Fun With African Drumming

It really was just that – FUN! And informative, interesting, and eye-opening. On Wednesday, Aug. 11, at the Poy Sippi Public Library, local musician Vicki Jenks truly demonstrated that music is the universal language of mankind. The program was part of the Read Africa grant received by the library in April. Ms. Jenks, percussion director of the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestra, brought along a large collection of instruments from Africa and other countries and demonstrated the unique qualities of each one while relating anecdotes about her visits to Africa. In the first picture above, she is playing the African djembe. In the second picture she and program attendees (l-r Sonny Sonnenschein III, Coleen Sonnenschein, Angela Nehring, John Nehring) are making music together using a variety of instruments. Although attendance was small, everyone had a great time and went home knowing a lot more about African music!