Percussion Discussion with Ken Bergmann

What do you get when you combine 1,600 third graders, a "smashing spectacle" of drums, cowbells, chairs and all the flash one would expect from a drummer gone amok? A little Percussion Discussion. This morning the Antioch Music Foundation has invited all the third graders in the Antioch Unified School District to learn more about percussion from the master Ken Bergmann.
In his, Percussion Discussion show Bergmann incorporates instruments from around the globe in a popular family-oriented show featuring a romp through the sound effects of Hollywood and a unique look at the computer age.
"The show will inspire these kids to become musically active. They will leave the theater experimenting with sounds and reliving the many musical moments and the humor of the show," Bergmann said. "I have run in to kids several years after they see the show and they still remember the jokes and the bits."
During the one-hour show students will hear all styles of music, including swing, Latin, jazz, rap and rock, Bergmann says he even has added some Scott Joplin ragtime and the Baroque music of J.S. Bach. While it looks like he's just a guy sitting in front of a really impressive drum set, Bergmann utilizes many instruments that students are already familiar with like cowbells, triangles and wood blocks, as well as many they might not have seen before. He uses humor to show off his rosewood marimba, cabasa and gankogui to help children remember what the unfamiliar instruments are well into the future.
Working with this age group, "is amazing to me and gives me a renewed prospective on how impressionable our youth are," Bergmann said.
Ken Bergmann is an educator as well as a professional musician and actor. As an actor he has performed the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar, Zach in A Chorus Line, and most recently Harold Hill in The Music Man.
Best known as a musician, he has performed throughout the world including the Theatre de la Ville in Paris, Royal Albert Hall in London, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Symphony Hall in Toronto and Minneapolis, as well as New York and Berlin. His performance has been featured on ABC's 20/20, NBC's Entertainment Tonight, and CBS' Evening Magazine.
The Antioch Music Foundation is able to host Bergmann's show with the help of grants from the East Bay Community Foundation and the Keller Canyon Mitigation Fund in conjunction with Contra Costa County District 5 Board of Supervisor Federal Glover's office. The show will be set in three different times to accommodate all of the students at the El Campanil Theatre in downtown Antioch.
Bergmann say that he likes working with third graders because of "their energy and honesty. They get so excited about what is happening. From the opening air drumming sequence to the final featured musical number they are on the edge of their seats."
Others who want to see Bergmann can attend his upcoming show next month at the Lesher Center for the Performing Arts in Walnut Creek. The show will run at several different times March 10 through the 14. There will be special school and group matinees. For tickets contact the Center at 925-943-SHOW (7469).