Big Drum Concert

Another year of Big Drum is finished for the year. The kids had their final concert last night. It was the first time I got to hear them this year as they travelled to schools and did concerts during the day.

The concert last night was for the parents, family, and friends. There were four groups of kids performing. The kids ages ranged from 6 to probably 15. The instruments they played range from the big African drums to marimbas. There are a lot of instruments they play that I have no idea as to their name.

Program
1) Merengue Stew - Lionheart
2) Pudahay - Lionheart
3) Vomm Himmel hoch ka komm ich her - Ticked Off Chadya
4) Pink Panther - Ticked Off Chadya
5) Loose Tooth - Overstuffed Chipmonks
6) Take Five - Overstuffed Chipmonks
7) Black Flame Hardtail - Return of the Djembe
8) Aliens - Return of the Djembe
9) Comparasa Drum Rhythm - Ticked Off Chadya
10 Spooky - Lionheart
11) Ivan Sings - Lionheart
12) Lazy Crazy Potato - Return of the Djembe
13) Hamp's Hump - Overstuffed Chipmonks
14) The Old Castle - Ticked Off Chadya
15) Birdland - Ticked Off Chadya

I love the names of the bands. The kids were asked to name their band and so they came up with ideas and then voted on them. Our kids band was Ticked Off Chadya. Chadya is one of my daughters. Apparently, the day they were to pick the names for the band, someone was bugging Chadya a lot and she got ticked off. So someone suggested Ticked Off Chadya.

The bands are in different stages of experience. There were beginners as well as more experienced. Our kids were in the more experienced category as my oldest has been doing this for about 7 years. My youngest about 4 years.

Ticked Off Chadya did something that I haven't seen before. They all had violin bows and they played them on the marimba keys. What a neat sound.

They made a CD last year that was finally available last night. For some reason we didn't pick one up. I think we will be picking up 4 or 5 of them so the kids each get one and so do we. When I get a copy I'll post an MP3 of the songs they recorded.

All the bands sounded great and the experience they get from performing in front of a crowd is so important. A great job by Darren Salyn. Darren, besides teaching young kids music, has performed with the Edmonton and Calgary Symphony Orchestra.