In February this year, we had the absolute pleasure of welcoming a group of 30 young people aged 11 – 16 to our Woolwich Works home, for a half-term project led by Percussion experts Sandra Dyer, Marlon Hibbert, and Nuno. The 3-day project was a chance for young people to explore different kinds of percussion, focusing on Djembe, Steel Pan and Samba. Combining drumming, percussion, singing, movement and laughter, young people developed their sense of rhythm, timing, and coordination, whilst building their confidence in being expressive and creative. They also looked at body percussion, Brazilian swing, and the ‘kitchen of the steelband’!
I would definitely encourage any musician to always explore their rhythmic sides, music is said to be 50% notes and 50% rhythm, so if you ignore 50% of it, you might not be doing your best and that’s what we always want to do, our best.
Nuno, Samba Leader
Steel Pan is an instrument that nobody gets to experience, this is a chance for people to learn about instruments of Trinidadian culture, which is a big part of the Caribbean and both are extremely important.
Marlon, Steel Pan Leader
You hit it and you’re like, it’s a piece of metal, it’s just going to vibrate, but it’s not and it makes some really nice sounds.
Project Participant
Alongside our percussion leaders, the half-term project was assisted by six NYJO Emerging Professional musicians who did a fantastic job supporting both the lead artistic team and the young musicians throughout.
I think it’s really important because a lot of the young people won’t have had the chance to do anything like this before, so it’s a whole new world that’s being opened up to them, and also a whole new group of people who not only can be their friends but also introduce them to other kinds of music and other interests that they might share.
Fee Buckton, NYJO EP
You can watch the video above to get a deeper insight into the 3 days, and contact us anytime at [email protected] if you would like to find out more about our Holiday Projects programme.