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About
Zorina Wolf |
Zorina Wolf is Palo Alto California's local African drum teacher
and promoter/organizer of the US Ta Ke Ti Na teacher training. She also is the leader of Ta Ke Ti Na events and drum classes, teacher of rhythms on the drum, and organizer of Reinhard Flatischler's US West Coast events and teacher training programs. She is also an advanced Ta Ke Ti Na rhythm teacher.
 Zorina
on Drums
"Most people are surprised when they realize that the
drum is a melodic instrument--they usually think that you
just pound on it," says Zorina
Zorina's drum classes are designed to allow anyone to learn
the basics of drumming in an hour and a half, regardless of
previous musical experience. Classes won't make a virtuoso
out of you--that requires a lot of dedication and practice.
But they will allow you to be entertained by the magic of
"polyrhythmic conversation" (when two or more drums
and percussion instruments are in dialogue with one another).
Classes enable you to understand how these rhythmic parts
fit together.
The purpose of drum classes is culture building. Zorina would
really love to see everyone in Palo Alto with a drum, but
it's not just enough to own one and to play randomly. That
can turn into noise quickly and has no healing potential for
our society. Zorina feels that we have to learn some sort
of orientation first, by following the examples of other cultures
where drumming is still alive and part of everyday life.
Drumming is a language. It has order and chaos in it. From
the point of view of our own culture, to learn to play drums
is very difficult. It means you have to learn to listen and
to develop a cooperative style of playing. That is not very
normal for any of us. We all want to be heard, and at times,
we don't care to listen to others. We are not a very mature
society in that way.
Zorina's hope is that our culture can eventually grow into
mutual listening. She says that drumming has been removed
from our "sophisticated" culture for a long time,
but we did have that rhythmic information at one time, so
it's in every one of us at the cellular level. Just gotta
get access to it in the hard drive. :-)
Zorina is also available to teach private lessons.
About Ta Ke Ti Na from Zorina
TaKeTiNa is a new approach to learning, using rhythm as the
vehicle.
Many forms of learning are based on a sequential mastery style,
in other words one piece of information is built on previous
piece of knowledge.
In the experience of the physical, kinesthetic world, this
is not always the case.. for instance: learning to walk requires
a number of very important and fundamental orientations to
balance, weight shifting, eye adjustment... however all of
these functions occur simultaneously.
TaKeTiNa uses simultaneity as a way of re-triggering a body-
based intelligence that understands orientations to time and
space in rhythm. Participants stand together in a circle and
are guided into simple stepping patterns with syllables that
connect to their movement. After a period to time of stepping,
the footsteps begin to "fade into the background "
of our awareness and the the next layer of information is
introduced. Clapping in a different rhythm than the footsteps
is next but cannot be achieved with the use of the voluntary
mind. This frustrates the normal way that we have been trained
to approach things. However, after a period of time , the
knowledge which is already inherent in us begins to assert
itself. As the feet are stepping in one pattern and the hands
clapping in another, the leader begins to sing in a call-
and- response fashion.. first singing in a way to stabilize
these two different patterns in the body and gradually beginning
to give the group more and more challenging calls that challenge
the feet to stay in rhythms or the hands to continue clapping.
This takes participants into situations where they can experience
a "safe " chaos, and then the leader will bring
the group back to known territory. Now there are two things
that begin to happen. One is the a person's personal evolution
and the other is the group or collective experience. The group
can, as a whole, fall out of rhythm and comes back to balance
again. They become more and more comfortable with this planned
chaos, knowing that if they become confused that they will
find their way back to balance again.
The individual begins to trust that they don't always have
to "get things right", that the group as a whole
can support their finding their back to familiar ground in
the rhythm, and they they have time to find their own way.
People report feeling more patient with themselves, finding
it funny when they can't "get " it , and being more
accepting.
TaKeTiNa is as effective with musicians as with housewives,
truck drivers, hairdressers, corporate leaders, and editors.
Everyone works at their own level, at their own pace.
But what could this possibly have to do with our world today?
This work for lack of a better word is could be seen as a
good training for life and the unpredictability and chaos
that are part of it. It also orients us toward the kind of
awareness that has to do more with being than doing. The liabilities
that limit us in this rhythm circle are reflections of the
same things that limit us in life; trying too hard, needing
to be perfect, fear of making mistakes.. as we find our own
way in rhythm we can relax some of the habits of mind that
limits our perspective in life.
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