The following was sent via email from Ms. Deb McCumber, music teacher and band conductor:
Dear IHS
In honor of what would have been our concert night, I have something very special to share with all of you. As part of our learning experience this year, we learned about body percussion and ways in which we can make music together without necessarily playing our instruments as an ensemble. We were fortunate enough to have some incredible virtual guests share both their knowledge, experience, and skillset to help us accomplish the unique task of creating a body percussion piece for this year. We learned the historical and cultural aspects of body percussion with Ayodele Maakheru and then continued with a more modern approach with virtual interactive workshops with Tamii Sakurai (and Alan Acunsion), who are both performers with the Off-Broadway show Stomp! The HS Band worked very hard to step out of our typical instrument playing comfort zone to accomplish something very different. I am very proud to share the world premiere of this completely original piece designed by Tamii and Alan with a drumline feature created by our very own Irvington High School Drumline. Please enjoy!
Deb McCumber
HS Band Original Body Percussion Piece 2021
