Day 98
Our MENC chapter holds seminars about once or twice a month during the semester and tonight we had our last one. Our guest was Dr. Woodson, a world-renowned percussion specialist who does a lot with Remo drum company in creating different drums and equipment for students and young people. He showed us several different examples of all of the drums and simple instruments we could make out of ordinary objects. He made a "talking drum", taken from Africa, with tape, hoops, and pizza sauce cans. We got to turn ordinary straws into flutes and even performed an impromptu piece at the end of the session! You should have seen and heard all of us college kids getting excited over something so simple, yet so creative. This was a huge encouragement to those who are pursuing music education. If our future school district does not have the equipment or the funds for an adequate set of classroom drums and percussion instruments, we now have an idea of how to teach students to make their own. Most of what he made was from recycled objects, wooden blocks, PVC pipe, 40lb fishing line, cans, and tape. I'm pretty sure all of us wanted to go home and make a few of the instruments ourselves. I think that might be a project for me this summer depending on what kind of school district I get into. Or...maybe just for fun if I volunteer at a kid's camp or daycare.
With a pinched budget and as a newly-wed-to-be, I'm really going to be looking for ways to cut corners and to make the most of what I have available. This session definitely gave me great ideas on how to keep the budget within safe boundaries while still having a successful program.
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