Roots Of Rhythm Expands Music Education Outreach With Training Workshops

David Levine, Director of the Percussion Marketing Council's "Roots Of Rhythm" program, has announced the successful completion of the organization's first three Trainer Training Workshops and confirmed that a fourth session has been scheduled for Austin, Texas this coming November. Levine further reports that over two dozen ROR Trainers will be certified through these initial training activities; increasing the potential reach of the program from 150 to 750 new classroom teachers, and as many as 25,000 students, per year.

Featuring ROR author and Master Trainer, Dr. Craig Woodson, the first two-day Trainer Workshop took place at the Remo Recreational Music Center in Los Angeles, CA from April 26-27 with the second occurring at Cuyahoga Community College in Cleveland, OH on June 12-13. A third workshop took place from August 13-14 just outside Washington, DC at the Music Educator's National Conference (MENC) building in Reston, VA which has recently been designated as "The National Center for Music Education".

The DC Trainer Training Workshop was followed by a one-day Teacher Training seminar that allowed the newly certified ROR Trainers to gain valuable experience working with classroom teachers under Dr. Woodson's supervision while also providing ROR training to the local teachers.

The year's fourth ROR Training Workshop will include both Trainer and Teacher training days and will be held at the One World Theater in Austin, TX from November 7-9; coinciding with the Percussive Arts Society's International Convention in the same city. Under the direction of Hartt and Iluminada Stearns, One World Theater has become one of the southwest's premier music performance and education venues in the southwestern United States.

The PMC's Roots Of Rhythm school music education curriculum is written by noted ethnomusicologist, Dr. Craig Woodson, and combines core academic subjects with hands-on instrument building and music making. Since 2004 over 1000 teachers have taken workshops presented by NAMM, PMC, Dr. Woodson and the International House Of Blues Foundation and have incorporated the innovative curriculum into their classroom activities — bringing the benefits of music participation to tens of thousands of children.

This year, as interest in the program continued to grow, a second tier of workshops was initiated so that the PMC could establish its own national network of certified trainers and become more effective in meeting the needs of teachers and students.

Roots Of Rhythm is sponsored by the Percussion Marketing Council with major funding from NAMM. Additional support for the recent ROR training activities was provided by MENC, Remo, Pro-Mark, LP, Toca, Regal Tip and Universal Percussion. Additional training sites and dates are pending. For registration and information on Roots Of Rhythm and upcoming training events as well as a complete list of ROR Certified Trainers, please go to the Roots of Rhythm website.