A night of playing hand drums and African dancing at BYU-Idaho has become a reality with the newly formed drum circle.
This group started a few weeks ago with a few BYU-I students that enjoy playing drums. Ian Gerszewski, a junior from Salt Lake City and Dave King a senior from Provo, Utah, both enjoy playing hand drums. They decided to start a group and involve other people because they thought it would be even more fun to play with a group of people.
“The first two weeks we’ve had a good turn out,” Gerszewski said. “Everyone had a lot of fun, and it was really cool.”
Typically, the drum circle begins with one person playing a rhythm and then everyone else joins in and adds a rhythm that fits.
“It’s kind of all just on the spot,” Gerszewski said. “It’s lots of fun because it’s different every time.”
Gerszewski said that they also had some African dancers attend the drum circle. Jenny Banfield, a sophomore from Los Osos, Calif., knows how to African dance and has been teaching other participants during the weekly drum circles.
“So now we like to advertise the drum circle as a chance to come play the hand drums together or to come learn African dancing,” Gerszewski said.
Gerszewski said anyone is welcome to come. However, the only drums the group has at the moment are the ones brought by participants, so it is best if participants can bring their own hand drums. There is no limit to how many people can come.
The drum circle meets Wednesdays from 8-9 p.m. on the Hart Auditorium stage.
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