Jerry Kisslinger

Tapan/Dauli

Jerry Kisslinger has played tapan/dauli for East European and folk dance communities, classes, concerts, and festivals throughout the United States since his teenage years, and has taught at EEFC camps for some three decades.

A specialist in Macedonian dance rhythms, Jerry is a founding member of Zlatne Uste Balkan Brass Band, and performs with ZU and Kavala Brass Band as well as Pontic Firebird and many other musicians. He has performed with other top Balkan performers, including the Yuri Yunakov Orchestra, Akshambelah (with Christos Govetas and Ruth Hunter), the Macedonian roots band Odglasi, Turli Tava, Pece Atanasovski, and the pioneering New York Balkan band The Balkanizers.

Jerry’s discography includes Edessa and Friends: Balkan Border Music, and Di Shikere Kapelye, with Frank London’s Klezmer Brass All Stars, as well as four recordings with Zlatne Uste: Golden Lips (Global Village) No Strings Attached (Rounder Records); In the Center of the Village; and Do Zore (Until Dawn).

Read a profile of Jerry in Kef Times.

Class Description | Beginning Tapan

• Schedule allowing, I’m available for additional instruction outside of class.
• The Student Concert is optional, and the class will decide whether we perform.
• Repertoire will include dance rhythms of Macedonia with a touch of Pontic Greek.
• Class will focus on technique.
• Repertoire will be taught by ear and through repetition, but notation will also be provided — a kind of tapan tablature and with samples.
• Repertoire will be made available online before camp.

Class Description | Intermediate/Advanced Tapan

• Schedule allowing, I’m available for additional instruction outside of class.
• Class will focus on building our vocabulary of syncopation and variation, phrasing, tempo control, sound, relaxation and endurance.
• Repertoire will be taught by ear and through repetition, but notation will also be provided — a kind of tapan tablature and with samples.