I want to do field work in west africa and the middle east. more specifically collecting and notating rhythms to see how the spread of islam in north africa has affected the older traditions of countries like mali and ghana. i have done quite a bit of research on rhythms and can see how the complexities of middle eastern drumming have melded with the more dance oriented african rhythms. now i want to go there and study first hand.
three public school music teachers and myself are ready to start a non profit and i have put together an itinerary for the first trip. now we need to get grant money to put it into action. the goal of the non profit is to develop curricula for other music teachers and expose children in rural West Virginia to other cultures and ideas.