High school percussion students visited the elementary campus today to provide a drumming demonstration for the first grade class. The purpose of the visit came from a recent field trip the first graders took to the Museum of Native American History for Social Studies in which the class was learning about Indigenous American tribal communities. As part of an arts integration project their teachers planned for the students to create “drum-like” device inspired by the many types of percussion instruments that First Nation communities used. The timing of this project also connected to the first grade science lessons as students are learning about the science behind sound.
With so many connections why not invite high school students to provide a demonstration to the class using various types of drums from different cultures? Which is what we did. Four amazing high school students from Mr. Sallings percussion class volunteered to travel to the elementary school during their advisory class to provide the first grade classes a demonstration of various types of percussion instruments including: a snare drum, the maracas, a conga drum and a djembe. The results were a fantastic outdoor audial experience! First grade students learned about meter, beat, tempo, and pitch as well as enjoyed solo performances from each high school student!
Thank you to Mr. Sallings and your wonderful high school students!
