FIRST CLASSFREE
Three halls across the week. Turn up, have a go, and decide afterwards.
Three halls,
three nights.
Every one of them takes complete beginners. Bring your own djembe, or hire one from Sibo for $5 on the night. Come to whichever is closest, or whichever suits your week.
Happy Buddha Retreats
Two graded classes back to back. Advanced first, then beginners and intermediate.
Allambie Heights Scout Hall
Drum and dance back to back, and the term ends with a class performance.
Seaforth Bowling Club
Two hours on a Sunday morning. The easiest one to start on.
Cash or transfer on the night, sorted with Sibo directly. Bring your own djembe, or hire one for $5 a class. Wednesday and Sunday are pay as you go, so there is nothing to set up in advance.
You can simply turn up. If you would rather say hello first, or check the hall is running that week, message Sibo and he will tell you straight away.
None of these
are a problem.
I have never drummed
Most of the room started that way. The first class assumes nothing at all.
I do not own a drum
Hire one for $5 a class. Most people do that for months before buying.
I have no rhythm
Nobody has rhythm before they learn it. That sense is trained, not inherited.
I am too old for this
The room runs from teenagers to people in their seventies, in the same circle.
I cannot dance
Then come to the drumming. Plenty of people never do the dance class and that is fine.
I cannot commit to a term
You do not have to. Come when your week allows, drop off, come back.
Born into the tradition in Guinea, not a style he took up
Teaching drum and dance, in West Africa and in Australia
First-timers and ten-year players in the same circle
Bring your own, or play one of his
What people say after.
I stood outside the hall for ten minutes before I went in the first time. Within about twenty minutes I had stopped thinking about how I looked and was just trying to keep my part going.
I am sixty-four and I assumed I would be the oldest by a decade. There was somebody older than me on the next drum and she was better than all of us.
I came for the free one to get my daughter out of the house. She lasted a term. I am still going two years later.
I had done a bit of drumming before and was worried a beginners class would be slow. Sibo gave me a harder part in the same rhythm and I was working just as hard as everyone else.
The dance class terrified me more than the drumming. I did it once with my eyes mostly shut and now it is the part I look forward to.
I stood outside the hall for ten minutes before I went in the first time. Within about twenty minutes I had stopped thinking about how I looked and was just trying to keep my part going.
I am sixty-four and I assumed I would be the oldest by a decade. There was somebody older than me on the next drum and she was better than all of us.
I came for the free one to get my daughter out of the house. She lasted a term. I am still going two years later.
I had done a bit of drumming before and was worried a beginners class would be slow. Sibo gave me a harder part in the same rhythm and I was working just as hard as everyone else.
The dance class terrified me more than the drumming. I did it once with my eyes mostly shut and now it is the part I look forward to.
The honest answers.
Not looking for a weekly class?
Sibo also runs one-off sessions for schools, workplaces, festivals and private events. Everything supplied, ten people or a hundred.
Hear about everything else.
Occasional email when Sibo has a workshop, a camp or a performance on. Two or three a year.
Two or three emails a year. Unsubscribing works.