Seeing the week's topic contest by the Ladies of Hive, I was excited because of the first topic which says;
What is your favourite musical instrument and why? Do you know how to play it? If not, do you think there are limits to learning to play it?
My favourite musical instrument is the TALKING DRUM.
The feelings and happiness that I get when dancing to a talking drum are always of a high degree. Once I am in such a mood, I don't want the beat to stop, and that makes me want to give my best in dancing.
I love my tribe and culture and this musical instrument is one of what makes us the best because there is more to this ordinary talking drum. In Church, the first thing I notice is seeing if the talking drum is available because that alone could make the service more interesting to me as I love to dance and am not shy. It makes me proud to showcase my dancing skill. I can dance, provided there's a talking drum on set.
Aside from that, the player must be skilled and knows how to play the instrument or else, I might not enjoy the ambience around it. I love such a moment as it keeps me focused and in spirit to praise God.
The talking Drum which is called “Gangan” in my language is one of the best musical instruments in the Yoruba culture. I think other tribe uses it too, but I can say the Yoruba people use this in any event the most.
The talking drum is an hourglass-shaped drum from West Africa. The pitch of Gangan can be regulated to mimic the tone and prosody of human speech (this is the part I love).
Talking Drum has two drumheads that are connected by leather tension cords, which allows the player to change the pitch of the drum and this can be done when he or she squeezes the cords between arm and body.
Talking Drum can be played by both males and females and it amazes and admires me more when a female plays it. I have gone to a program where a young girl of about 12 years played all through the night and that alone interests me.
Learning the talking drum depends on the kind you are going for, whichever you want, as the duration and time of learning it varies. If you just want to have fun playing it, then, time isn't necessary as to some, it might take a month, and if you want to play along with music, the time duration is 6 months. But if you want to learn so that you can play at a Gig, then it may take you more than 2 years depending on how fast you are.
The reason it is called a talking drum is that it imitates or mimics spoken language's intonation and rhythm. The talking drum is used to communicate information over long distances.
It helps to settle disputes among members of a village and also helps in serving as a memory device to help people remember important events that took place in African society.
Though I can't play it but according to a friend very close to me who is also an expert in playing this musical instrument, there is no limit to learning it because it makes you more familiar and professional in playing with it and it's a great advantage when you can play it well at any event.
Thanks for your time on my blog.
