![\"Drummers](\"\/echo\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/IMG_20170502_160817838-300x169.jpg\")
Denny McGuire leads Michael Kral, Kim Glarner, Riley Huppert, Thomas Engesser, Omot Bawar, Samatar Sufi, Faysal Muhumed, Sonia Elsaadany and Zack Logdahl in a World Drum Ensemble concert. The class is open to all students, regardless of musical background. (Echo Photo by Lydia Hansen)<\/p><\/div>\n
RCTC\u2019s music scene is as diverse as its student demographics.<\/p>\n
Home to a traditional choir and concert band, a jazz ensemble, the show choir Aires, and a community of electronic music composers, RCTC boasts its own drum ensemble.<\/p>\n
The World Drum Ensemble, taught as a class by music instructor Denny McGuire for almost 16 years, is a percussion group that learns and performs music from a variety of cultural backgrounds not often represented in the typical college music program. The music the ensemble plays has origins in Brazil, Cuba, and West Africa, as well as the American South.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou could say we play music from the African diaspora,\u201d McGuire said.<\/p>\n
The music he teaches originated from the slave culture of the Americas and contains elements from traditional African cultures that were incorporated into the musical styles of the countries where African slaves found themselves. For instance, Afro-Brazilian samba music is one style the ensemble plays frequently. Different salsa styles from the Afro-Cuban musical culture are also popular, as well as music from the Caribbean and West African countries like Ghana.<\/p>\n
As a primarily percussion-based performance group, the World Drum Ensemble doesn\u2019t usually incorporate other instruments, which could be used in these different musical styles. They do, however, occasionally add vocals to the pieces they perform. One popular concert piece is from Cuba and features students singing in an Africanized Spanish dialect.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis presents a challenge because you can\u2019t look up words,\u201d McGuire said, but part of the ensemble\u2019s goal is to perform the music as authentically as possible. \u201cWe don\u2019t make anything up. It\u2019s real music from the cultures we\u2019re representing.\u201d<\/p>\n
For this reason, most of the drums, bells, and other instruments used are authentic as well.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re actually playing drums that are from Brazil,\u201d McGuire said. \u201cI had the opportunity to buy some of the drums about 15 years ago, so they\u2019re authentic instruments for this music from these cultures.\u201d<\/p>\n
Aside from performing a concert at the end of each semester, the World Drum Ensemble also performs around Rochester during the summer. This year, they\u2019ll be playing on July 1 as part of the International Mutual Assistance Association\u2019s \u201cWalk Around the World\u201d event celebrating World Refugee Day.<\/p>\n
One of the best things about the ensemble, however, is that all it takes to become part of this diverse group of musicians is enrollment in the World Drum Ensemble class, which is available for the fall semester.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t need to know anything about drumming or music,\u201d McGuire explained. \u201cWe\u2019re wide open to anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Lydia Hansen Managing editor RCTC\u2019s music scene is as diverse as its student demographics. Home to a traditional choir and concert band, a jazz ensemble, the show choir Aires, and a community of electronic music composers, RCTC boasts its own drum ensemble. The World Drum Ensemble, taught as a class by music instructor Denny […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-campus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1273\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rctc.edu\/echo\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}