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Yearly plan saves $170 compared to monthly plan!

Includes everything in the monthly plan plus:

- Interactive Feedback:  Send in a video for assessment and Yousif will respond with personal feedback and lesson plan.

- Free digital copy of Yousif's composition Manhattan Ave.    

- 10% off all items in our store.  **excludes Velez/Sheronick Intensive**

- 25% off one private Zoom lesson with Yousif.  



Brief Course Description.
Frame Drums 101 is a comprehensive Frame Drum course in the Glen Velez style taught by world-renowned performer and teacher Yousif Sheronick.  The course covers both Lap Style and Hand Held playing with 7 hours of instructional video and over 40 PDF worksheets which contain all of the exercises and grooves from the course.  The video lessons are divided into 5 groups: Guided Technique Instruction, Warm Up Exercises, Call and Response Sessions, Ratio Exercises and Grooves.  

Is this course right for me?
This course should be titled Frame Drums 101, 201 and 301!  Beginners as well as players with decades of experience are enrolled and improving their playing.  Yousif's teaching method consistently addresses all levels of players.  From tone production to strength building, playing "melodically" to odd time signatures; Yousif keeps all players engaged, even when playing warm up exercises.  You'll learn the same exercises he uses every morning to warm up his hands, gain speed, accuracy and control.    

What material can I view and when?
Upon enrollment you have instant access to ALL 7 hours of videos and PDFs.  You can watch whatever you like, whenever you like.  Keep to Yousif's step-by-step curriculum or jump around the course videos as you wish.  

Why take THIS course?  
Excellent question!  Yousif’s master plan is to make you a well-rounded musician.  You won’t simply be given a series of strokes that make up a groove.  You will learn to play musically, to be able to pull “melodies” out of those grooves, to have solid internal rhythm and a greater ability to play in odd time signatures.  Yousif moves your thought process away from the analytical side of the brain and to the creative, stripping away numbers (math!) and replacing them with South Indian vocal cycles.  Using ratio exercises will transform your perception of time and get you to feel at ease with odd time signatures.  You will learn base patterns first before filling up those grooves with embellishments.  This will bring out the melodies in those grooves and transform you from a drummer into a musician!  

How are the sessions organized?
The first 6 sessions are on Lap Style playing and the second 6 are on Hand Held. The course curriculum is a step-by-step process.  It starts from the basics of holding the drum and playing basic strokes, then moves to Advanced Techniques such as Split Hand Technique, Snapping, Glen Velez Fast Fingerings, and playing with a brush in the left hand.  Having studied and worked with master frame drummer Glen Velez for 27 years, Yousif's teaching utilizes both South Indian vocalizations and the Glen Velez Handance method of stepping, playing and vocalizing simultaneously.   

Is there a solo I can play after completing the course?  
Yes!  Yousif composed a solo titled “Manhattan Ave. for Solo Frame Drum” using material learned directly from the course.  This is a wonderful goal to showcase what you have learned in Frame Drums 101.  The sheet music is not included in the monthly plan but is free as an added benefit to the yearly plan.  

Drum Suggestions:
Looking to purchase a drum? I highly recommend the Cooperman Glen Velez series Frame Drums.  They are lighter in weight and have a deep shell which makes both Hand Held and Lap Style playing much more comfortable.  A 15" Tar is a good all around drum to start with.  The 20" Bodhran is brilliant for Lap Style playing.  You can purchase drums directly from our duoJalal linked store.  




Course Reviews:

5 star rating

Yousif Sheronick delivers an educational goldmine with hi...

John Marshall

I cannot convey how much I am enjoying Yousif Sheronick's Frame Drums 101. I would heartily recommend it to all of my students--and it's not just an undertak...

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I cannot convey how much I am enjoying Yousif Sheronick's Frame Drums 101. I would heartily recommend it to all of my students--and it's not just an undertaking for beginners.....Never mind that I've been playing frame drums for decades, there's lots in this course that can inspire me and help to me to create improved clarity of pulse, execution and sound production... In my opinion, this course is a documentation of the frame drum gharana as created by Glen Velez, but with one important addition: the added distillation of Yousif Sheronick's skilled interpretation and digestion. A big thank you, Yousif... John Marshall, Composer, Author, Performing/Teaching Artist, Director: Rhythmic Integration Center

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5 star rating

Frame Drums 101 for the win!

Miriam Sluis

Yousif not only offers a very comprehensive and culturally rich frame drum course, approaching the instrument beyond its role in percussion, but he also pres...

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Yousif not only offers a very comprehensive and culturally rich frame drum course, approaching the instrument beyond its role in percussion, but he also presents the material in a fun way that makes you want to keep on playing & practicing. I can't imagine a better introduction to learning to play the frame drum. Take this course, it'll change the way you approach the frame drum forever.

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5 star rating

Wonderful - a seed of ideas for months/years of fun study !

Rudy De Paoli

Thorough, programmed, well sequenced, complete. Finally, a structured course, instead of the "3 min" You Tube random spot videos on one technique or another...

