We are proud to announce that our biggest corporate drumming event this year took place at the Cheltenham Race Course for the Mid Counties Cooperative.

Six hundred delegates participated in a mass percussion session using the fabulous Boomwhacker Tubes. What an amazing event it was! Thanks to some the highly skilled production crew, the opening sequence was particularly memorable. Here is an account of how the event ‘kicked off’: Explosive drumming performance!

We have been running African drumming workshops for the Year 4’s at Mount Junior and Infants School since 2006 and we look forward to the event every year. This year was our fifth time at the school and every year it gets better and better. The first time we worked with the Year 4’s in 2006, we had a performance at the end of the day for all the children’s parents and the rest of the school. A very brave pupil from the class jumped into the drum circle space and did an amazing dance as the rest of the class drummed a pounding rhythm. The next minute two other children came into the space; then another and another. A couple of seconds later and it was ‘pitch invasion’!

Since that momentus day, a tradition in the school of dancing to the drumming has become firmly entrenched. There is a code that everyone follows – dances are performed by one or two children at a time, the drummers mustkeep drumming and the children learn to switch over and never hog the dance space.

Each class looks forward to being in the Year 4 when it will be their time to have a go. The Year 6 and Year 5 children who previously had a go still get involved in the performance by jumping into the dance space.

Like any business, running a drumming education company is not easy. During the really hard times, every business owner must sometimes ask themselves – is it all worth it? When we go to Mount Junior and Infants School we always get the answer – YES! This is what bringing a taste of African culture into schools is all about! Seeing the fantastic legacy year after year. It is incredibly rewarding and uplifting seeing children who never forget the experience and who are no longer afraid to dance and move! Every year we get to see how drumming, dance, music, culture – it all makes a huge difference to their lives!