Percussion Workshop

History, Philosophy & Goals
In conjunction with YAMAHA® Sounds of Summer Percussion Camp

Marching Percussion Week:

Focus is on fundamental skills of the marching percussion section. Students get hands-on experience with snare, tenor, bass, cymbals and sideline percussion. Special sessions with guest clinicians. All participants perform in a marching percussion ensemble.

Concert Percussion Week:

Hands-on sessions cover all facets of contemporary percussion (including; timpani, keyboards, Steel Drums, Latin percussion, and drum set) as well as special sessions with guest clinicians. Opportunities for hands-on participation are a vital part of the daily schedule. All participants perform in a percussion ensemble.

History:

The Percussion workshop began in April of 1988. It actually had two beginnings.

First, Mr. Hohner wanted to host a “day of Percussion” similar to the Michigan Percussive Arts Society event which had seemed to fizzle out in the years previous. He formed a committee of students to organize the event. Warriner Auditorium and Moore Hall Kiva on the campus of CMU were the chosen venues. The major percussion products manufacturers were contacted and each enthusiastically supported the event by paying fees for nationally renowned clinicians (see list on page 2) and furnishing items for door prizes and display. Mr. Hohner’s philosophy was that all student percussionists should be well-rounded in all facets of performance, and the variety of clinicians was clearly indicative of that way of thinking.

Each Workshop in the early years featured a major performing artist. These artists conducted daytime clinics and performed an evening concert. Public school group performances were interspersed throughout the two-day event. That percussion Workshop was funded through registration fees, concert ticket sales, and program advertising. There were approximately 300 registrants each year, the feature concerts also sold well in the community.

The second beginning was in the 1988-89 School year, when Mr. Hohner was approached by CMU Summer Program Coordinators (I believe it was called “School of Extended Learning” at the time). They had been running a successful Drum-Major program and were interested in expanding to include Auxiliary units (i.e. Percussion and Color guard). In the summer of 1989, under the auspices of “Drum majors & Auxiliaries Camp”, approximately 19 high school students participated in the 1-week event, which was held in the dorms on the south end of CMU campus. Although the enrollment was disappointing, the experience was not, and many of the students returned year after year. Enrollment was approaching 70 students after 3 years.

After the 1993 summer camp, it became obvious that we had outgrown our “auxiliary” status. Resources and space became a problem. It was then that Mr. Hohner decided to look into the possibility of combining the two events into one. Thus began, in the summer of 1994, the two-week program in the same format as it continues today.

From 1994 to 1999 enrollment continued to climb and students of all ages (12yrs – adult), and from throughout the U.S. took part. There was talk of adding a third week to meet the growing demand. Then, with Mr. Hohner’s sudden passing in the fall of 2000, it was decided to suspend the workshop for the time being. Then, in the summer of 2002 it was revived under the H.I.P. name at Alma College. In 2007, enrollment surpassed even our best years at CMU with 71 participants in the marching week, and 81 in the concert week.

The workshop still has the nationally renowned clinicians and exciting concerts that were the mainstay of the original 2-day event, as well as the in-depth, enthusiastic hands-on instruction and student performances which the summer program became known for.

Philosophy & Goals:

As previously mentioned, Mr. Hohner’s philosophy was that all student percussionists should be well-rounded in all facets of performance.  The Workshop’s educational goals are firmly based on this philosophy.  This is a sample student schedule during the marching week:

The “week 2” Schedule looks much the same, but also includes Marimba class, Steel Drum ensemble, and an assortment of exploratory units ranging from Music Theory and Jazz Improvisation to Basic Hand-drumming techniques and Repair/Restoration of instruments.

Results

It is difficult to measure the success of the Workshop. There is no Standardized test for music, nor would we ever want there to be.  There is no balance sheet that will show great financial gain, but there has continued to be enough capital to go at it yet another year. The best that can be shown are the smiles and experiences that are taken home each year. What is accomplished in two weeks each summer is to bring those of us that care deeply about our art together to share and teach the next generation. Instructors come back year after year. One of our most experienced says:

“… I have been a part of the summer program since its inception, and it is still the most musically fulfilling experience I have each year.  I have attended many nationally acclaimed summer music programs, since my own days as a student throughout my professional career as a teacher and performer. Still, I have found nothing that gives me greater satisfaction than spending my time sharing the art of percussion performance with my friends and students in the Hohner Institute of Percussion!

Surveys have been taken at the end of the workshop each year. The results are invariably in the 95% favorable range. The best way to understand what has been accomplished is by hearing what the participants have to say. At left are just a few of the hundreds of positive comments that have been collected.