Thread: Recommend a Zills Instructional DVD

Can anyone recommend a really good instructional DVD for Zills? Wondering if I should just purchase one by Ansuya,or if there are others out there that worked for someone. Aprreciate the feedback! Thanks!

I would recommend Bellydance with Zills with Elsa (for dexterity) and Killer Ziller by Michelle Joyce for patterns and rhythms. I have used both of Ansuya's - Beginner and Advanced - and I'm just not a big fan of the way she breaks things down but everyone is different and she might work for you.

Originally Posted by Mayliz

I would recommend Bellydance with Zills with Elsa (for dexterity) .

I have this, but I haven't used it yet. I'll try to watch it soon and post a review. We'll see.

Killer Ziller by Michelle Joyce is excellent and I would highly recommend it.

If I may throw in my nickel:

For those who are looking to practice different patterns in a choreography, the Cymbal Dance by Hahbi Ru may be a good choice. It assumes that one knows the often-used patterns (taught e.g. by Michelle Joyce), and puts them to use, it's a drill-ography. I have a bit of a crush on John Compton, so I like that one a lot ;-) This may be a nice half-step further from Killer Ziller.

For those who look for a musician's take on zills, Tobias Robertson's DVD will be great. I was reluctant to buy it, but he is fabulous!!!! Love this DVD. Just be prepared that this has no dance instructions - it's a young, fairly thin dude (I am more into hunks with long hair ... ;-) sitting in lotus pose in an empty room. I have worked pretty hard on learning zills *as an instrument*, and this CD is my cuppa.

I also like Z-Helene's DVD, it has the most enjoyable performance with zills ever - she does a duet with her husband, and they cut loose, do call-and-response, and interact with each other to put on a great show. I'd say - that DVD is worth the $$$ for that performance. She has lots of drills, and approaches zills a bit more with a fusion (the good fusion) dancer's attitude, the add another layer to her interpretation of the dance.

I have Killer Ziller and Elsa's (which I admittedly don't use that often but should b/c it has good stuff one it). I love KZ though.

Steffib, thanks for the input. I always hear about KZ and Elsa, but not much else. It's helpful to get a different perspective.

Killer Ziller is the best for hands on. She drills the most which is what you need for instruction. Elsa's is terrific for explanations and she does give a little different perspective as well as how to make it less tiring on your hands when you use the zills. I haven't tried Ansuya's yet but if it's anything like her other instructional videos, I bet it would be very challenging.

Z-Helene's video it's amazing, she's a true zill musician. The only thing i wish was better was to practice the patterns to music other than a single drum.

I'm not crazy about Ansuya's first zills DVD. She explains things too slowly which is great for live teaching, but for video I prefer more concise instruction as I will use it over and over again. Also she plays the same rhythm as the drummer and I can already do that. Might be good for a zills beginner and/or to become familiar with some of the most popular rhythms.

I'd like to hear more about Killer Ziller, it looks great from the clip.

Originally Posted by Athallia

I'd like to hear more about Killer Ziller, it looks great from the clip.

You will not be disappointed. After she explains the different rhythms, in the next segment you do them over and over again, total about twenty-five minutes just zilling so you really get to know the rhythms. Then there are four combinations where you apply the different rhythms and again, you do them over and over again. That's the key - she doesn't just tell you to practice; she actually does them over and over again WITH you.

Hey somebody posted a zill youtube video somewhere on the forum recently, and I can't find it again...anyone remember what it was??

Check for Anthea?

I highly recommend Killer Ziller by Michelle. You can find a long review from me in the Products News and Reviews forum http://www.bhuz.com/forum/product-ne...tml#post288193

:) Heather

So, what's the deal with the suhaila zill manual/cd? None of that stuff is mentioned often, but it looks like it would be good? What does it teach?

Originally Posted by Sonja2

Hey somebody posted a zill youtube video somewhere on the forum recently, and I can't find it again...anyone remember what it was??

Yep, that was Kawakib (Anthea on Bhuz), she's got a 4-set series on Youtube: YouTube - DanceEternal's Channel (you can also see some of her other performances there as well)

What about Mesmera? Is she not mentioned anymore for zillwork?

Originally Posted by Sonja2

So, what's the deal with the suhaila zill manual/cd? None of that stuff is mentioned often, but it looks like it would be good? What does it teach?

I am very, very fond of the CD, didn't get much out of the manual. The CD teaches and drills many patterns that can be fit to the common 4/4 rhythms - it covers a similar set of patterns as Killer Ziller (I think more 4/4 patterns, but none for 9/8).

I like to put that CD on my iPod, put on zills, and go for a walk, playing along for the drills. It does not have any dance instruction at all, and is audio only - that works well for how I learn, but then, I am one of the people who don't feel awkward walking around the city practicing zills, I am a bit eccentric ;-)

I think Jamilla's Cd is great for learning and remembering the different patterns and practicing them slowly and at full speed. But...you still need to actually learn how to play the zills AND dance. I love MJ's Killer Ziller because she uses the same pattern format as Jamilla and guides you through actually dancing with the zills. However, I could see how ANY combinations DVD (ie, Keti Sharif's A-Z or Neon's Rhythm workout) could be beneficial when paired with Jamilla's Cd.

Ahh, okay, thanks for clarifying!

Originally Posted by Sonja2

So, what's the deal with the suhaila zill manual/cd? None of that stuff is mentioned often, but it looks like it would be good? What does it teach?

