We're excited to kick off March with a bang! The Annual Rhythm Romp percussion weekend is taking place this weekend, March 5-7!
We'll have a diverse group of musicians performing everything from Afro-Cuban, Latin and African to Hip-Hop drumming. The goal of Rhythm Romp is to introduce children to the very diverse family of percussion instruments.
Tomorrow, March 5, our theme is Recycled Instruments. The University of the Arts' "Rumble" ensemble will perform at Noon and 2 p.m. This ensemble takes ordinary things that you would find in your home and turn them into musical instruments, like buckets and even trash cans! By seeing professional musicians use ordinary objects as instruments, we hope that our young visitors will be inspired to create music using everyday items as well, with adult supervision of course.
On Saturday and Sunday our theme is World Music. With a focus on Latin and African percussion, we hope to introduce our visitors to instruments that they wouldn't ordinarily see or hear. Fernando Valencia will be performing Latin percussion at 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. in Hamilton Hall Saturday, March 6. He will be performing everything from Salsa to Tejano music.
The Universal African Dance and Drum ensemble will "rock the Hall" with performances that highlight the history behind the music of Africa and the instruments that accompany the dance and movements. One of the things that African and Latin music has in common is that drums are used as a form of communication. After watching these performers, our visitors will be able to "speak" the language of music loud and clear!
But that's not all! Other performances will feature Darius Mills on Saturday who will have a hip-hop drumming jam session in the City Park gallery space at 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Daniel Schwartz will be performing Marimba in Hamilton Hall at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Music plays such a major role in many cultures all over the world, and we hope to give our visitors a taste of these cultures in a family-friendly environment, while staying true to our mission of creating learning opportunities through play.
