Brianna Slattery
Bri is our head national Teacher Trainer with 100’s of hours of experience and will get you moving in the right direction.
After 10 years of playing the piano, Brianna bought her first djembe at the age of 18 – and promptly fell in love with African drumming! This sparked an interest in all things percussive, which in turn led her to participate in African drumming, Brazilian percussion and body percussion workshops; become a facilitator of a drumming intervention/wellbeing program; and complete the L1, L2, & L3 facilitator training with African Drumming. As a primary school teacher, Brianna has been teaching drumming to school students for the past seven years. She is passionate about the use of the drum as a teaching tool, and is currently completing a Masters thesis on drumming and student engagement. Brianna believes that being a member of a drumming community has far reaching-benefits, including: enhancing musicality, building relationships, boosting confidence and improving general well being.
Laura Kirkwood
Laura has been studying percussion for over 13 years, touring and recording with various bands ranging from jazz to ska. Following the beat of her own drum, she attended African Drumming’s 2013 tour to West Africa, studying with Master drummers in Ghana and Burkina Faso. She became fascinated in how music is central to the flow of life, igniting an interest to study different cultures music. After completing African Drumming’s Teacher Training Course, Laura had the opportunity to teach workshops across Australia, and began teaching her own music therapy classes in Brisbane. Having studied Latin music at the University of Florida, she has since been studying for postgraduate in ethnomusicology at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music since 2017. Laura believes that music can transcend language barriers and is sometimes a language of its own.
