Roland has been on the faculty of the Jazzmobile Jazz Workshop in Harlem teaching percussion workshops for more than a decade and he now brings his knowledge and experience on the road and is available for private and group instruction

AFRO-LATIN PERCUSSION WORKSHOPS

These workshops are very beneficial for intermediate and advanced percussion students although other instrumentalists, particularly trap drummers and bassists, will benefit greatly from this knowledge. The primary instrument in the workshop will be the conga drum, analyzing various Afro Cuban rhythms. There will also be heavy emphasis on the clave and it's relation to and function in other styles of Afro Caribbean rhythms. Among those rhythms will be the Samba learning fundamental technique on the pandeiro and other Afro-Brazilian percussion.

The principle focus will be the Afro Cuban Rumba Guaguanco, which is where most of the functions and language of the contemporary latin rhythm section is derived.

We will explore the interplay of the individual conga drums (tumbadora, conga and quinto), with the clave and the cascara. This will illustrate the clear correlation of the folkloric style to the functions of the contemporary rhythm section (timbales, bongos and conga). We will also examine the Conga rhythm to understand its influence on contemporary styles and provide a broader base of the language of this music. Then bringing all of this knowledge full circle, we will explore multiple conga technique.

The overall objective of the workshop is to prepare a percussionist to be multi-faceted and fluid with the basics of an array of percussion instruments and be able to implement them in a multiple percussion set up in various contemporary styles of music. For the instrumentalist the workshop is useful for having a better understanding of playing Afro-Latin styles and playing with percussionists.