Doumbek Instruction

This book provides a 30 Lesson Course in Middle Eastern Drumming, with Basic Music Theory. Spiral bound, 8 1/2 by 11 inches, 111 pages, beautifully illustrated. By Mary Ellen Donald. (1976)
Includes:
Basic music theory.
Simple and fancy drum techniques.
Middle Eastern rhythms.
Guidelines for creating rhythmical variations.
Tips for accompanying belly dancers, and practice suggestions.
Companion CD's sold separately.
Mary Ellen Donald has been involved in Middle Eastern music as a dance student and a musician since the late 1960's. She is known by many as the "Guru of finger cymbal playing." Mary Ellen studied dance with Jamila Salimpour, drum and tambourine with Vince Delgado, Tony Lammam, and various Arab drummers. She has written, produced and published several books and tapes on Middle Eastern music. Since the 1970's she has performed in numerous concerts, on albums including Magda Helmy, Gallal Kutub, Yusel Mostafa, and Light Rain, and on the soundtrack ABC-TV series, the Young Indiana Jones. Mary Ellen continues to be in high demand as a musician, teacher, and organizer of events. Her youthful vitality and highly developed sensitivity to music may be partially attributed to her being legally blind. Excerpt from The Caravan, Vol. 13, #6, May/June 1997

This 2-disc set includes Mary Ellen playing most of the examples in the Doumbek Delight book, improvising solos, and playing the accent patterns of each rhythm at length to provide a steady backup for student practice.
Volume II Covers Lessons 11-30 from the Doumbek Delight Book. (1976; re-mastered 1999; discs released 2005)
Doumbek Delight and Volume I CD's sold separately.
Mary Ellen Donald has been involved in Middle Eastern music as a dance student and a musician since the late 1960's. She is known by many as the "Guru of finger cymbal playing." Mary Ellen studied dance with Jamila Salimpour, drum and tambourine with Vince Delgado, Tony Lammam, and various Arab drummers. She has written, produced and published several books and tapes on Middle Eastern music. Since the 1970's she has performed in numerous concerts, on albums including Magda Helmy, Gallal Kutub, Yusel Mostafa, and Light Rain, and on the soundtrack ABC-TV series, the Young Indiana Jones. Mary Ellen continues to be in high demand as a musician, teacher, and organizer of events. Her youthful vitality and highly developed sensitivity to music may be partially attributed to her being legally blind. Excerpt from The Caravan, Vol. 13, #6, May/June 1997

Volumes I and II, for beginners. This instructional series is by Mary Ellen Donald, a well know and accomplished musician of zills, tambourine and doumbek. In this series she provides a firm rhythmical foundation that is essential for excellence in dancing, drumming, and playing of melody instruments. The series includes North African, Arabic, Turkish, and Greek rhythms for Egyptian belly dance routines, each rhythm is played for 4 1/2 to 5 minutes. In the beginner series, Mary Ellen provides instruction on 28 rhythms played slowly with simple variations. Booklet has musical examples for each rhythm written out for doumbek, tambourine, and cymbals; and is accompanied by two CD. Rhythms include: Ayyaub, Malfouf, Bolero, Karsilamas, Nawwari, Syrto, Wahidah, Fallahi and more.

This 2-disc set includes Mary Ellen Donald on Percussion and George Mundy on Oud and Nay. Includes 18 minutes each of Walking Maqsoum, Bolero, Ayyoub, Karsilamas and Chifte-telli.
Volume I covers rhythmical accompaniments for middle eastern musical selections. (1976; re-mastered 1999; discs released 2005)
Mary Ellen Donald has been involved in Middle Eastern music as a dance student and a musician since the late 1960's. She is known by many as the "Guru of finger cymbal playing." Mary Ellen studied dance with Jamila Salimpour, drum and tambourine with Vince Delgado, Tony Lammam, and various Arab drummers. She has written, produced and published several books and tapes on Middle Eastern music. Since the 1970's she has performed in numerous concerts, on albums including Magda Helmy, Gallal Kutub, Yusel Mostafa, and Light Rain, and on the soundtrack ABC-TV series, the Young Indiana Jones. Mary Ellen continues to be in high demand as a musician, teacher, and organizer of events. Her youthful vitality and highly developed sensitivity to music may be partially attributed to her being legally blind. Excerpt from The Caravan, Vol. 13, #6, May/June 1997