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Thorough, programmed, well sequenced, complete. Finally, a structured course, instead of the "3 min" You Tube random spot videos on one technique or another. For a beginner, this course is ideal as it leads you from simple to complex. Worth the money.

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5 star rating

A comprehensive, all-inclusive course on the frame drum

James Allen

As a professional percussionist with multiple degrees and 35 years of playing experience, I had zero expertise on the frame drum. I took lessons with Yousi...

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As a professional percussionist with multiple degrees and 35 years of playing experience, I had zero expertise on the frame drum. I took lessons with Yousif for a year, but the icing on the cake was taking his online Frame Drum 101 which solidified everything that he had taught me during our time together. That being said, starting with this course is a perfect way to begin your studies on the instrument. The course is extremely well organized, sequential, and shows a relaxed, confident master teacher in his element. The call and response sections are invaluable, as are the ratio exercises. The course is a perfect combination of technique building and actual grooves & pieces. The grooves were my favorite! Learning technique is super important and allows facility on the instrument but you need to apply that technique, and the grooves are the perfect natural extension of the lessons. Being able to pause the videos, practice each section at my own pace, and then return to each lesson made it that much more useful, as well as thoroughly enjoyable. The PDF's are invaluable for mastering each section. Highly Recommended! James Allen

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5 star rating

Great teaching style

barry deville

From my point of view Yousif is not just a great musician -- if anything, he is an even better teacher. He communicates so much about the embodiment of the r...

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From my point of view Yousif is not just a great musician -- if anything, he is an even better teacher. He communicates so much about the embodiment of the rhythm and this is a unique skill, uniquely presented and the material is received with a great deal of satisfaction, enjoyment ... and effectiveness!! Bravo!!!

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5 star rating

Fantastic Course!

Nienke Berghuis

I am so glad I took this course! I really like Yousif's teaching style... Very clear, easy to understand and follow yet challenging enough, well structured, ...

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I am so glad I took this course! I really like Yousif's teaching style... Very clear, easy to understand and follow yet challenging enough, well structured, great pace, time to practice and play along while reading the notes on the screen, great learning platform, and good quality videos. I learned so much in such a short amount of time... lap style, hand held style, different rhythms, techniques, vocalisations, and so much more! I loved the 'groove basket' too, which contains lots of different rhythms from all over the world. I recommend this course to everyone who wants to learn how to play the frame drum, or add new rhythms to their repertoire! - Nienke

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5 star rating

This is a Cool School!

Jim Campbell

The instructional videos are clear and concise. You can move at your own pace with the flexibility to either focus or move on. This course is enlightening, e...

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The instructional videos are clear and concise. You can move at your own pace with the flexibility to either focus or move on. This course is enlightening, empowering, and plain fun!

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5 star rating

Frame Drums 101 - Highly Recommend!

Rashaad Greene

From start to finish, I thoroughly enjoyed my time working through Yousif's frame drum course. I made so many connections to my percussion playing and especi...

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From start to finish, I thoroughly enjoyed my time working through Yousif's frame drum course. I made so many connections to my percussion playing and especially my drum set playing (and compositions). I would often find myself taking the learned frame drum grooves and coming up will different ways to make drum set grooves. The ratios are immensely helpful and eye-opening - particularly for soloing and composing - and I cannot wait to truly solidify them. I was actually performing in an odd-meter-themed jazz combo this semester, so I applied much of the instruction towards that field of music. I also recorded myself performing all of the worksheet exercises - mainly for myself, but also if you wanted to see a progression of sorts. I kind of wanted to make one culmination video that shows progress from the first day to the last day. Constructive Criticism: Personally, I like to know how am I progressing when I am learning a new skill. In regards to fundamentals and technique, this is very important to me because I understand that developing bad techniques over time will result in negative repercussions. In addition, it is typically more difficult to break old habits and then create new ones. That being said, I would have appreciated having some form of progression check along the way. I do not know how feasible this would be on the instructor or student side given the online situation, but having it would make me feel more secure about my learning process. Overall, I found the lessons to be presented well. Yousif is repetitive and clear with the music patterns and instructions. The lessons were presented in a way that I believe does work for people of various skill levels (I am a percussionist, so that might be a little biased). If Yousif creates other types of lessons in the future, then I will definitely be looking into them!

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5 star rating

Frame Drums 101

Sally Swan

The videos and the pdf worksheets are well organized, paced, and very helpful. I am enjoying this course very much. Thank you for offering it.

The videos and the pdf worksheets are well organized, paced, and very helpful. I am enjoying this course very much. Thank you for offering it.

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5 star rating

Very informative and helpful

Lisa Sherman

I have been playing the frame drum occasionally for five years and would put myself at an intermediate level of playing. Even though the course is titled 10...

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I have been playing the frame drum occasionally for five years and would put myself at an intermediate level of playing. Even though the course is titled 101, there is a lot of material here for all levels to work with. I particularly liked having a progression of tecnhiques to work with, and playing along with the videos is also very helpful. I am hoping there is a 201 class in the works!

