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Releasing the Rhythm
Shawnigan students started the day, the new year, and the new term in energetic fashion on Tuesday, January 10 with an interactive performance by Daniel Duggan of Rhythm Resource, a BC-based percussion artist, who guided about 200 students on a captivating journey around the world using various forms of percussion.
In addition to stomping, clapping, and body percussion, the students learned about and had the opportunity to try out drums and other percussion instruments from locales like Bali, South Africa, West Africa, Peru and Brazil. The students explored rhythms ranging from samba and flamenco to African folk songs and Queen’s “We Will Rock You,” as they transitioned through diversity, unity and synergy. The students were even coaxed into doing a little bit of singing and dancing.
“The dazzling array of percussive instruments started as an unruly individual clatter, before being harnessed and rhythmically channeled into a shared tempo,” said Head of Fine Arts Mr. Declan Bartlett. “Students headed to their first class of the day, galvanized in the knowledge that they can beat their own drum and be dynamic, but that working in harmony with others can create something magical.”
The Peruvian drums, called cajónes, that Rhythm Resource brought to the School were similar to the ones built by Shawnigan’s Grade 8 woodwork students this past fall.
We acknowledge with respect the Coast Salish Peoples on whose traditional lands and waterways we live, learn and play. We are grateful for the opportunity to share in this beautiful region, and we aspire to healthy and respectful relationships with those who have lived on and cared for these lands for millennia.
Shawnigan Lake School is an independent co-educational boarding school for ages 13 –18 on Canada’s beautiful West Coast. Our diverse, interdisciplinary and innovative programming helps shape the next generation of global leaders.
