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.