Sunday, October 30, 2011

Zills/Sagat Training

Sharon bought me two pairs of zills (Turkish for the Arabic sagat) for my Halloween costume this year. Now in addition to the doumbek I need to learn to play the finger cymbals. Below are the YouTube videos I found that seem most instructive.

Ring, Clap, Tick.

And now for some real music. Aslahan's series seems like a good way to learn to play the zills. Aslahan recommends that you learn and practice a lesson before moving onto the next video in the series. I'd start here if you are serious about playing the zills. I particularly like what she uses the doumbek drum nomenclature to describe the patterns. Another great thing is that she doesn't use the terms "right" "left" but instead "lead" "off" so that instruction in ambidextrous. The 7th/last video I found is something I intend to use to practice the doumbek patterns.