Drumming with Eddie O’Neill

On Monday the 27^th of May 2013, 5^thclass took part in a drumming workshop taught by a man named Eddie O’Neill

Eddie is a drummer and has been doing drumming workshops for five years. He is originally from Dublin but now lives in Portlaoise. When he was a child he went to a lot of drumming workshops. He has studied drumming in Africa, America, England and Ireland

He was teaching us some drumming as part of our Intercultural week. The workshop began with one person playing the bass drum and we would all join in clapping. Eddie gave us some strategies to help us remember the beats such as saying “Galway, Tipperary-Cork, Offaly and Laois.” To signal the end the beat was “Pat the Baker- Sliced Pan!”

Once we had the beats he introduced the djembes, congas, agogo bells, guiro, shekere, tambourine and the claves.

Djembes are drums from Ghana that are made from animal skins and hair. Congas are long cylinder shaped drums from Cuba that are made of wood. Agogo bells are metal ovular shaped bells from Brazil. Guiros are long wooden poles with ridges that are used for scraping from Cuba. Shekeres are wider versions of maracas that are decorated with beads from West Africa. Tambourines are ovular shakers with tiny symbols inside it originates from Italy. Claves are wooden sticks that come from Cuba.

We made some really cool music! Over all the workshop was amazing and everyone really enjoyed it