Search - Drum Along:Drum Circle on DVD

Needs judgement

M. Denny | Hermosa Beach, CA United States | 02/13/2008

(1 out of 5 stars)

"I've been fooling around on djembe for about two years and took a chance when I got this one in hope of finding some ideas, beats, and having something fun to play along with.



The people involved seem very pleasant and kind, perhaps too much so because this DVD would have greatly benefitted from limiting participation to people who could actually play with some degree of competence.



The failure to limit to the competent means that the beats are played too slowly and have little drive.



This is compounded by the cameraman frequently being clueless as to whom should be on camera at a given moment. If one of the leaders of the group is taking a solo, it is frustrating to have the camera wander around the clueless in the circle in that moment.



I also would have liked to have seen some use of split screen editing wherein a couple of smaller screens could continuously show the basic parts of the larger beat.



I was able to watch only about 2/3 of this before turning it off and have not returned to it."