Percussion Ensemble
Class ID #
140
Villa Musica's NEW Percussion Ensemble will focus on developing
one's rhythm through the fluid use of drumming, vocalizing, and body movement.
Members will build their own instruments during the first week, as well as
incorporate other "found objects" into the music as the session
continues. Although the ensemble is primarily designed for beginners, there
will be various levels of complexity so that the intermediate or advanced
student is encouraged to participate as well. The ensemble will draw on East
Indian, and Euro/American percussive traditions to develop the participants'
own set of tools that she or he can draw from to improvise and compose music
themselves. The ensemble will prepare works for a performance at the end of
each session. Weekly meetings will be divided between learning new material and
rehearsing for future performances. Besides learning specific compositions and
techniques, this ensemble provides a great opportunity to sharpen one's sense
of rhythm and manual dexterity, while gaining valuable music-making experience
in a group setting
Summer Session I: June
20th – July 25th, 2011
Summer Session II: August
1st – September 3rd, 2011
2011-12 Semester Dates
Fall Semester (16 weeks) September 12th, 2011 – January 21st, 2012
No Class Thanksgiving week
Winter Break: December 19th 2011 –
January 1st, 2012
Spring Semester (16
weeks) February 6th – June 9th, 2012
Spring Break: April 2nd – 15th, 2012
When: Every Sunday night from 5:00 to 6:30pm
Age Group: Adults
and Youth
Number of participants: min. 6 max. 16
Course Fee: $190
Summer Session (5
Weeks) $110
To register for this class please visit www.villamusica.org/registration/
Instructor: Justin DeHart
From Sacramento, California, Justin DeHart has
contributed greatly to the teaching and performing of various percussive
instruments and ensembles. A firm proponent of community involvement in music, he
founded the Sacramento non-profit "Joe's Style Shop"; an organization
dedicated to teaching jazz, world music, and popular music production to
disadvantaged youths in the central city. He has taught percussion to high
school students for two years at the California State Summer School of the Arts
in Valencia, CA, as well as teaching hand drum classes at Waldorf schools, and
bucket drumming in central LA continuation schools. He has also taught tabla at the Pandit Jasraj Music Foundation in Tampa, Florida, as well as being
an assistant teacher at California Institute of the Arts and UCSD. Mr. DeHart holds a bachelor's degree from CSU Sacramento, a
master's degree from California Institute of the Arts, and is currently
preparing for a doctorate degree at UC San Diego. He has studied tabla under the tutelage of tabla
maestro Swapan Chaudhuri
for over eight years at the Ali Akbar College in San Rafael, CA, and at the
California Institute of the Arts in Valencia. In addition to learning tabla, he has been awarded a Fulbright scholarship to study
the South Indian Mridangam (barrel drum) in India for
a period of nine months with T.H. Subash Chandran.
DeHart has enjoyed participating in performances
throughout the United States, Canada, and Asia with acclaimed artists such as
John Bergamo, Red Fish Blue Fish, Subash Chandran (ghatam), Kartik Seshadri (sitar) Jaganathan Ramamurthi (violin),
and bharatanatyam dancer Sinduri
Jaisinglha. In addition to being an active performer
in North and South Indian music, he is also busy performing and recording
contemporary western art and dance music appearing as a percussionist as well
as producer on various record labels such as Innova,
MCA, Skunk, Anicca, Cornerstone, R.A.S., Jumpstart,
and Beatville.