Terrific Opportunity for
Woodhull Musicians
Woodhull Intermediate School's percussion ensemble participated in a recent clinic with world renowned percussionist Dan Aviles.
Woodhull music teacher Chelsea Jablon called the event a "terrific opportunity" for the youngsters. "Mr. Aviles has performed and written in places such as Spain, Cuba, Lithuania, Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands and in the United States with the American Ballet Theater," Ms. Jablon said.
This year, Mr. Aviles wrote a piece dedicated to the 14 Woodhull students who comprise the school's fifth and sixth grade percussion ensemble. The youngsters voted to name the piece, "Flurp" because the composition features PVC pipe, flip-flop and drum sticks. "Flurp" is how the students vocalized the sound the flip-flop makes when hitting the PVC pipe.
The students lined the floor in the Woodhull annex on folded mats for two hours, learning how to improve their sticking techniques and add vocalizations to their piece and how to play with more exaggerated dynamics.
"Mr. Aviles spoke about his experiences writing for young percussion ensembles," said Ms. Jablon, who coordinated the event along with fellow Woodhull music teacher Tara Adams. "The students and Mr. Aviles exchanged ideas about how to begin and end the piece, how to add movements and how the pipes could be used to make the best sounds throughout the work."
Woodhull's percussion ensemble includes fifth graders Nancy Glasscock, Cailan Polishook, Hailey Gallagher, Samantha Sgrizzi, Gerard Federici, Thomas Edgar-McNerney, William Fallon and Levy Leach and sixth graders Sarah Macedonio, Elizabeth Berejka, Isabella Scarpati, Garrett Moya and Dawson Wallace.
"The students were mesmerized by Mr. Aviles' musicianship and by his cultural Latin flair," Ms. Jablon said. "They even asked him to autograph their sticks and flip-flops at the end of their time together. Mrs. Adams and I are so proud of the students for giving 100 percent of their effort for the entire clinic. They were not afraid to take risks and they tried their absolute hardest!"