Percussions 'Round the World
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Phil-a-Rhythm
This program illustrates to students how percussion instruments and techniques have varied in different times and places. Using a world map, the audience travels from continent to continent, from country and country. Some of the stops include China, Guatemala, Mexico, Brazil and countries in Africa. Students of all ages learn how jazz and improvisation were born. One of the highlights of the program is a 32-bar solo on the drum set.
Bill Kerrigan, who leads Phil-a-Rhythm, introduces students to the three main categories of percussion instruments: those made of metal, those made of wood, and those made of membrane or skin. These are further subdivided into tuned and un-tuned instruments, or pitched and un-pitched. Student listening skills are sharpened by learning to distinguish these distinctions.
Students learn that drums, along with other percussion instruments, were among the earliest instruments. There is evidence that the first membrane drums consisted of naturally hollow tree trunks covered at one or both ends with the skins of animals or reptiles. Later, skins of hunted game and cattle were used. Drum bodies could be of wood, metal, earthenware, or bone. Numerous representations of drums in a variety of shapes and sizes appear in the art of Egypt, Southern Africa, Assyria, India, Sumaria, China, and Persia.
Bill Kerrigan is joined by Sam Ruttenberg, Tom Blanchard, and Susan Jones. William Cahn is a regular substitute in this ensemble.