Courses Darbuka Upper Intermediate
Upper Intermediate
Darbuka Upper Intermediate
For returning students who have completed Beginner and Intermediate. Complex rhythms and polyrhythms, playing along with recorded and live music, and the first steps into rhythmic improvisation and Taqasim ornamentation.
Fee £350 (10 weeks)
Secure checkout hosted by the Arab British Centre , our partner venue.
About this course
For returning students who have completed Beginner and Intermediate. Complex rhythms and polyrhythms, playing along with recorded and live music, and the first steps into rhythmic improvisation and Taqasim ornamentation.
What you'll cover
This is where you stop playing rhythms and start playing music. Complex rhythms and polyrhythms are the technical content, but the term is really about playing alongside other people and recordings — keeping your place, listening across the group, and not speeding up when the room does.
You take your first steps into rhythmic improvisation. Improvising on a drum is not free playing: it is departing from a known rhythm and returning to it in the right place, and that is taught deliberately here rather than left to instinct.
Taqasim ornamentation is introduced — the fills and decorations that sit on top of a ground rhythm without disturbing it.
You need both Darbuka Beginners and Darbuka Intermediate, or the equivalent. The class runs on Thursdays from 7:00 pm, straight after the Intermediate group.
Places are limited to eight to twelve students. Enrolment opens on the open day and closes when the class is full.
If you're unsure whether this is the right level, we're happy to arrange a fifteen-minute conversation to place you correctly.
How to enrol
- Send a short note using the button above, or come to the open day.
- Agree the right level — a brief chat by phone or video if you've played before.
- Book and pay — we send a booking link with the term fee.
Course fees include all teaching materials. The Mukhtar Method books are sold separately. Concessions available for students and OAPs — please ask.