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5 star rating

Extremely Useful

Ivan Gianakis

Perfect collection of videos for the absolute beginner and the intermediate player who just want to re-learn a couple of things, discover new rhythms and pol...

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Perfect collection of videos for the absolute beginner and the intermediate player who just want to re-learn a couple of things, discover new rhythms and polish his/her technique. The groove basket section just opens up a lot of possibility and ideas which I personally found amazing. Thanks Yousif!

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5 star rating

Nicely done!

Brian Nozny

Great course that offers a slower pace for the beginner while also offering more advanced ideas for more experienced players. Well worth it!

Great course that offers a slower pace for the beginner while also offering more advanced ideas for more experienced players. Well worth it!

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Course Curriculum

    1. Week 1 Worksheet

    2. Introduction

    3. Technique: Holding and Dum

      FREE PREVIEW
    4. Technique: Tek

    5. Exercise: Tek Reduction Exercise

    6. Technique: Pah

    7. Exercise: Combination Exercise

    8. Groove: Bob's 9

      FREE PREVIEW
    1. Week 2 Worksheet

    2. Call and Response 1

    3. Ratio Exercise 3:2

    4. Groove: Week 2

    1. Week 3 Workheet

    2. Exercise: Tek Reduction with Vocalizations

    3. Call and Response 2

    4. Ratio Exercise 4:3

    5. Groove: Sama'i

    1. Week 4 Worksheet

    2. Technique: Split Hand

    3. Exercises: Split Hand

    4. Ratio Exercise: 2 and 4

    5. Exercise: Jamey 5

    1. Week 5 Worksheet

    2. Call and Response 3

    3. Ratio 5:3

    4. Groove: Split Hand

    5. Technique/Groove: Snapping

    1. Week 6 Worksheet

    2. Ratio Exercise 2, 4 and 5

    3. Groove: Snapping

    4. Groove: With Brush

    5. Ratio Exercise 7:3

    6. Ratio Exercise 2, 4, 5 and 7

About this course

  • $299.00
  • 72 lessons
  • 8 hours of video content

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About the instructor

Yousif Sheronick

Hailed by the New York Times for his “dazzling improvisations” and his “wizardry on a range of humble frame drums” Yousif Sheronick enjoys an active career as percussionist, composer, producer and educator. Having studied classical percussion through a Masters degree at Yale, Yousif went on to study music from Brazil, India, Africa and the Middle East which he seamlessly incorporates into his playing. Yousif’s unique skills in both World and Classical music have led him to perform with a diverse range of ensembles and musicians including Philip Glass, Yo-Yo Ma, Laurie Anderson, Ethos Percussion Group, Lark Quartet, Silk Road Ensemble, Branford Marsalis, Sonny Fortune, Cindy Blackman Santana, Glen Velez and Paul Winter. His many musical influences are highlighted in duoJalal, his venture with violist and wife Kathryn Lockwood. A feature article in Drum! Magazine highlighted Yousif’s versatility in an article titled “At The Corner Of The World”. Always wanting to build bridges through music, Yousif has become a major force in bringing world percussion into contemporary/classical music. He has had the luxury of in-depth work with composers Evan Ziporyn, Derek Bermel, Kenji Bunch, Ljova and John Patitucci, all of whom were eager to compose for his exotic instruments. As a composer himself, Yousif’s compositions have been premiered and performed around the world at both the collegiate and professional level. All released under his own publishing company Bribie Recordings. He has arranged several parts for his collaboration with the Lark Quartet including John Adams’ Book of Alleged Dances which was released on Bridge Records. Producing credits include a solo CD and two instructional DVDs. “A testimony to his genius” raves Modern Drummer Magazine about Yousif’s CD Silk Thread, and Rhythm Magazine (UK) says Yousif’s Riq Instructional DVD “is a must to uncover the mysteries of this ancient instrument.” ​In demand as an educator, Yousif has conducted residencies and master classes at top universities including Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, University of Michigan, University of Kentucky, the Queensland Conservatorium and National University in Australia. A whirlwind trip to Taiwan was filled with 10 solo workshops in 4 cities in 5 days. With increasing demand from drummers around the world, Yousif established his online frame drum school www.framedrumschool.org which has enrolled over 1100 students from 70 countries. ​Yousif has appeared throughout North and South America, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Australia with festival appearances including the JVC and Newport Jazz Festivals, Jazztel (Madrid), Renaissance Festival (Rethymno, Greece) Early Music Festival (Regensburg, Germany) and Jerusalem Festival (Palestine). Prestigious venue performances include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Hollywood Bowl, Royal Festival Hall (London) and Wigmore Hall (London). He has performed live on NPR’s “Performance Today” and John Schaffer’s “New Sounds.” Yousif holds degrees from Yale University and the University of Iowa. ​Yousif gratefully endorses products from Cooperman Drums, Sabian Cymbals, Innovative Mallets and Pearl/Adams.