Drumaddix brings rhythm to Richmond
By Gabriel Middaugh
Percussion beats reverberated off the walls in the Civic Hall Performing Arts Center during the Drumaddix performance last Thursday, April 8. Groups from Earlham College, Test Middle School and Richmond High School performed at the event.
“What’s so great is the diversity of the music itself,” said Terry Bettner, director of the Richmond High School Steel Drum Band. “We have all of this going on right here in Richmond!”
Earlham College brought two groups to the stage that night: the Earlham Hand Drum Ensemble and the Earlham Rhythm Project. Singing and chanting accompanied the different sections of the Hand Drum Ensemble’s pieces and many students played at least two instruments. The crowd participated by clapping whenever Keith Cozart, director of the Hand Drum Ensemble, clapped.
The Rhythm Project also had an eclectic mix of arrangements that they brought to the event. One piece was performed in costume as a crew of construction workers, another comprised four students on different colored ladders, and they ended the evening with a song called “Stompin’ Ground,” written by Bela Fleck and Victor Wooten.
Test Middle School students performed three arrangements that their director, Kevin Van Note, helped them create. The musicians performed on a variety of percussion instruments and several soloists performed on hand drums.
“Pulse,” the last piece performed, was a crowd favorite. Partway through the piece, the lights went out and black lights came on, leaving the crowd to view only the glowing green and orange drumsticks of the performers, clicking against one another, then on the drums, then spelling out “Test” and “Ensemble.” This brought cheering and whistling to the air immediately.
Richmond High School’s Steel Drum Band opened with a single young man on stage who walked around and looked at the instruments. He picked up a shaker and put it down. He tapped on a symbol with his hand and shrugged. Then he picked up two drumsticks and began to play a fast paced funk-style beat. This brought the rest of the Steel Drum Band out on stage to perform a song called “Dain Brammage,” followed by three more traditional steel drum tunes.
“We have a lot of talented kids in the community,” said sophomore Grant Collier.
After the show was completed, percussion ensemble T-shirts were given away to raffle winners and the grand prize of a hand-crafted drum went to Judy Schamel, a Richmond local. Cozart, as well as others who were in the percussion groups last year, made the drum.
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