February 26, 2015

Kids play "Kashmir."



("The Louisville Leopard Percussionists... are a performing ensemble of approximately 55 student musicians, ages 7-12, living in and around Louisville, Kentucky.")

31 comments:

traditionalguy said...

Beautiful people. They need a little more practice, but so what.

mccullough said...

Nice. Good Zeppelin tune

Krumhorn said...

Very impressive!

- Krumhorn

virgil xenophon said...

The kids from my old hometown ('76--'94) did done good, sportsfans!

bleh said...

Immigrant song too.

irishguard said...

Not sure how long it took for them to learn this, but the thing that caught me was that none of them are reading sheet music, this is all from memory. Pretty good for a six minute song.

Bricap said...

Not sure that The Ocean can be translated into this format like the other two. Otherwise, great stuff. Awesome that Zeppelin still has relevance today.

Wince said...

Me likey, a lot.

Quaestor said...

What a brilliant way to teach music! The problem with music education is that all too often what ends up being taught is an instrument, which all too often gets the kid stuck in the rut of technique on that particular instrument -- trying to develop the embouchure when your adult teeth aren't all there and the overall shape of your mouth is changing, or struggling with chords when your fingers are too short to span the keys, or trying to understand temperament when your ear isn't yet able to tell equal from just, or just having to learn all those fingerings just to play a chromatic scale.

The xylophone is perfect. The scale is laid out before you.You can see that this note is higher than that note because this bar is shorter than that bar. You know the name of the note because it's engraved on the bar. There's no tuning, and there's virtually no technique, to play softly you hit softly, to play more loudly you hit harder. This frees up the student to concentrate on the fundamentals, to concentrate on rhythm and harmony, to visually understand the geometry of chords, and above all to listen to himself and others while they perform.

Later on the student can move to better, more subtle and richer instruments -- the transition will be easier because the student has already acquired a good grounding in theory, which leaves him free to concentrate on technique and not have to juggle technique and theory simultaneously which traditional music eduction has demanded.

But the biggest advantage is the ability to tackle something as composition as rhythmically and chromatically complex as "Kashmir," and not to have to dwell on mastering simple tunes.

Browndog said...

I'm a fan of this one. Professional quality-

School Kids Perform Amazing Cover Of 46 And 2 By Tool

Michael E. Lopez said...

Yes, that's right. This is what happens when you get old.

Awesome, finger-bleeding, nail-your-girlfirend-or-boyfriend-in-a-haze-of-euphoria music that was ripped out by screaming, strung-out, sweaty iconic rebels-cum-youth-Gods...

... becomes elevator music played by a fourth grader on a glockenspiel.

Quaestor said...

But the biggest advantage is the ability to tackle something as composition as rhythmically and chromatically complex as "Kashmir," and not to have to dwell on mastering simple tunes.

Should read: But the biggest advantage is the ability to tackle something as rhythmically and chromatically complex as "Kashmir," and not to have to dwell on mastering simple tunes.

The imprint of my thinking preserved forever. Of course I was going for "compositionally complex" and rejected that in favor of the more precise "rhythmically and chromatically complex," but failed to proofread accurately as usual.

john said...

Grins at 6:06. wow.

Smilin' Jack said...

Kids play "Kashmir."

I didn't click on the link. I must have a few shreds of sanity left.

Quaestor said...

I didn't click on the link.

Too bad. It would have fortified your sanity. In fact it's the most sane innovation in education I've seen in years.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

And, "The Ocean," too.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

And "Immigrant Song." LOL.

Rocketeer said...

The kids from my old hometown ('76--'94) did done good, sportsfans!

Louavull representin'. "Howdy" from a homeboy, Virgil!

Simon said...

I've heard worse versions of it. Hell, I've heard Zeppelin play worse versions of it. I guess that's what happens when (pace Michael) you rescue music from "strung-out, sweaty iconic rebels-cum-youth-Gods."

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Chase Utley might want to switch to that version for his walk-up song.

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

I don't think I've ever seen so many mallet-percussion instruments in one room.

lemondog said...

john said...
Grins at 6:06. wow.


Made me laugh!!!!

FedkaTheConvict said...

I recall seeing an HBO documentary on this same group a few years ago; they make awesome music. Hopefully they will have this professionally recorded...some of the instruments weren't audible because of the position of camera's mic but the girl in the "Puppy Love" sweater in the background was really rocking on the cymbals and snares.

LordSomber said...

Does anyone remember laughter?

Crimso said...

'The kids from my old hometown ('76--'94) did done good, sportsfans!

Louavull representin'. "Howdy" from a homeboy, Virgil!'

Same. A pretty cool music scene in Louisville. I recall the Louisville Mandolin Orchestra, and the bluegrass festivals on the Belvidere.

jr565 said...

Not all rock/pop would work as xylophone music. But this does.

CatherineM said...

Immigrant song! Very cute. Loved this. I hope the amount of views will be encouraging to the kids.

CatherineM said...

Crazy train! http://youtu.be/JPBrA3sV90A

Laslo Spatula said...

I didn't want to watch the little girls until my mud shark was ready.

I am Bad Laslo.

averagejoe said...

That was just light-years better than the Venice Beach Village of the Damned kids singing the Obama Song... "We're gonna spread happiness/ We're gonna spread freedom/Obama's gonna change it/ Obama's gonna lead 'em..."

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Better than Zep!