PERCUSSION OF THE WORLD (grades K-12)

This residency is a multi-cultural exploration of the use of drumming in many different parts of the world and fosters a sense of community by way of hands-on instrument playing.  With broad-based creativity as the focus, these programs also incorporate simple movement, literacy, global studies and mathematics in the course curriculum. The student learns to play percussion in several cultural styles.  By the end of the course, the class is able to identify and play the different percussion styles of Sicily, Egypt, and Turkey, and compare and contrast the works with the corresponding cultures.

As part of the curriculum, the class explores the relationship between vibration and sound. Concepts and skills learned include:

• Using percussive instruments and student’s bodies, hands, feet and breath to to explore the question “What is music?”

• Understanding the meaning of “orchestration”

• Comparing and contrasting different styles of music-making through listening and performing

• Exploring the relationship between vibration and sound

• Arranging sounds into patterns and performing those patterns based on visual cues

• Creating a score

• Establishing procedures for working with instruments, applying the concepts of following a conductor to instrumental performance.

The students compose, conduct and perform an instrumental piece using dynamics and another piece containing 2 instruments and different tempos.

Younger students learn to read and compose their own music using symbolic notation.  Older students learn or expand their familiarity with solfege, depending on their previous musical training.

The program usually ends with a shared performance.