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Positive Vibes
My two-weeks' experience at the Birch Creek Music Performance Center
by Teri Earlena Gussom
Birch Creek is located in Egg Harbor, Wisconsin. It's on 100-acres of farmland. I had a wonderful time there! The Percussion Summer Session was July 2-15. I learned so much in such a short time. Everyone there was genuinely friendly to Zahra and me. The whole atmosphere made learning new music, and different styles of music so much easier and fun for me. My classes were basically learning music on the steel pan with the different pan classes, but from time to time, the other pan track students and I were able to participate in different activities such as Afro-Cuban percussion with one of our instructors, Orlando; and Brazilian samba with Geraldo, another instructor. These classes were great! I learned how to play the congas; how to stay in sync with other percussion instruments; and how to play calypso beats on the drum sets from our drummer, Frank. I learned that playing drum sets require a lot of skill and concentration in order to keep the engine room going.
One very challenging assignment we were given and one that I enjoyed so much was arranging a song for the faculty pan ensemble to play at one of the concerts. Arranging songs is very difficult and takes a lot of music theory in order to understand what is going on, but it can be fun too, because you are basically in control of how the song will sound. You can put in or take out anything you want to make the song your own. I felt proud when the faculty ensemble played our arrangements, and everyone complimented us on it.
I also rehearsed and play songs with the faculty ensemble which was very rewarding.
The highlight of my two-weeks was having the privilege of playing with the great Liam Teague. It was really cool to be able to play pan right beside him on stage during our concerts; it was amazing to watch his hands move so quickly over the pan. He is a music genius! Liam also helped us with our arrangements by telling us how to section each part of our song, and giving us tips on how things should flow and sound.
This entire experience would have never been possible without the generous scholarship I received, and I thank CAFE so much for giving me the opportunity to attend the two-week percussion summer session. Birch Creek is an excellent music performance center and I can’t wait to go back next year!
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Administrative Office
Monday - Friday
10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
11305 Chantilly Lane
Mitchellville, MD 20721
Office: (301) 262-9032
Fax: (301) 262-0802
lgreen@cafeyouth.org
CAFE Program Site
Saturday
10:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
First United Methodist Church
6201 Belcrest Road
Hyattsville, MD 20782
(across from Prince George’s Plaza metro station)
(301) 927-6133 Ext #26
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