On Monday, our South African Music class took a field trip. We went to St. Dominic's Priory - and were treated to a marimba concert by their high school students.
In music class, we had previously learned that marimbas were brought into South Africa from Zimbabwe in the late 70's, as an initiative of Father David Dargie. He had been charged with the task of making Roman Catholic music more accessible to African worshippers. Marimbas are tuned to notes similar to original instruments of the Xhosa people. (With some minor key notes, the marimba scale is also closely linked with American blues!)
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| This girl could really play the bass line! |
The St. Dominic's students started with a concert for us. Having all auditioned in 5th grade, they had been making music together for at least 4 years. They were not playing liturgical music, however, but the most recent of pop tunes!
Then, our students were given a lesson. The beauty of the marimba is that with only a brief lesson, anyone can play it.
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| Joe played bass... |
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| Meggan & Molly played tenor.. |
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| Adding in the background percussion.. |
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| Anyone could play! |
Another fun lesson and day. I want to go back to college full-time!
You would fit right in at college! You look great in this photo along with the other students.
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