Words & Photos from Trent C. - Who Am I? Cohort
We started the day by heading to the University of Victoria to talk to Jordan Hanson, who is one of the leading instructors of drums and rhythm instruments on Vancouver Island, and also happens to be a professor at the University He first taught us the different techniques of playing on a djembe drum, which is far more nuanced then I had imagined. Later, we started to play different parts and it all came together to sound beautiful. After playing the drums we went on to play the African xylophone. We played complex rhythms and even played our own solo’s.
After lunch, we headed a little up island to a roundhouse on a farm where we played in our first drum circle. Jordan joined us on the trip and showed us all different types of instruments he’s found during his journeys all around the world to study the use of drums in various cultures. He taught us about the role the instrument played in various ceremonies around the world. We all started to play on the Cajon drum which was personally my favorite out of all the instruments we played. We all started to rotate playing different instruments and different parts that all came together. Some people were playing the Cajon drum some people were playing the hang which was a flying saucer-like instrument and some people were playing on the hand drum. We ended playing all types of different pieces to round the whole day up.
I look forward to future expeditions, and the opportunity to further explore our musical roots.
