Egg Harbor, Wis. (January 13, 2021) – For three Saturday mornings beginning on January 30th, and going through February 13th, nationally and internationally renowned Birch Creek Percussion & Steel Band faculty will share their musical expertise during one-hour online Studio Sessions. Aspiring young music students, as well as experienced amateur musicians and professional performing artists, have a great opportunity to add to their musical tool kit with these fun and educational Zoom sessions.
Rodrigo Villanueva-Conroy, Birch Creek Percussion faculty, drums, leads the way with “Drummifying the Rudiments” on January 30 at 11:00 AM. Villanueva-Conroy will teach participants good practice habits and give them ideas to develop control of the sticks and feet on the drumset.
On February 6 at 11:00 AM, Yuko Asada, Birch Creek Assistant Steel Band Director, presents “Tuna Can Pans: The Making of Steelpans” in which she will show how steel pans are made and tuned. Asada will guide participants as they create their own pans from tuna cans and teach them to play a song (using a regular household hammer) that only requires three pitches, such as “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”
Brian Nozny, Birch Creek Percussion & Steel Band Composer in Residence, will present “More Than Dots on a Page: Beginning Composition” on February 13 at 11:00 AM. Nozny will help participants understand the basics of how to create a musical piece – from developing the musical material to putting down the final double bar line.
Through these Studio Sessions, Birch Creek is extending its mission of immersing young musicians in a professional, mentoring environment to the shoulder seasons and is opening up the experience to amateur and professional musicians as well. The sessions are designed to complement each other so that a participant who registers for all three will receive a complete package of information on preparation for music performance.
$10 per one-hour class
Register at birchcreek.org/online/studio-sessions or call (920) 868-3763.
Birch Creek Music Performance Center is a residential summer music academy in Egg Harbor, WI, for advanced young musicians pursuing a career path in music. For 45 years, students in Percussion & Steel Band, Symphony, and Big Band Jazz have been taught by nationally known performers and educators during the day and performed alongside them in concerts at night. In 2020, due to Covid-19, those performances took place over the air waves. Birch Creek will return to modified onsite summer programming in 2021.