Killer Ziller

Of late, no other videos are as eagerly awaited as those from Michelle Joyce. Dancer, producer, fitness instructor Michelle has got her finger right on the pulse of what the belly dance learner wants. And she gives it to them in a fairly amazing turnaround time.

I’m a complete beginner at zils (belly dance cymbals) so I’m in no position to analyze rhythms and how they should be taught. I have danced a little with zils – just jumped right in, so to speak, and began playing the beledi rhythm while successfully moving around. But I wasn’t exactly in control. So. I’ll take a new-to-zils look at this video, which my belly dance friends tell me is right up there with Drills Drills Drills and Pop Lock and Shimmy, Michelle’s top selling DVDs.

To begin with, there is something deeply satisfying about the menus on Michelle’s videos. There’s isn’t a moment of ambiguity as you first start up the video. At one glance you can see what’s on offer and how it’s all laid out. And it always looks good, giving you a sense of logic, completeness and neatness. Explanations and practice are separated, different chunks are clearly indicated and you can get to any part in just a click or two. It’s with Michelle’s videos that I’ve realized how the menu gives an instant and powerful message to the user.  It’s a message that often determines the mindset of the learner for the entire time the video will be used or remembered.

The menu on Killer Ziller is backed up with good solid content. After the introduction and positioning of the video, Michelle, who happens to be looking particularly nice on this video, spends some time telling you about the cymbals, how to wear them and keep them on, how to strike them, and so on.

Tapping it out

Then we go straight on to understand 14 different zill playing patterns that correspond to common drum rhythms. Michelle explains the breakdown of the pattern that the two hands will be playing by getting you to tap it out on your stomach along with her. This is a clever way of going about it as the sensation will help you “get it” better. You speak out the counts and the right-lefts as you tap. You use this method to go through all the patterns. On the bottom of the screen, the rhythms and counts for the patterns show up. You could choose to go through all the rhythms and do several rounds of that until you are familiar with the lot. Or you could replay each separate chunk depending on which you choose to work with.  For me, this tapping trick really works because it’s the natural way I’ve approached rhythms. In fact I’ve found I “know” many of the patterns already, perhaps from hearing them often in music. In fact I find I can play the zills almost immediately. It’s just dancing with them that’s a big challenge.

Killer Ziller Driller

The main section of this video that drills the patterns takes you through what you learnt in the previous section but this time with zills. Here of course, you discover that playing the zills doesn’t come quite as easily as tapping your tummy. I managed the easier ones immediately. The super fast ones are another story. On screen, Michelle holds up the zills so tthat all you see is the hands playing them. You also see the name of the rhythm, the pattern, the patter-strike counts and the rights and lefts count. You have to watch the screen to see when patterns are changing. Here again, you use your rewind to practice a particular rhythm more. Or skip to one that you want to work with. This section uses one method of playing – which is fair enough. Some instructors apparently alternate the dominance of the hands going right left right and then left right left so that both hands are equally strong at playing. But Michelle sticks to one dominant hand – and this is a big relief to me because that’s the way I was playing “naturally” when I fooled around with the zills before. Radio silence is maintained for this whole section and all you hear is the drumming and the zill sound. I particularly liked the different patterns for the beledi rhythm.

Four combinations

Four increasingly difficult combinations put the zill playing into action. Now this is where I think another section of simpler moves would have been in place. Perhaps playing zills with just some isolations where you’re otherwise static , with some arm work, and with some exceedingly simple common travel steps. This would probably have helped those who have a particularly difficult time moving at all while playing zills.  On this video though Michelle has put in a big excerpt from Drills Drills Drills which is a grapevine drill which uses zills on top of the grapevine travelling step with layered isolations. This is a real smart addition and it would work very well for new zill players to do this section first, actually.

The combinations are quite a treasure and very intelligently created. Even from Level 1 you are going to have to keep track of many things. Some footwork, turns, moves, arm work, claps and zills. Even in the first combo, you will vary zill patterns. Nice meaty challenging combinations! Michelle recommends getting familiar with the dance part of the combination totally before using the zills. And yes, the combinations are danceable without zills altogether if one wants to use them elsewhere. Each combination is explained in its own separate section and then practiced in the next section.

The hike in difficulty in the second combination goes up because of more zill pattern changes. There’s also more arm work. I find to my horror that the control over zills goes off a bit when you raise your arms and bring them down again and that’s something I have to figure out. The actual dance moves are a little simpler but there’s a lot of stuff to keep track of as you change zill patterns. The third combo is tough with more traveling steps, changes in the speed of moves, and grapevines with arabesques. The zills change with every segment of the combination. There are four zill patterns.  The fourth and final uses Arabic walks, pivots, eights, hip drops, turns, a spot of choo choo shimmy, and chasse. It’s a long combo with lots and lots to do. I think it has 5 or 6 zill pattern changes. Phew.

Grapevine drill

The combinations give way to the grapevine drill from Michelle’s earlier video, drills Drills Drills (highly recommended). This, as I mentioned, would be a good one to do before the combinations. It’s a brilliant layering drill in itself.

I’ve no doubt that I’d select this video to learn zill playing. I’m instantly comfortable with it. If I find I can’t do the combinations with zills at first, I may drill with components of those combinations (like a step-touch travel step). I also really look forward to learning the combinations and using them elsewhere. They’re very much the sort you can use and are very versatile.

This video has been received very well by the belly dance video group of which I am a member. Almost everyone loves it. Only those who’ve used other methods altogether find it difficult to switch. Some of the suggestions are that the pattern-tapping breakdown section should include a with-music section. Another is that there should be an explanation of how the pattern count fits into the rhythm’s own count and how it relates to the dooms and teks. Frankly, I feel this bit would confuse me thoroughly, so I’m glad it isn’t there.

Overall, How to Become a Killer Ziller is an excellent video. Direct, un-confusing, easy to work with.