After the success of last year’s event, Hampshire Music Festival are running their World Music Festival again on Sunday 14th May. The event consists of a number of workshops to experience drumming from around the world. It is open to the public and suitable for all ages (from seven years old) and abilities.
I went last year and must admit to having been a little apprehensive at first. Would I be one of the only adults there? Would I feel patronised at workshops aimed at primary school age children? Would I feel out of my depth if the teaching assumed I already knew how to play percussion? Would I enjoy it? The answers very quickly turned out to be No, No, No and YES. In fact, I would even go as far as to say it was one of the most fun events I went to all year and would thoroughly recommend it to anyone.
The workshops were led by some excellent tutors, who effortlessly accommodated everyone – and each had their own teaching method, so you didn’t feel as if you were sitting through the same lesson over and over again.
This year’s event offers eight workshops to choose from: Javanese Gamelan; West African Drumming; Brazilian Samba; Caribbean Steel Drums; Peruvian Cajón; Indian Tabla; Japanese Taiko; and Nigerian Udu.
It’s being held at The Anvil, Basingstoke from 9.30am to 4.30 pm and costs only £7.50 for a full day (four workshops) or £5 for a half day (two workshops – morning or afternoon). Now that’s what I call value for money.
For more details, see the Hampshire Music Service web site. Tickets can be booked on the Anvil’s web site.
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