Young people from two Derbyshire schools celebrated their love of music ahead of World Music Day by taking part in an African Drumming Workshop.
Year 1 and 2 pupils from St Joseph’s Catholic & CofE primary school visited Netherthorpe School, in Staveley, to take part in the activity where they learned to play a variety of different rhythms.
The youngsters also learned how to play as part of an ensemble, and were treated to a performance by the Netherthorpe African Drumming group of songs from the hit Disney film
‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ and ‘Never Gonna Not Dance Again’ – the latest hit from singer P!nk, who is currently touring the UK.
The event took place ahead of World Music Day, which takes place on Wednesday June 21.
Rachel Cracknell, music teacher at Netherthorpe School – which is part of the Cavendish Learning Trust – said: “It was fantastic seeing Netherthorpe students supporting, encouraging the primary school students and showing them different techniques on drums.”
Netherthorpe’s African drumming group have been working hard over the past few months, learning complex rhythms and developing visually exciting drumming patterns in preparation for the workshop performance.
During the event the secondary school pupils from Netherthorpe helped the younger students to create their own rhythms based on syllables from their favourite animal’s name.
At the end of the workshop, each group was asked to perform their creative rhythms.
Mrs Cracknell added: “The performance by our students at Netherthorpe went down well with the younger students. It was great to see their little faces beaming with excitement as they watched!
“I am extremely proud of the drumming group who showed great leadership skills when working with pupils from St Joseph’s Primary School. They each worked individually so hard in preparation for the event and they continue to impress me with their musicianship and creativity.
“They are committed, hard-working and are role model students. I look forward to teaching the group every week and I couldn’t be prouder of each and every one of them.”
