Percussion Components of the Henry Clay Band Program
Performance goals are essential to a program that creates individuals who can stand on their own merit as musicians. With that as a guiding philosophy, the percussion class has both technique goals as well as performing opportunities. The percussion class and the Steel Drum band have become known for their musicality as well as their community involvement as a performing group. Being asked to perform for a general audience (other than mom and dad) is a great advantage in helping to create a more mature player.
The Percussion Techniques class includes preparation of full band percussion parts, both concert nd marching. Sectionals for marching and concert band are then put with full band rehearsals outside of school when preparing for a concert. We also study and rehearse the Steel Band traditions of Trinidad and Tobago. The Henry Clay Band has the only high school steel band in the state of Kentucky. Another aspect of the class is the study of non-western cultures, outside of the steel band program, through festival and folk drumming , South American Samba Bands, and Japanese Taiko Drumming. Musical genres being considered for future exploration are Celtic or Irish drumming, Afro-Cuban or "Salsa" percussion, and Indian "Tabla" drumming. All of these are worthy of studying again and again with new material being discovered each time.
The technique portion of the course is designed around essential percussion studies and core curriculum content. The levels of playing are designed within a four part rubric in each of these five areas:
- Snare/General Playing Technique
- Mallet
- Timpani
- Multi/Concert Percussion
- Latin/ World Percussion
Details of this rubric are available in the Henry
Clay Band Handbook.