Southeast Missouri State University student publication

Percussion circle is big hit among Cape community

Wednesday, September 18, 2019

The melody wasn’t perfect. Everyone was off-rhythm in their own way. A toddler abandoned her drum to crawl under a chair. Missed beats were met with laughter.

A percussion circle — such as the one led by Shane Mizicko, associate professor of music at Southeast — means more than performing a perfect rhythmic pattern. Director of percussion Mizicko leads the weekly drum circle offered by the City of Cape Girardeau Parks and Recreation Department. The circle gives residents and students alike the opportunity to learn the basics of percussion while building a sense of community.

Seated in a circle at one of Dobbins River Campus Center’s practice rooms, 22 people, young and old, participate in a series of drumming patterns based on four or eight beats per measure led by Mizicko. After learning the basics, the group practiced in a few rounds of call-and-response before tackling more complex patterns.

“It started last year as an effort to create more events for the Cape Girardeau Parks and Rec,” Mizicko said of the group’s origin. “[The drum circle is a way to offer] more events that aren’t sports. More arts, and more options for students in our community.

Mizicko said the Parks and Rec department reached out to him about the possibility of starting an arts-themed activity for community members.

While the drum circle began last year, Mizicko said the group is several years in the making. He said much of the timing depended on funding for instruments, and after some grant writing on his part, Mizicko said the group was able to obtain 25 to 30 drums. Adjunct instructor Christopher Wilson teamed up with Mizicko, not only in planning the group but also in keeping the beat during drum circles.

Community member Dick McClard said he had previously attended a drum circle event, but it was his wife Judy’s first time.

“A friend of mine heard about it in the newspaper,” McClard said, recalling his first time attending the drum circle last fall. “She called me again tonight, and said, ‘It’s happening! It’s happening!’”

For some, the drum circle is a way to relieve tension. Though the circle sounds like a well-oiled machine by the end of the event, many participants are not musically trained.

“They just enjoy it. A lot of people who come, they aren’t musicians — aren’t percussionists for sure — they just like to get away from their desk job,” Mizicko said. “There’s a couple other professors from main campus who aren’t musicians at all. They like to get away from the classroom, and they like to just come let their [anger] out on the drums, so to speak.”

Southeast junior Thomas Landewee is studying music education with a focus on instruments. As an aspiring music instructor himself, Landewee said he enjoys percussion circles for both the cultural influence and the music.

“We’ve got the cultural awareness tonight, with African and Cuban drums out. It’s a cool experience to go basically around the world,” Landewee said. “It’s educational, it’s just the basics, so that way we can not only grow as percussionists but also as a community.”

Comments