OK [deep breath]-bare with me, as there is a lot of info. I ordered from the Suhaila Website the Jamila Salimpour "Learning to play finger cymbals with Jamila" CD and also Jamila's "An Illustrated Manual of Finger Cymbal Instruction". I had to buy them separate but maybe now she has packaged them together?
The CD:
It starts with a small inrto to finger cymbals and their origin/history. Then there are 26 tracks each of a different pattern:
3 (longa)
3,3,7
3,7,3
3,5,5
3,1,3,1,3
3,5,1,3
4 (quads)
4,4,7
4,7,4
4,5,1,4
4,1,4,1,4
L,R,R (X4),4
Singles
Singles half-time
Singles full-time
Alternating 4's and 5's
4,4,10
2,6
L,R Together
3,3,7 with L,R,Together
3,7,3 with L,R,Together
3,5,5 with L,R,Together
3,1,3,1,3 with L,R,Together
3,5,1,3 with L,R,Together
5's (using L,R, Together)
Moori pattern

She ends with an example of playing using a variety of patterns to music and a brief conclusion about playing.
Jamila uses a right hand dominant way of playing the cymbals-always starting on the right hand on the one unless otherwise noted as in L,R,R (x4),4 or L,R together. She mixes her verbal annotations from numbers 1,2,3,4… and letters R,L,R,L... Each track follows the same progressive pattern just about; first in half time and then in full time:

1) Her voice only saying the pattern using numbers and letters
2) Saying the pattern and playing the cymbals
3) Only playing the cymbals
When she is only playing the cymbals in full time, background music is added to play along with (the same music is played for each pattern and to what she plays as her example at the end of the CD in her conclusion).

Overall the cd is good. It covers a lot of patterns. Many of the patterns are VERY difficult and the track times are very short averaging only about a minute or so. This makes it very hard to practice with her. Because she speaks at the beginning of each track you can't put it on loop to make it longer since the speaking breaks it up anyway. With as difficult as the patterns get I can't imagine being able to actually dance while playing them without years upon years of practice. Even though it may never happen to me in this lifetime-lol-I am glad to have at least been exposed to all of the patterns though. From her short performance/conclusion on the last track is super short (44secs) it is obvious she is a very skilled master!
I would recommend this to anyone who has at least a basic background/knowledge/understanding of finger cymbals. I don't feel this is for a beginner and would perhaps turn them off from wanting to learn to play due to the fast pace of the cd and difficulty of a lot of the patterns. Don't expect to learn how to dance with cymbals from this cd alone-it isn't addressed at all.
cont...

cont...

The manual consists of...
1) Introduction (same as the cd)
2) History of FC from the Evolution of Related Percussion Instruments-a short essay followed by many very interesting illustrations of what she wrote about. Each picture has a caption of what it is you are looking at. (10 pages)
3) Short explanation about FC's how to put them on (including elastic attaching), where to wear them on the fingers, how your arms should be held and what your other fingers should be doing to support the middle finger. Also a legend as to what her letters mean L=left, R=right Tg=together etc...
4)If 26 from the CD wasn’t enough well here ya’ go…The patterns: there are 43 in this book. The first 26 are the same as the cd. Each pattern is written as you would see it on a bar of sheet music including, the time signature (ie 4/4, 9/8). Above each note is the number annotation of the pattern and below is the L/R letter annotation.
Beyond the first 26 patterns (Let me bow to you right now if you have gotten successfully that far-lol) are the following:
Running 5’s (not using L, R, Together)
Running 7’s
Running 10’s!!!
2,6,10
2,6,10,7,1,3,3
Kashlama (4 versions total)
Waheede’h
3 and 12/4 singles (I don’t even know what that is)
Taqsim basic
Taqsim 2
Taqsim 3
Masmoode’h
Running 6’s
5) Lastly in the manual is “The Jamila Method for Teaching Beginners How to Co-ordinate Finger Cymbals with Foot Work” giving 7 exercises and then a list of beginning steps to use with the exercises.
I would recommend this manual for anyone who needs a visual to learning the patterns on the CD. I was very glad that I bought the two together and it helped me a lot to understand what she was saying on the CD tracks. I use both of them at the same time and have been able to lengthen my track practice by stopping the CD and continuing following along with the manual. When it comes to the even more complicated patterns it is almost useless information unless you have an experienced person to explain to you what it is supposed to sound like or you yourself can site read sheet music very well.

Overall: I think that an intermediate/advance zill player, someone who wants to learn new and complex patterns or someone interested in some history could best utilize these. Do not buy these thinking it will help your dancing with zills. However, I do think that they are both filled with a lot of amazing information and add a lot to your dance library and overall knowledge. I definitely would be to buy these together; they support each other very well.

Phew-that was a lot-lol. Hope it helps. I'll also put this over in Product News and Reviews forum.

:) Heather

Thanks Heather, that was GREAT!! I know the basic patterns & dance with zills fairly frequently, and was hoping to learn new patterns...but I'm not sure I want to learn that many new ones, haha! Having come from a very musical background, and many years of marching band, playing an instrument and moving around is no new thing for me, so it's just learning the patterns, then that can go on "autopilot" and I can focus on dancing.

Thanks again!

Thank you ladies for all the feedback! I'm about to order killer ziller..hopefully it doesn the trick!