Ahern Middle School | Foxborough, MA:
- Grades 5, 6, 7, 8; ~200 students per grade
- Band begins in 5th grade. ~120 participate. (most of the rest take Chorus / Orchestra)
- Average no. of percussion students:
- 5th grade: 6 | 6th grade: 11 | 7th grade: 9 | 8th grade: 7
- All percussionists spend the first semester only on keyboard instruments
- Our philosophy: every student who wants to be there has a place in the music program
Advantages to Starting with Keyboards
- Students no longer “just hit things”
- Still learning percussion fundamentals / technique
- Full band rehearsals: more related to what wind players are doing, easier to teach and learn
- We find no lack of drumming ability by the end of the first year, but there is a deeper understanding and connection to the rest of the ensemble
Percussion vs. Wind Instruments
- Woodwind/Brass instruments:
- Are held, you learn to feel each key. You don’t need to look at the instrument
- Each pitch has a certain feeling and it’s own fingering combination
- Music notation is physically close to your eyes
- Keyboard Percussion:
- Music is farther away. It's harder to see.
- Need a larger field of vision
- We have to learn how to look at the instrument, music stand, and conductor
- Every note “feels” the same – a single stroke
- The player is disconnected from the instrument.
- Your air & lungs are not needed
- You don’t feel vibrations
- Ideally - the stick becomes an extension of the instrument (takes a very long time)
- But - the stick is always the “middle-man” between the human and the sound source
What Makes Keyboard Percussion So Difficult?
- Striking the bar in the correct spot. They are tiny. There is little room for error
- The sound quality of the beginning instrument (bells) is low quality
- Why would a student want to play something that can’t make a pleasing sound to their ears?
- Advocate for the highest quality instruments; put percussionists on the same level as their wind counterparts
- Reading / decoding notation
- Reading notation AND playing simultaneously
- Where to look (has to be taught/practiced more than other instruments)