Students and staff from three schools in Stirling-about 700 people-are coming together for a hand-drumming extravaganza! All are invited to this event. event flyer
EVENT DETAILS
DATE: Friday, June 21, 2013
TIME: 12:00 p.m.
LOCATION: Stirling Senior Public School, 107 St. James Street, Stirling
WHAT: Large semi-circular rows of 700 students doing a performance on their hand-made drums
For the past several months, students have been working with Leo Brooks, a percussionist from Canada's national capital region. He has worked with each student at Stirling Primary School, Stirling Junior Public School and Stirling Senior Public School to build drums.
Each drum base is made from a custom-cut sonotube. Students painted them in the school colours of red, yellow and black. Small drums for students in Kindergarten to Grade 2 have a transparent skin. Students in Grades 3 to 5 made medium-sized djembe drums which have a traditional skin made of goat-skin. Students in Grades 6 to 8 made larger drums Aboriginal-style drums which have a traditional skin made of goat-skin.
Several groups of students have learned and will perform a group rhythmic piece. Following that, all students and staff-around 700 people!-will join in one, combined large group performance using the three different styles of drums. This is the largest student group Brooks has worked with and had perform together in one single event!
Background on Leo Brooks, Treefrog Percussion http://www.treefrogpercussion.ca/
(Taken from the Treefrog Percussion website) As a young child, Leo loved to pull the pots and pans out of the cupboard to ban on them and never outgrew the habit -so it's easy to understand why his percussion skills have been developing for more than half his life. Born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Leo earned a Bachelor of Music (with distinction) at University of Lethbridge. In his early years, Leo performed as a percussionist in numerous ensembles including the Calgary Youth Orchestra and the National Youth Band.
After moving to Canada's National Capital Region in 1997, Leo became passionate about hand drumming. Much of his development in this area was self directed, although he was able to study periodically with Michael Marcus of New York and djembe master Famoudou Konaté. The highlight of his hand drumming education came in 2006, when Leo undertook a 10 week study tour through Guinea, Mali and Nigeria.
Leo now makes his home with his wife, son and daughter in Gatineau, Quebec. Here he spends his time teaching, building and repairing hand drums. He is constantly reaching out for new boundaries and seeking to improve his skills. "There is nothing that fascinates me more than the examination of percussion traditions from around the world" he says. "Percussion is a vast world unto itself-my goal in life is to touch a little bit of everything within it."
For more information, please contact:
Kerry Donnell, Communications Officer, 613-966-1170 or 1 800 267-4350, extension 2354, [email protected]