Through our partnership with LS20 Community Music, Guiseley School were pleased to present an exciting opportunity for our young musicians to engage with a percussion/drums workshop last week. 15 of our young musicians from across all Key Stages attended a percussion workshop with Peter Birkby.
Peter has been the percussionist with Dame Shirley Bassey’s band for over 30 years as well as enjoying a career in session, concert and theatre music. Some of the other artists he has accompanied are Andrea Bocelli, Michael Ball, Michael Crawford and Les Dawson to name just a few! He’s toured the country with numerous tours such as the Peppa Pig Live Concert and Elvis – The Concert. He’s worked with renowned orchestras such as the BBC Philharmonic, Opera North and British Philharmonic. Peter has also composed and arranged over 650 works!
Our students spent time learning about, and playing, multiple pieces of orchestral percussion including vibraphone, glockenspiel, and our timpani’s to name a few… all in addition to drum kit.
Students composed three short pieces with Peter in the workshop. Some older students were able to get tips and tricks on refining their technique in the complexities of orchestral percussion.
If you have ever attended one of our concerts, you’ll have seen aspiring drummer and percussionist Max A on stage. He attended the workshop and had this to say: “The workshop was an extremely interesting and enlightening experience to be a part of. It really helped me fully understand the capabilities of the percussion instruments and I can’t wait to put it into practice."
Violet, who has only been drumming for a matter of weeks, said “I enjoyed the workshop from last week because it was fun learning about different percussion instruments and hearing about Peters experiences. I also really enjoyed how we all worked together to create a small piece of music. Thank you so much!”
