Doumbek 101

Interactive App Tutorial for Playing the Doumbek

Learn middle eastern rhythms while learning to play the doumbek!

(iTunes App, Android Google Play, Amazon App Store)

Learn more about your instructor, Joseph Tayoun.

Welcome to ‘Doumbek for Beginners

This application will teach you how to play Arabic rhythms on the ‘goblet drum’.
The ‘goblet drum’ is known by many different names: chalice drum, darbuka, debuka, Kratom, doumbek, dumbec, dumbeg, dumbelek, toumperleki, tablah.

The rhythms presented come from across the Arab world and have a deep and rich tradition.

The lessons presented in the application have been developed by Joseph Tayoun over the many years he has taught adults and children. Joseph has found that learning the rhythms in small ‘phrases’ helps speed the absorption of the rhythms. He has discovered that students who master a rhythm before mastering the technique enjoy playing, practicing and discovering new rhythms far more.

Application Layout

This tutorial is comprised of two basic sections. ‘Lessons’ and ‘Play Along'”

The ‘Lessons’ section allows the student to learn a rhythm using Joseph’s ‘Phrase’ approach and then as an entire rhythm.

The ‘Change Rhythm’ screen allows the student to select among the available rhythms.

The ‘Break It Down’ screen allows the student to learn the rhythm one ‘Phrase’ at a time.

The ‘Entire Rhythm’ screen allows the student to hear and learn the rhythm in its entirety.

In both ‘Break It Down’ and ‘Entire Rhythm’ screens, the student can select to hear either Joseph pronounce the syllables of the rhythm or drum play. Additionally, the student can select to hear the rhythm play once through, or to loop continuously until the stop button is selected.

It is important for the student to repeat the syllables aloud to speed the learning process.

Sheet music is shown along with the syllable pronunciation and the hand to use for striking the drum. ”

The ‘Play Along’ screen allows the student to select among the available rhythms and hear them play continuously in either Joseph’s voice pronouncing the syllables, or played on the drum. ‘Play Along’ screen is most useful once the student has learned the rhythms from the ‘Lessons’ section.

The Interactive screens provide activities where you will play in response to Joseph’s drumming by filling in the missing beats of the rhythms. You will also get the chance to play “against” a partner and improvise a solo while Joseph plays an accompaniment.

The ‘Improvise’ screen plays a rhythm where you play along in the beginning, and then you play anything you want while being accompanied by Joseph playing the base beat. Use this to practice free-style embellishments. Joseph will keep the beat by “punching the ones” while you play anything that sounds good. Then join back in at the final beats. Experiment and have fun!

The ‘Call and Answer’ screen lets you play responses to Joseph’s playing. Listen to Joseph play a piece then repeat it as closely as you can.

Test your knowledge of the rhythms by naming the rhythm being played in this multiple choice quiz section.

About the Syllables

‘Dum’ [D] is played by striking the center of the drum head with the four fingers of your primary hand to make a deep resonating sound.

‘Tic’ [t] is played with a quick soft strike using the primary hand on the rim of the drum head using either one or two fingers to make a high pitched light ringing sound.

‘A’ [A] is played with a quick strike using the secondary hand on the rim of the drum head using one or two fingers to make a high pitched ringing sound.

‘Tac’ [T] is played with a quick strong strike using the primary hand on the rim of the drum head using either one or two fingers to make a high pitched ringing sound.”

About the Hands

‘R’ indicates to strike the drum with the RIGHT hand, for students whose primary or dominant hand is the RIGHT hand, and ‘L’ indicates to strike the drum with the LEFT hand.

For students whose primary or dominant hand is the LEFT hand, the student should use the opposite hand that is indicated, R – Left hand, L – Right hand.”

See the YouTube companion videos!

Version 1.3 (35 MB)
– New: Speed control to play rhythms faster
– Added “Entire Phrase” button to BreakItDown
– Fix: Looping timing on Samai and Baladi
– New: Klingon Language support

Version 1.2 (14.0 MB)