Master Drummer Gives Lessons That Stick

Adjunct Associate Professor of Music Hafiz Shabazz is a master drummer and expert on African and Latin American musical traditions who has taught MUS 51: Oral Tradition Musicianship for several decades at Dartmouth.

Using sticks and their hands, students in the class learn how to strike a drum, the connection between drumming and a country's culture, and the emotions that can flow through music.

Shabazz, who this year won the Dean of Faculty Teaching Award, says he tells students they should enjoy learning.

"If you're not enjoying your learning, then you're not really learning," he says.