About Village Heartbeat

Mission Statement

Village Heartbeat's goal is to bring awareness of the power of rhythm to the community. Rhythm has the ability to heal, unify, and inspire, as well as to educate us about the beauty and strength of other cultures, including our own. By opening ourselves to the language of rhythm and drums, we can recreate this musical path as a part of our own cultural heritage.

About Village Heartbeat

Village Heartbeat is an organization dedicated to building and educating a rhythmic community. This organization facilitates classes in African drumming, dancing and Ta Ke Ti Na, and promotes musical artists and teachers who can enhance and inspire the community. Baba Olatunji has served as a model and mentor for much of this work.

Village Heartbeat is also a performing group that shares its love of the drum with their participatory audience. The group consists of some of Zorina Wolf's students and colleagues. VHB plays adapted traditional music of the African diaspora, and new post-modern trance grooves. Zorina and Village Heartbeat bring the joy and harmony of creating drum music to their audiences.

Village Heartbeat hosts community events, such as drum gatherings, dance classes, concerts,
Ta Ke Ti Na classes and workshops, family events, and recitals.

Contact Zorina Wolf or 650-493-8046

Statement from Zorina on Teaching Drumming

I believe in the power of drumming as an art, as a means of communication and healing, and as a way to bring harmony to a community. From this point of view, I teach about the drumming and the songs and dances that are a part of the African ethnic expression and way of life.

I teach drumming as my teachers (primarily Babatunde Olatunji) have taught me. The teaching is both oral and aural. Students sing the Yoruba sounds of the drum, and as we sing the melody of "notes," playing the drum follows easily. The rhythms are songs that become internalized, circumventing the need for prior musical training or counting beats in western measures.

Understanding where a rhythm comes from both geographically and in meaning is also important in the way I teach. African and Africa diaspora drumming conveys important information about these cultures, their traditions, their everyday lives, and their rituals. The rhythms are parts of songs and dances to honor cycles of the year, rites of passage, birth, death, marriage, circumcision, and all aspects of life, work, and celebration.

As we work to reclaim our own rhythmic heritage, we can look to this polyrhythm of developed and sophisticated music with respect and humility.

I teach all age groups. I have taught in child care centers, in public and private schools, and for private enterprise. I currently teach at four class sites per week--three in Palo Alto, CA, one in the East Bay.

Current Drum Class Schedule