Show I I uo 8 by Mindi Beal photos by Mitch Mascaro When he was 3 months old Dennis Griffin met his grandmother for die first time She recorded the moment in her journal noting Griffin’s peculiar habit of beating on his arms chest and head with his tiny fists a CD 2 Just a newborn’s quirk? Perhaps But meeting Griffin today might have you thinking otherwise With three decades of music edu- cation including Director of Bands for Utah State University on his resume Griffin has spent the last 10 years devoting time to his real musical love: percussion He has students eagerly following the path — all to the beat of their own drum course But drummers they’re not Not exclusively anyway “It’s interesting to be a percus- sionist these days because there are many percussion instruments in die world " Griffin said “Every cul- ture has its one set of percussion instruments whether it’s a log dram or a tambourine or a little bowl- - Fred Simspson leads a rehearsal group in African dramming techniques ' If they shaped drum (from India) (his students) want to play profes- sionally in a studio or an orchestra they certainly need to understand how to do a little bit of everything and be really proficient in two or three really important areals” Griffin provides future percus- sionists with that environment to great success Seven of Griffin’s pupils placed first in the Utah Percussion Festival held in February and in some instances they made a sweep of their category Their ages ranged from junior high to university level something Griffin fuufo beneficial for him as well as the students “I start with high school junior high school students I like to train my own players in a sense because hard to find good players in said “Some of my best university players have been Utah-Griffi- n taking lessons since they were m the fourth grade They just wok into our ensembles They have that extra experience in playing in that ensemble setting” the ensemble Griffin referred to playing this past Monday in die Kent Concert Hall at Utah State combined the USU Percussion Ensemble the Caine Percussion Ensemble (elite scholarship dents) and the Cache Valley Percussion Ensemble (high school students) for their venture into the limelight It’s a place percussionists at any age seldom find themselves in “I guess it’s a little more impor-o- f tant for them than ensembles for other instruments because many times a percussionist in an orchestra or band kind of has a peripheral role” Griffin said “In the percus-s- o sion ensemble it’s all percussion and the students play all the melody and all the harmony and everything that goes on It’s just a continuous experience for them they just don’t get in other ensembles” Another unique experience was being under the instruction of African drummer Fred Simpson Griffin arranged for Simpson to not just solo in Monday’s ensemble but to broaden his students’ horizons to the musical world around them Highly regarded in African drum- ruing Simpson was a sound choice for a Cache Valley classroom “ It’s really been a tremendous experience for than and they’ve been able to play learn- ing some techniques that theytye never understood before and getting into some music that’s totally 'Hew for them” Griffin said “We sometimes tend to thinkihat our kind of music is the most won- derfiil but when you start stydy-itfrom other cultures you musk ing find out that it can be very complex very interesting very exciting” ' eye-openi- : ’s |