Percussionists to jam with their audience – JH News & Guide

With the most rudimentary tools, a percussionist can create rhythms, experiment with different sounds and even compose melodies. That’s what Third Coast Percussion hopes to demonstrate with its program “Think Outside the Drum,” which the famed Chicago quartet will present at 6 p.m. Tuesday at Walk Festival Hall for what the Grand Teton Music Festival is calling a “Family Jam.”

“This is a program we really, really love performing,” Skidmore said.

These days, Third Coast is a full-time touring group, flying all over the world, collaborating with other A-list musicians, writing, commissioning and recording new music for percussion.

“But before we all became full-time performers, we all taught at every level,” Skidmore said, “from pre-K up to the graduate conservatory level. So we love teaching about percussion and interacting with audiences.”

Fun, fast moving and fully interactive, “Think Outside the Drum” introduces novices of all ages to the “building blocks” of music. Kids and their adults will clap along, sing along, play games and get a sense for just how cool percussion instruments are as Third Coast also performs samples of the percussion repertoire.

“It’s 100% participation,” Skidmore said.

Admission for Tuesday’s event is free, but tickets are required. Before Third Coast starts, the festival’s curator of education, Meaghan Heinrich, will give a “pre-concert” talk for young concertgoers at 5:30 p.m. outside the north entrance to Walk Festival Hall.

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Grand Teton Music Festival | Jackson Hole, WY