Presents TARANTELLA RHYTHMS AND STEPS A Hands-On Tambourine & Frame Drum Workshop with Chanting and Dance From Alessandra Belloni's book: Rhythm is the Cure: Southern Italian Ritual Drumming Mel Bay Publications Conducted by Alessandra Belloni REMO Signature Series Artist www.alessandrabelloni.com www.youtube.com/alessandrabelloni The purpose of these workshops is to introduce general audiences to a rich tambourine and folk dance culture that is still practiced in Southern Italy today and also to bring women back in touch with their lost tradition of drumming. This second workshop will be a review of the techniques taught at the previous workshop such as the Tamorriata and will focus on the Tarantella fast 6/8 rhythms and its many variations. Alessandra will also teach chants and songs sung as devotion to the Black Madonna. During these tambourine workshops, the participants will learn: * The basic technique of holding the drum, with emphasis on arm movement, wrist and elbow technique, which requires strength to create the bouncing sound of the triplets. * Hand technique with the palm and the fingertips in both a basic and accented fast 6/8 rhythm. * Tammorriata: a 4/4 rhythm played on the large drum called the Tammorra, originally from Naples with a strong African influence in the rhythm. * Neapolitan, Sicilian, Calabrese and Pugliese style tarantellas, which involve different variations of hand technique including finger trills on the tambourine skin. * Rhythms of San Rocco: a healing trance 6/8 rhythm from Calabria performed in honor of San Rocco to free oneself from the fear of death by the plague during Medievel Times. * Pizzica Tarantata: a very fast 6/8 rhythm from Puglia, with different accents - which originated as music therapy to cure the mythical bite of the tarantula. * Tarantella alla Montemaranese: a carnival dance from Montemarano (Naples) played on the smaller tambourines with a very unusual syncopation on the 6/8. This rite of Carnival dates back to the Roman celebrations in honor of Bacchus, the god of wine. Alessandra Belloni and I Giullari Di Piazza successfully performed at The Navy Pier in Chicago and were presented by the Italian Cultural Institute. Please follow this link to view their live performance on ABC TV: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/ story?section=resources&id= 8592878 Wednesday, April 18, 2012 - 6:30pm - 9:30pm Italian American Museum 155 Mulberry Street New York, NY 10013 Suggested donation of $50 PLEASE RESERVE EARLY To reserve a place for this workshop please call the Italian American Museum at (212) 965-9000 or email: ItalianAmericanMuseum@gmail.com www.ItalianAmericanMuseum.org http://www.facebook.com/pages/Italian-American-Museum/90138502227 For information on the Museum's Travel Program, please call (718) 597-1414 or email: JRusso-Winner@ItalianAmericanMuseum.org The IAM is chartered by the University of the State of New York and has a 501(c)(3) designation from the IRS.