Birch Creek Acquires a Bevy of Percussion Instruments

(Left to right) The instruments are pictured in Juniper Hall with Birch Creek Executive Director Alan Kopischke and Percussion & Steel Band Program Director Ben Wahlund. Ben inspected, inventoried, assembled and tested the instruments, which were purchased through local supplier Heid Music Company, Appleton, and Steve Weiss Music, Pennsylvania.

Birch Creek Music Performance Center announces the acquisition of 20 percussion instruments and supporting hardware for 2013. This important contribution toward music instruction, learning, and performing at Birch Creek was made possible in part through a grant from The Raibrook Foundation.

The instruments include concert chimes, a 36” Chau gong, a snare drum, a field drum, a five-piece Yamaha stage drumset, five performance cymbals, three classic wood congas, a pair of bongos, and a five-note set of temple blocks.

Birch Creek faculty members have augmented this project with donations. Symphony Session percussion faculty member, Bobby Everson, donated a gong stand, and Ben Wahlund, Program Director for the Percussion & Steel Band Session, donated two conga cases. In 2012, a donation obtained through Jazz Program Director Jeff Campbell added a five-piece restored Gretsch drumset to the existing percussion instrument inventory at Birch Creek.

With the percussion instrument acquisition project, Birch Creek provides for future curriculum stability that is independent of the availability of borrowed or rented instruments.