UPDATE: Do you like my songs and want to support my music?
​Please make a donation (any amount counts) to our Books 4 Africa project.
E-mail me at info@garthprince.com if you have any questions.

---

Please use the following introduction when performing: 

​The Damara people of Namibia have the most beautiful music and language. Unlike other click consonant languages,
for example Zulu, the Damara language has four instead
of three clicks. 

/Elele is a nonsense word that was made up by children on the playgrounds of Namibia as part of their musical games. Their brilliance was eventually arranged into a choir song, and then arranged as a drum and dance along exercise for kids by Garth Prince.

​Can you say /elele?

TEACHER NOTES:

This piece works well as a performance piece for Grades 3 - 6. One challenge is the loud drums. If you use too many, they overwhelm the instrumental track and the kids speed up. I used bucket drums, which work very well. However, not many schools have buckets that without rims for playing with hands (instead of sticks). If you use sticks, they are very loud too. 

I am working on a body percussion version so that some kids can play drums and others can play buckets and drums. The mix of body percussion, buckets and real drums should create the right balance.

I'll post the body percussion tutorials after testing them in a concert.

Posted on 27 March 2023

---

Drum and Dance in the Park

Music video rhythms: 
​Dun (rest) Dun (rest) Dun Dun Dun (rest)
Duntak X8
Dun Takka-takka-takka X4

​Sakka! is an Afrikaans slang word that means "go lower". 

TEACHER NOTES:
A call & response performance song for Div 1 or Div 2. Practise with the video then perform the song. Boys and girls can alternate doing the leading part (performed by Garth in the video). Or you can combine two classrooms and have classes alternate doing the leading part.
​

Say the rhythms after you've done the video exercise.
Explain that each rhythm contains eight beats.
Encourage students to come up with their own way to memorize the form for performance, but feel free to use tips from my spreadsheet.



​Alternative rhythms that are better for performance:
Dun (rest) Dun (rest) Dun Dun Dun (rest)
Duntak X6 Dun (rest)
Dun Takka-takka-takka X3 Dun (rest)

Instrumental version:

---