Dun Dun
Dun Duns
The Dun Dun Drum is an essential accompaniment to the Djembe Drum. They are always played together in an African Drumming ensemble.
You can learn how to play the Dun Dun Drums at Ray’s African Drumming Classes in Melbourne.
When you learn the Djembe in Ray’s classes in Melbourne he also teaches you how to play the Dun Dun Drum. The Dun Dun works harmoniously with the Djembe, complementing the Djembe and supporting the Djembe. The rhythms of the Dun Dun Drum provide a rhythmic bed for the Djembe rhythms to sit on top.
The Dun Duns are African bass drums and usually played in a group of three. They are come in three different sizes with the largest Dun Dun Drum being the lowest in pitch and the smallest Dun Dun Drum the highest in pitch. The Dun Duns are also made out of wood and are shaped like a cylinder with a skin on either end. Dun Dun Drum skins are usually Cow skin and they are played with sticks.
Video of Dun Dun
At his Djembe classes in Melbourne, Ray will teach you how to play the Dun Duns in a group with other Djembe players and Dun Dun players. You can learn how each Dun Dun Drum plays a different part and how all the parts fit together harmoniously and interact with the Djembe. At Ray’s Classes you learn the Djembe part and then the corresponding Dun Dun Drum part.
As there are several different Djembe rhythms there are also several different Dun Dun rhythms that accompany these Djembe rhythms.
As with the Djembe, these types of Dun Dun Drums also originated in West Africa although all African countries have some sort of Bass drum that is used in traditional music, so strictly speaking the Dun Duns are a generic bass drum known all over Africa but known by different names.
There are many different ways and styles of playing the Dun Duns. Upright, horizontal, with and without a bell.
Sometimes the Dun Dun Drums are played upright and the same player plays all three Dun Duns with sticks in both hands and with no accompanying bell.
There are other styles where the Dun Duns are placed on a stand horizontally with each Dun Dun Drum played by a different player. One side of the drum only is struck with a stick in one hand while the other hand plays a mounted Bell with another stick or metal beater.
You will initially learn the upright style of playing Dun Dun in Ray’s beginner classes and then as you progress to a more advanced class you can learn the horizontal style playing both the Dun Dun and the Bell at the same time. WOW!
More Dun Duns
Ray demonstrates how the Dun Dun plays with the Djembe in the
Nuwa Rhythm