Iranian Daf - Naghmeh Farahmand
Naghmeh teaches the Iranian Frame Drum
Course Overview
Explore the Iranian frame drum with Naghmeh
Course features
- For everyone who loves the sound of the traditional Iranian frame drum daf
- 15 Chapters on playing technique and traditional rhythms
- the course takes you step-by-step from the very basics to more intermediate and advanced techniques such as various Riz (roll) techniques and chain control
- Naghmeh uses the international drumming language to help learning and memorizing the rhythms
- slow-motion and close-ups for every exercise
- various solo performances and duets with David K
“What makes Naghmeh such a special teacher is the way she combines her deep knowledge of Iranian musical tradition with great sensitivity, clarity and many years of international teaching experience. In this course, she guides you into the world of the daf, from your first strokes to its best-known traditional rhythms. It is a beautiful introduction to the instrument, taught with clarity, depth and care.”
David Kuckhermann
Take a Look Inside
Introduction and Basics
Chapter 2 - Exercises
Chapter 3 - Iranian 3/4
Chapter 4 - Sama
Chapter 5 - Kurdish Rhythms in 2/4
Chapter 6 - Sleeping Chains
Chapter 7 - Playing the Rings
Chapter 8 - Iranian 6/4
Chapter 9 - Riz
Chapter 10 - Iranian 6/8
Chapter 11 - Iranian 5/8
Chapter 12 - Iranian 7/4
Chapter 13 - Iranian 7/8
Chapter 14 - Iranian 10/8
Chapter 15 - Iranian 12/8
Bonus Material
Get Started Now
Individual Course
€79 €69
Pay once for ongoing course access
WPA membership
€29 €19 /month
Unlimited courses & community access, billed quarterly
Your Instructor
Naghmeh Farahmand is a Persian percussionist who comes from a musical family. She is the daughter of one of the leading percussion masters of Iran, Mahmoud Farahmand. Naghmeh grew up surrounded by music in a full house of drums.
Naghmeh showed great interest in rhythms during her childhood and started playing the tonbak when she was 6. While learning the rhythmic patterns of Persian traditional music under the supervision of her father, she was encouraged to learn a melodic instrument to gain insight into the melodic aspect of music as this would make her a better accompanist. So she started playing the santoor under the guidance of Faramarz Payvar and Pashang Kamkar. Besides learning traditional music, Naghmeh found the daf to be very powerful and spiritual and began learning Sufi and Kurdish rhythms on the daf from Bijan Kamkar and Masoud Habibi.
Naghmeh has performed in many well known Iranian traditional bands in Iran and festivals around the world in places such as Germany, Switzerland, Japan (Min On Festival), France (La fete de la music), Italy, Kuwait (Women festival), Austria, and London. She was honored to perform with Hassan Nahid, Iranian master of the ney and Hengameh Akhavan, a famous singer of traditional music for years.
In 2010 Naghmeh moved to Canada and started working with world music, Arabian, Bulgarian, Turkish, Indian and also Jazz. She has been teaching in different music institutes for 15 years and has taught master classes and workshops around the world.
Naghmeh founded a percussion ensemble (Sharghi) while collaborating with Iran's national TV and recorded numerous pieces and performed live for a decade. She is also skillful in playing darbuka (doumbek), dayereh, cajon, udu and drumset. She has published a book, Helheleh, that includes some pieces for the daf and is currently publishing her percussion CD, Drums&Dreams.
Frequently Asked Questions
Everything you need to know about learning hand drumming online with us, from djembe and congas to darbuka, cajón, frame drums, and beyond.

