Doumbek Lessons

Doumbek Lessons

Here at Eagle Rock Music Studio, our doumbek lessons may occur in Los Angeles,

but the folks who bring their goblet drums inside our building make us feel like we

live closer to the Sahara Desert than Death Valley — which we love, of course. Our

doumbek lessons are available to musicians of all ages and skill levels: if currently

your drum is being used more as a toy or as a means of decoration and you would

love to impress the party guests by playing your instrument, Eagle Rock has private

lessons available for you. If your child is begging to learn the instrument, or if you

are a more serious musician looking to increase your proficiency level so you can

contribute to recordings, Eagle Rock has more advanced lessons to offer, as well.

History

The doumbek — more generically referred to as a goblet drum due to its shape — is a

single head membranophone — a drum with a stretched membrane that produces

sound via vibration (i.e., every time it is hit). Other names for the goblet/chalice

drum include tarabuka, darbuka, debuka, dumbec, dumbeg, dumbelek, toumperleki,

and tablah. These drums can be found in countries near the Mediterranean,

primarily in North Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.

Appeal

Doumbeks figure prominently into world music, and even appear in classical

compositions, as well, such as the 19th century opera Les Troyens by Hector Berlioz.

In the 20th century, Fantasia-Tahmeel by the composer Halim El-Dabh was the first

piece to feature strings and goblet drums; it premiered in 1958 in New York City.

Lessons

We offer two course paths for those who wish to learn the doumbek: one for those

seeking to play professionally, and another for those seeking to just play

recreationally. At Eagle Rock Music Studio, we believe it is important to encourage

our students to develop their own musical voices, and because of this we also

believe students need to be in a supportive, friendly, and engaging environment

where their ambitions can be achieved in an active manner. At Eagle Rock, our

mission is to guide you from dreaming toward doing.

Both the professional and recreational paths, though, start with the identification of

your goals as a musician and working with your instructor to create a detailed

action plan to effectively reach those goals. In the case of an aspiring professional

doumbek player, practice is enormously significant for increasing your level of

proficiency with your instrument. But actually refining and perfecting these skills

under the training of an instructor — who can help you work towards fulfilling your

goals every step of the way — is critical to your development, too.

At Eagle Rock Music Studio, we guide your hopes and dreams towards reality — and

we love it when our students take the necessary action to surpass the goals they set

for themselves because they love playing their instrument so much. We recognize

that everyone is different and responds to various teaching styles differently, so we

tailor our lessons specifically for each student — we believe this achieves the best

results, and all doumbek lessons are private as a result.

Eagle Rock Music Studios is located just north of downtown Los Angeles between

Glendale and Pasadena.  For more information or to set up a lesson, please call us at 323-309-8467.