School Workshops

School workshops run by Super Mande Percussion – African Drumming Academy & Performance cater for students of all ages and abilities, allowing individual expression to develop with new ideas and ways to communicate.

School workshops in African drumming can be stand alone or a series of workshops enabling participants to progress their skills over time.

Your number of participants can range from small groups of 20-30 right through to whole school incursions that cater to 500 students or more.

 

Whole school African drumming incursion

Bring Your Curriculum To Life with African Rhythm, Music & Culture

Single Workshop

Several types of workshop are offered covering various aspects of West African music, culture, drumming and dance.  The format of drumming workshops generally covers:

  • Welcome and demonstration.
  • Brief background and history of West African music, culture, drumming and dance.
  • Familiarisation with the instruments and warm up exercises.
  • Interactive session where students learn the basics of African drumming and how to find their rhythm.
  • Opportunity for students to improvise and create their own drumming solos.

African drums for school workshops

The duration of the drumming workshops is typically around 45 minutes to 1 hour and can also be tailored to fit in with your program, taking into consideration:

  • Student level, from kindergarten through to primary and secondary school levels.
  • Number of students.

Super Mande Percussion – African Drumming Academy & Performance also offers workshops in African singing, African dance, as well as a variety of other instruments from West Africa including the balafon (African xylophone), kora (African harp) and bolon (African double-bass).
     
African drumming and dance school incursion

School workshop series

Super Mande Percussion – African Drumming Academy & Performance offers a range of options in our school workshop series.  A popular option is the four-week drumming series which involves drumming workshops in Weeks 1 to 4 culminating with a performance. 

The workshop series gives students an opportunity to learn the basics of African drumming, building on this week by week until they have mastered all the parts of a traditional rhythm. 

By the end of the series they will be ready to perform these new skills to their teachers and classmates.

Workshop series are also offered in African dance, and combined African drumming and dance. 

Short courses and full term drumming courses also available.  Enquire about these and other options using the Enquiry Form below.

African drumming and music school incursion

Whole School Incursions

One of the most popular services is our whole school African drumming incursions, which can be run in various student group formats such as:

  • Up to 6-7 small group sessions throughout the day (30-45 minutes per session).  This is a great option that maximises the opportunity for student interaction with our drumming facilitators.
  • A smaller number of group sessions - 3 to 4 sessions per day (45-60 minutes per session).  This works well where multiple student Year levels can be combined into larger groups for a longer session, giving everyone more time on the drums.
  • One or more large group sessions where students from all Year levels can participate together (45-60 minutes per session).  This option is ideal for bringing the whole school community together and celebrating large cultural events like Harmony Day, Africa Day and so on.

As well as interactive drumming, our whole school incursions can be tailored to include African singing, African dance, as well as a variety of other instruments from West Africa including the balafon (African xylophone), kora (African harp) and bolon (African double-bass).

Here is an example of feedback received following one of Super Mande Percussion's recent whole school drumming incursions:

" I can definitely recommend this incursion for 3 main reasons:
1. The instruction was from authentic African drummers.
2. It was so intuitive for the kids. The kids just felt the beat and got into it!
3. Every child was able to have a go on their own Djembe. The session was so well-resourced and there was a drum for everyone! No one missed out. "

 

African drumming and music incursions for schools



What Others Are Saying


“Super Mande Percussion came to our school to present a fabulous whole-school incursion which all the students and teachers really enjoyed... Thank you, Super Mande Percussion, for a fabulous day we will never forget.” 
(Performing Arts Teacher)
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“Super Mande was fantastic! The students were completely engaged with the presenters, who made the session fun. The best thing is that it covered so much of our curriculum, fitting in with the music program as well as the PYP unit of inquiry.” 
(English/Humanities Teacher)
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“Mady and his team were so fabulous at my school. Kept foundation to grade 6 kids super engaged for an hour. It was awesome that every child had a drum for the whole session. Many teachers said it was the best incursion we’ve ever had. Can’t recommend them highly enough!!! Thanks so much Mady and team!” 
(Language Teacher)
 
African drumming workshops for schools

Want to Incorporate African Drumming, Music and Culture into Your School Curriculum?

For further information on how we can develop an authentic and engaging African drumming, music and cultural experience that fits into your school curriculum, simply fill out the form below and let us know if you have any other comments or queries in the message box.