Percussion Ensemble

The KPHS Percussion Ensemble is a full-year, curricular course. Students will perform four major concerts throughout the year in a variety of styles including a Prism Concert and a Pops Concert. The Percussion Ensemble is designed to prepare students to perform on a wide variety of percussion instruments as well as read pitched and rhythmic notation fluently. All members of all other bands, chamber groups, and jazz groups must first be members in good standing in either the Percussion Ensemble or the Concert Band. The fundamentals of tone production, ensemble playing, musical interpretation and style, rhythm studies, scale and chord studies, and basic musicianship are all important elements of the Percussion Ensemble curriculum.

The Percussion Ensemble performs a wide variety of music including transcriptions, SoCa, West African drumming, cadences/street beats, and music written specifically for percussion ensembles. The group regularly employs the use of a rhythm section and/or wind players to add depth and authenticity to their performances.

All students enrolled at the Honors level also perform in chamber ensembles. Chamber ensembles are small, conductorless groups in which each student has their own unique part. Each group meets after school, one day a week, with a coach to prepare for two performances - one in January and one in May. The music faculty believes that Chamber Music represents the added rigor of the Honors curriculum, as it stretches each performer to act as a soloist ALL of the time. It also holds students accountable to one another which is a valuable skill in life!

The Percussion Ensemble curriculum is sequential, rigorous, varied, and concept-based. When you look at the additional ensembles and chamber groups, as well as the access to private lessons with highly qualified professional instructors, one can begin to understand the depth of the instrumental program that is in place.