Live group classes in lapstyle frame drum — the most expressive playing position for the round frame drum, where both hands work the head freely — with students from twenty-five countries. Yshai Afterman has been teaching percussion online since 2010, sixteen years of online teaching.
“Online frame drum lessons” here doesn't mean occasional tips or isolated classes. It refers to a structured, long-term process: a comprehensive method for building the language of rhythm itself — layer by layer, over months — guided through weekly live sessions with a small, dedicated group of students from around the world.
The Instrument
The frame drum is one of the oldest drums on earth — a single head stretched over a shallow, round frame — and it appears in nearly every ancient culture from the Mediterranean and North Africa to Persia and Central Asia. Its living family includes the North African bendir, the Persian daf, the Irish bodhrán, and the simple tar: each with its own voice, but a shared, elemental design.
"Lapstyle" describes the modern playing technique in which the drum rests on the leg and is played with the fingers of both hands. It unlocks a fluid, almost melodic vocabulary of deep bass tones, ringing rim tones, snaps, and rolls that reaches far beyond simply keeping time. The Conservatory teaches both lapstyle and upright frame drum.
Because a frame drum can be picked up and sounded on day one, it's one of the most welcoming instruments to begin — and because that simple frame holds so much expressive depth, it's also one you can spend a lifetime exploring. The curriculum builds both: a clean, reliable technique, and a genuine rhythmic language to use it with.
At its core the method develops a clean technique — basic strokes, snapping rolls, split-hand, triplet rolls, paradiddles, and the techniques built on these — and uses it to go deep into the traditional rhythms of the Turkish, Greek, Balkan, North African, and Arabic worlds, with a special focus on their odd meters.
The Method
The Conservatory's frame drum program is a complete arc — from foundations to musicianship — unfolding layer by layer, every concept built on the one before, through a body of original compositions written specifically for this method. It rests on three pillars — Time, Language, and Expression — that together form a complete musical understanding.
The Curriculum
More than lessons
Studying the frame drum here means more than a weekly class. You become part of a worldwide community of dedicated students — from twenty-five countries and counting — learning the same instrument together, with a calendar of shared events running alongside the curriculum.
That calendar includes an ongoing Masterclass Series with guest masters from the global percussion world, and an annual in-person Seminar where students gather to play, eat, and learn side by side.
Inside the portal
Between sessions, every frame drum student works inside the private Conservatory Portal — recorded lessons with notation PDFs, the guest-masterclass library, progress tracking, and an interactive rhythm library and metronome in the Practice Room.
Events feed
Lesson library
Masterclass series
Practice room
When I started my first session, Yshai told us something I'll never forget: “My plan is to teach you everything I know.” Many teachers hold back a little. Yshai has lived up to that promise every single day.
Mohsen Mehrafrouz · Iran · Lapstyle Frame Drum
Students
Students who arrive having studied frame drum elsewhere often describe the same thing — that they are, in a real sense, starting again. Not for lack of effort, but because the depth, structure, and personal guidance here take them somewhere they didn't know they could go.
Yshai's frame drum classes are the highlight of my week. The structure of the curriculum, the depth of the compositions, the precision of the feedback — everything is at the highest level. I leave each session knowing exactly what to practice next.Yoseph Goldman · USA · Lapstyle Frame Drum
Once in a lifetime, you may study with a master. Yshai is that master. His teaching goes far beyond technique — it transforms the way you hear, think about, and relate to music.Tamara Kolton · USA · Lapstyle & Upright Frame Drum
I started studying with Yshai years ago, when my knowledge of darbuka, frame drum and riqq were next to zero. His methods and compositions have allowed me to find my connection with these instruments like never before.Eugene Toh · Singapore · Darbuka, Frame Drum & Riqq
Yshai's system is extremely well structured, and he recognises exactly what each individual student needs — whether you're a beginner or advanced. It really was the best decision I made.Sybille Camenzind · Switzerland · Lapstyle & Darbuka
Questions
More about joining, schedules, and how the groups work is on the classes page.