DRUM UP BIG

TTM GRADING SYSTEM
Tam Tam Mandingue’s Level Assessment System for djembe and dunun players was launched internationally on March 1 2012. This progressive system will also serve as preparation for serious djembe enthusiasts to take the test to become a TTM Certified Teacher.
www.ttmgrading.com

Drum Up Big’s Director, Tara Tucker, is one of a small number of qualified Examiners for the new system.
 

We are happy to announce that for the month of March, Drum Up Big’s community classes are being hosted by Vocational Partnerships Group (VPG) and The Flexible Learning Centre (FLC).

Vocational Partnerships Group (VPG) is a not-for-profit, community based organisation committed to helping young people make the transition through school and onto successful careers and life experiences. www.vpginc.com.au/
Drum Up Big thanks VPG for hosting our Tues night Djembe classes and welcomes the participation of its staff members!

The Flexible Learning Centre (FLC) provides therapeutic support to students, families and staff of Far North Queensland State Schools. FLC is funded by the Department Education and training (DET). It also provides alternative education programs for students who are at risk or who have disengaged from education.

We thank Tom O’Donnell and the crew at FLC for converting one of their rooms into a perfect little POD (Place Of Drumming) for our Wednesday night djembe and dunun classes and for letting us use the outside area for taiko on Sundays. FLC recognises the benefits of drumming for their youth clients and we welcome their staff to our classes!

Drum Up Big will partner up with the Cairns Community and Primary Preventions Services, Queensland Health in Reach High, a 10-week Healthy Lifestyle Program for families with school-aged children. The program will consist of weekly after-school activities at the Edge HIll State School Environment Centre (NOT at Fogarty Park as listed on the poster) starting March 20. For more info and to register, please contact Gina Davis (07)42264430 Georgina_Davis@health.qld.gov.au

Images and video from drumming and drum-making programs with Indigenous Men in Far North Queensland, Australia.

www.mensheds.org.au/

We had a wonderfully joyful junk percussion and singing session with the kids from the Dharavi Rocks project last night. Playing on anything from plastic buckets and tin cans to old computer monitors, the kids drummed up a storm!

Dharavi Rocks is collaborative project between the Acorn Foundation and blueFROG, a live entertainment venue in Mumbai. www.dharaviproject.org/intro.html

www.bluefrog.co.in/clubs

The ACORN Foundation (India), and is a registered charitable trust. Its mission is to increase the welfare of rag-pickers, and give their profession a legitimate and sustainable voice in the recycling and waste-management value chain at Mumbai’s megaslum, Dharavi.

The 8000 tons of waste generated daily by the city cannot be entirely picked up by the municipal corporation. The gap is filled by the thousands of women and children who make a living as rag-pickers, collecting the tons of garbage which litter the streets. As a result, Dharavi is one of the largest recycling hubs in Asia. But the workera are not recognised as a work force and they are not paid by the city for their hard work. They sell the dry waste to scrap dealers and make barely a couple of dollars a day.

The Dharavi Project has been working with the community of rag-pickers in the slums of Dharavi, and hopes to give them the credit they deserve as ‘green collar workers’ who are cleaning this vibrant but messy city.

Vinod Shetty, Director of the ACORN Foundation India, is an lawyer practicing at the Mumbai High Court. He has been working on communal harmony, environmental protection and human rights for a number of years.

Tara writing, from India….

I’m excited to have been invited to be involved in Dharavi Rocks, a multimedia educational project that utilizes artists and social-impact programs to change the living conditions of over 100,000, ‘rag-pickers’ who are segregating waste in and around the landfills of Mumbai.

Dharavi Rocks is a joint project between the Acorn Foundation, an NGO that works for the welfare of slum children and waste collectors/ragpickers, and blueFROG, an entertainment venue in Mumbai. The aim of the project is to give slum kids a voice by initiating them into music, bringing positive and happy creative experiences into their lives and creating bonds between populations from different backgrounds.
Call it ‘Education through Recreation’. It simply works!

www.dharaviproject.org/intro.html

Drum Up Big’s Director, Tara Tucker, writes from India……

Hi all! I’m currently in India teaching and performing in association with Taal Inc, an organisation that uses drumming to engage different populations all over India. Taal Inc’s activities include drum Circles, community djembe classes, corporate team-building, entertainment, and drumming specifically for therapeutic reasons.

There are many similarities between Taal Inc and Drum Up Big, first and foremost our great love of rhythm and our belief in the power of the drum to connect people and enhance wellbeing. During my time here I’ll be teaching and performing in association with the team from Taal Inc. So far it’s been a lot of fun!