If you want to learn how a rhythm looks on paper, hear many variations and embellishments of the rhythm, and play along as you learn, this book and CD set is for you! The notation is written in a linear spatially metered method that both trained and untrained musicians can handle. All of the rhythms have some ideas on ways to embellish, situations when I might choose to play it, and other thoughts that have helped students in the past. For an example of the notation and page format used please scroll down to the links section on this page and click on the "More Book Info" link.The book comes complete with two CD's. The first is basic, slow and simple and includes the different variations listed in the book. Its a good reference tool for increasing your understanding of the rhythms and can be used to help work through dance choreography. Dancers can also use this CD to help communicate their musical wants and needs to troupe musicians. The second CD has all the rhythms played at more of a performance level with tempo changes and different levels of fill. I also introduce more advanced playing techniques into the rhythms. The last three tracks on the CD are improvised drum solos similar to what I often play for performance. Each solo shows different ways of stringing together different rhythms and a couple of ways that I like to start and stop solos. NOTE: I am the only percussionist on these CDs, and each track was recorded in one take using one darbuka (drum) and I used the same drum for the whole project. There is no overdubbing, looping, or special effects used in recording or mastering this project. I did this in response to frustrated drummers who don't want to take apart the recordings of their favorite musicians to learn intermediate techniques and some of the different rhythms that the dancers like. I also heard a lot of complaints about JUST figuring out the pattern and then the recording would change tempo or get too fancy or the track would end and they would have to go back to square one. It is my hope that this book and the CDs will help you learn and appreciate different rhythms and give you a solid drumming skill base that you can build on! Please let me know if this project has helped you, and if you have specific ideas on how it could be more helpful! About Me As long as I can remember I have been pulled to music and rhythm, be it through Classical music, Swing, Latin, Pop, New Age, or the musical traditions of the world. I started drumming in the Society for Creative Anachronism in 1994 when a friend handed me a doumbek one evening at a drum circle and asked, "you know how to drum don't you?" I told him no but said I would give it a shot. I learned the basics that night and proceeded to teach myself through CDs and web sites and made it a point to watch the hands of any drummer I could see at a drum circle. I learn best through mimicking hand movements and taking apart recordings for ideas on fill combinations. I practiced Tai Chi when I was a child and learned to mimic others well and spent lots of time listening to classical music and picking out the different parts each instrument played. In 1995 I discovered traditional Japanese music and the shakuhachi, the traditional end blown flute. Taiko drums and the different patterns they played also enthralled me. Then in 2002 I went to a seminar and took a class taught by Jeremiah Soto who records under the name Solace. Until then I was still only self-taught. At his class I learned a traditional Arabic method for playing the doumbek and learned other embellishments and accent methods. I consider that seminar a break through in the level of my drumming ability and recommend that if you have the opportunity to learn from a good teacher, take it. Make sure that you enjoy listening to your teacher's playing and are able to interact well with him. You don't want to learn to drum in a way you don't enjoy and spend time learning in an uncomfortable environment! Rhythm is as universal as mathematics and is recognized and felt by most every living person. Nature is full of rhythm, and has been since the dawn of time.