X8 Drums Blog

The Congo Square New World Rhythms Festival is coming to New Orleans. The Times-Picayne reports that the two-day festival highlights drumming and dance. Congo Square is a historic area that was once used by slaves for music and dancing. It still hosts drum circles every weekend and the Festival will begin with an open-call drum circle. Nineteen student brass bands will compete with one another during the Festival to win $30,000 worth of prizes from the Jazz and Heritage Foundation. The Festival …

A municipality in Hyderabad, India, is using drummers as a way to get house-tax defaulters to finally pay. A bill collector from Adilabad, the name of the city, says that the method is working. The Telegraph reports that after the tax defaulters ignore multiple attempts to notify them to pay, including warnings, emails, and mobile phone text messages, the tax collector sends drummers and civic officials to their homes. Outside their doors, the drummers produce extremely loud and sorrowful beats …

A virtual-reality drumming program is being used to test how self-image impacts drumming capabilities. New Scientist recently reported on research at the University of Spain at Barcelona that used a drumming simulation to show how one’s self-image leads to behavioral and cognitive changes. The virtual-reality simulation used a casually dressed avatar and a formally dressed one to test how drumming patterns were impacted. They found that the casually dressed avatar resulted in participants using …

Horatio “El Negro” Hernandez moved from Cuba to Miami a couple of years ago. According to The Miami Herald, the Cuban drummer and his band, Italuba, will present their American debut this weekend as part of Global Cuba Fest. Italuba is a European-born band, created when most of Italuba’s members lived in Italy. The group’s name is a combination of Italy and Cuba, since all the players are Cuban. Together -- Hernandez on drums along with a bass player, pianist, and trumpeter – the group has relea …

Everyone loves karaoke, right? Well, almost everyone. Our voices are our first instruments and for those of us who enjoy playing, karaoke may conjure visions and memories of unparalleled fun. Perhaps the hardest thing to overcome with karaoke is the actual performing. For this reason, finding a Japanese- or Korean-style karaoke bar benefits many budding karaoke stars. And, for those who love karaoke, another layer has been added to the already tantalizing act of singing in public: drumming.Karao …

A group of teen musicians playing buckets, pots, and pans will soon perform for York’s St. Patrick Day Parade. The teens practice together every Friday, led by music director Tim Riggs. The York Daily Record says the group has been meeting for two years and is part of the York County Youth Development Center in Pennsylvania. Called “Junkyard Drumming Group”, the teens say that belonging to the group helps reduce the stress in their lives and teaches them to act like citizens. Many of the teens i …

Acoustic bands have many wonderful percussion options at their disposal. The question many musicians may have, though, is how to get the most of the instruments when going “unplugged”. Percussion for acoustic bands in that situation is a whole, other ball of wax. No musician wants their music to die in the air before the audience gets a chance to really appreciate it. There are musicians, though, who play “unplugged” regularly as part of an acoustic ensemble and they love it.Many musicians would …

Kalani Das thrives as a percussionist and music therapist, working to integrate thoughtfulness and music. In his conga tuning video, he teaches conga drummers about what kinds of wrenches should and should not be used to tune the drum, as well as where on the drum to begin tuning. Kalani goes over tuning down and the reasons a drummer may choose to do that. Drummers also learn how flooring and conga placement affects tuning and playing sound. Whether or not to tune to music is addressed and Kala …

Understated, yet full of the passion of Latin America, maracas may get second billing when it comes to percussion instruments, but they are no less vital to the sound of all genres of music today. Five-time Grammy-nominated percussionist John Santos has joined with Latin Percussion to show the diversity and style of these instruments in a short video that teaches how to play the maracas. This lesson shows the different sounds and techniques needed to master the swish, staccato and even drumming …

The popular Irish frame drum, bodhrán, is rife with historical controversy. Regardless of where folks believe the drum to have originated, today it is a symbol of Irish pride and culture. St. Patrick’s Day is sure to see its fair share of the beloved instrument, but that is a rather recent phenomenon.The bodhrán was only introduced to the world of musical instruments in the last sixty or so years. However, that has not stopped it from becoming the frame drum associated with Irish celebrations an …