s, the Big Drum dance reveals an African-Caribbean religion at its inception as practiced by enslaved people & in its current expression as a vital, living aspect of Carriacou society. No other Caribbean ritual like it still exists. The author maintains that the nine coded rhythms of the boula drums hold the history of the nine African "nations" that inhabited early Carriacou, keeping alive their memories of Africa & of family lineage. In discussion of the spiritual bases of the Yoruba dances of Grenada, Trinidad, Cuba, & Jamaica, the author illustrates the connection between the liturgical symbols of danced religions & the ancient myth of "The Flying Africans." The author concludes with an analysis of a single calypso that memorializes the 1983 invasion of Grenada & illustrates the history-keeping function of the calypso & Big Drum. She uncovers a structural relationship between ancient praisesongs & modern political songs & suggests the continuing impact of music on the memory of the Caribbean people.

This, the official autobiography of Elayne Jones, is the story of one woman's remarkable life and career in her own words; a journey from meager beginnings as a self-described "skinny little girl from Harlem," to the highest echelons of classical music. With a musical talent and personal drive that enabled her to transcend racial and gender barriers, Jones became the first African American woman in the New York Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra. A world renown tympanist, Elayne Jones is a graduate of the Arts and Music High School in New York. She then attended Julliard, being among the first winners of the Ellington Julliard Scholarship. Jones' professional career began in 1949 with the New York City Opera. Over the course of five decades, Elayne Jones played with the American Ballet Theatre, Arthur Fiedler and the World Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski and the American Symphony Orchestra, Seiji Ozawa and the San Francisco Symphony, and the San Francisco Opera. In 1965 she won the LaGuardia Memorial Award in recognition of her outstanding achievements in music. She has presented over 375 solo lecture demonstrations nationally and internationally of percussion instruments in schools and colleges, and in 1975, National Educational Television produced and aired a TV special on PBS featuring Jones entitled, "A Day in the Life of a Musician." Countless performances by Jones include television, recordings, musicals, and ballets. Elayne Jones is universally recognized as one the most prominent African Americans of the 20th Century. Alongside music, Jones was also an accomplished amateur tennis player for some 43 years, until an injury forced her to give up the game. Some of the high points in playing included tennis matches with tenor Luciano Pavarotti and conductor Seiji Ozawa. Jones retired from her career in music in 1998. A mother of three, she currently resides in the San Francisco East Bay Area, in Walnut Creek, California.

The Fun Drum Book for Kids will have you smiling, grooving and playing music in no time! This easy-to-follow drum method will help you unleash your creativity with or without a drum set! Perfect for beginners of all ages, it’s also a great tool for parents to teach their kids. Learn to play essential rudiments, classic rock grooves, familiar children’s songs, exciting drum fills and even creative solos in this colorful children's drumming book! Overflowing with pictures and diagrams, this step-by-step method is designed to keep the student's attention and produce results. Based on my nearly 20 years of teaching experience, this unique approach is guaranteed to provide hours of focused practice and play for anyone interested in the wide world of drumming.

If you want to have more fun on the drums, improve your skills faster, and play along to real music, then you need to build a solid foundation. The Best Beginner Drum Book gives you a clear path for getting started on the drums and skipping the frustrating obstacles that most new drummers face: setting up your kit, holding the drumsticks, learning notation, creating catchy beats and fills, learning musical styles, and playing your favorite songs.

Inside the Big Band Drum Chart is a first of its kind drum method that usestraditional and contemporary arrangements performed by a 17 piece jazzensemble as the vehicle to study beats, musical form, ensemble phrasing, articulation, and interpretation. For each arrangement, there is 'talk through' information explaining how the composition is played as well as transcriptions of key beats and melodic information that connects the 'written drum part' to the music. The 248 page book includes a 2.5 hour audio available online and an hour long video demonstrating every exercise in the text. Also included areanecdotes and interviews with legendary big band drummers and arrangers such as Louie Bellson, Jake Hanna, Phil Wilson, Mark Taylor and Bob Curnow.Includes access to online audio/video

"The BIG Drum Book" by Max Freeman is great for beginner and intermediate drummers. It has over 200 pages of grooves, fills, & exercises for drum set. The BIG Drum Book includes: -558 grooves -192 fills -297 rhythm reading examples For drum teachers, this book will give you about 2 years worth of teaching material for your students. This book covers different types of rhythms, concepts, and techniques (accents, doubles, flams, etc.) and shows you practical ways to apply them to the drum kit through grooves and fills. The book is broken up into the following chapters: -Reference -Rhythm and Groove -Accents -Flams -Double Strokes -Limb Independence -Extras

Patterns is one of the most comprehensive drum methods available. Covering a wide range of materials, the books can be used in any order, or in any combination with one another. They are a must for developing the kinds of skills necessary for drumset performance. Time-Functioning Patterns includes materials dealing with rock cymbal ostinatos, jazz independence, and the new linear phrasing concept that Gary developed.