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| Ndugu Chancler Gives Students the Inside Track World-renowned drummer, Ndugu Chancler, teams up with The Futures Channel to show students the connection between math and rhythm in "The Rhythm Track." He's played music and recorded music with hundreds of musicians from Miles Davis to James Brown and LeAnn Rimes to Santana, and he has reached tens of thousands of students, breaking down the math behind rhythm. The subject of The Futures Channel's most popular micro-documentary, "Drumming in Fractions", world-renowned drummer Ndugu Chancler, recently joined up once again with Futures Channel producers to explore the relationship of music and math. In "The Rhythm Track", the latest micro-documentary from The Futures Channel, Chancler explains how digital technology has provided musicians with better recording possibilities. "Technology by itself is not creative", he says. "Technology gets creative based on the creativity of the musician behind the technology." Inspired at the age of six to become a drummer, Chancler was playing drums with Miles Davis by the time he was 19. He says that his main focus these days is the same as it was back then, "playing music with great people, writing music for and with great people, and recording music with great people." With decades of experience, Chancler is proficient in every style of music from jazz to reggae to rock. But, no matter how complex the beat may be, his expertise has developed from a thorough understanding of the fundamentals of rhythm. "The advantage of knowing rhythm patterns and knowing note values gives you an idea as a drummer what the rhythmic feel is going to be", he says. "And for every style of music there is a particular rhythmic feel." For teachers, the connection that Chancler makes between music and math provides an opportunity to show students how math is used in careers in which they may not have expected to find it. "The gentleman in the video entitled 'The Rhythm Track' is a fabulous role model. He exhibits a love for music and it shows in what he does", says Education Technology Specialist Melissa Herrera, who previewed the movie. "As with all of the videos I have watched so far, they display all kinds of professions with all types of people - it shows real diversity. [Students] are able to make those real life connections and aspire to be like the people that motivate them. The video demonstrates why Math is such a valuable tool." write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Jazz News :: home page |