Want to Learn How To Play Finger Cymbals?

Start With the Basics

Part One: Singles, Doubles, Rolls

Get Your Cymbals On!  

To learn where to buy the best cymbals, and how to attach the elastic the best way, see these articles:

• Which Cymbals are the Best?
  
• How to Sew Elastic in Your Cymbals 

I originally  learned how to play from reading instructions too - especially Mary Ellen Donald’s book, which helped me figure out rhythms (and rhythm notation); but my teacher taught me when and where playing cymbals is appropriate, and had me play them when I did belly grams. And that’s where I developed my expertise in playing cymbals (as well as skill at improvising, audience rapport, and plain old “showbiz” too: from Belly grams!)

A quick etiquette tip: if you are lucky enough to get finger cymbal instruction in class, then follow your teacher’s directions even if they conflict with what you read here - at least while you’re in class.  Every teacher has her own method, so just follow along without “helping” her by announcing that you’ve learned something different. If you’re really concerned about it, bring up the subject with her outside of class.

Hit ‘em Hard

That’s all for sitting down, now you have to get on your feet!  Do the rest of your practice while in basic dance position; and most importantly, keep your elbows up, pointing toward the back.

In the pattern notation below we’ll use a capital H for the dominant hand and a lowercase h for the other one. Whatever your dominant hand is, right or left, that’s the one that usually starts patterns as well as hits the beat or rhythm accents, which we’ll explore later.

The patterns that follow are the building blocks of our typical belly dance cymbal patterns. They are very simple, which is good because right now you’re learning cymbal technique as well as how to think about and count the patterns. If you like, find a song with a slow, simple 4-count beat (beledi works if it’s not too fast), or better yet, a metronome at about 70bpm (Beats Per Minute); there are online metronomes you can use, for instance  www.MetronomeOnline.com/

1. Use alternating hands: H h H h (1,2,3,4). Go ahead, slowly count 1 2 3 4, and play along. Congratulations on your first cymbal pattern!
2. Now shift your weight from side to side on the beat, like this: right, left, right, left. (Yes, even if you are left-handed). Continue to count out loud (1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4) in time with your weight change, and play your cymbals as before.
3. Next, walk around while you play - one cymbal stroke per step - in a circle if possible, like you’re onstage. Walking also helps your timing stay steady.
4. When that’s comfortable, practice starting and stopping your cymbals: that is, continue walking the whole time, but play cymbals for 4 steps, then NO cymbals for 4 steps, etc.
5. When that’s comfortable, then do your practice pattern of “4 steps playing, 4 not playing” while walking forward for 8 counts, then backward.

After a couple of minutes, take off your cymbals and relax, that was great (I hope)!  While you’re relaxing and getting some blood back in your fingertips, read about Doubles: two strokes per beat (so that’s 8 strokes per 4-beat measure).

We will still use alternate hands, that is, HhHhHhHh, and you can count the beat like this: 1 and 2 and 3 and 4 and. Do you see how your DOMINANT hand “H” will be playing on the numbers (the metronome beat/click) and your NON-dominant hand “h” will be playing on the “ands” (the silence in between each beat)?

OK, now please get up again and try Doubles in your dance pose (#1 through #5, above): or start out walking again - you are walking the same speed as before - but now you have a faster cymbal pattern! Each step gets its own “H h”.

Practice your Doubles as you did Singles:

• walking in a circle (same speed, right?)
• walking in a line going forward and backward
• starting and stopping
• extra points: keep walking in your line of dance, and alternate your two cymbal patterns: 4 steps Singles, 4 steps Doubles. That’s awesome!
  

Getting fancy!

Drum roll please.... because now YOU are going to do “Rolls”! Good Rolls are the secret to good cymbal playing...and also where the messiest messes happen if you don’t practice!

Go through all steps #1 - 5 as you did with the other patterns; and you can count it like this:

When you are comfortable playing all 3 patterns while walking (Singles, Doubles, and Rolls), substitute Hip Sways in place for steps.... remember to also alternate your patterns as well. What fun you are going to have!