February 15, 2017
by Roger McKinney

New Grammy Award winners Third Coast Percussion on Tuesday stopped at Lee Expressive Arts Elementary School, where the band entertained and interacted with students.

Third Coast Percussion, from the Chicago area, won its first Grammy on Sunday, for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance. A student asked the musicians how it felt to win the Grammy.

Band member David Skidmore said the award feels good because they had worked really hard for a long time. He said it’s more fun to perform and interact with students.

“This is why we do what we do,” Skidmore said.

Band members talked to the students about rhythm, melody and timbre, describing the latter as the color of a sound. Band member Sean Connors explained metal timbre, wood timbre and drum timbre. Connors said they used spaghetti pots from Ikea for the metal timbre.

“If you practice really hard for a really long time, you, too, can play spaghetti pots,” Connors said.

A timbre game involved students placing their hands on their heads when they heard the metal timbre, on their faces when they heard a wood timbre and on their stomachs when they heard a drum timbre.

Band member Robert Dillon played faster and faster as the students tried to keep pace.

Fourth-grader Jillian Lybeck-Brown said after the performance that the timbre game was fun, but she couldn’t keep up.

Third Coast Percussion used a conch shell in one piece. Third-grader Jayden Moody said that was his favorite part of the performance.

“I liked it because it’s cool that you can turn nature into an instrument,” Jayden said.

Dillon said after the performance that the band loves playing for elementary school audiences.

“There’s a certain joy in elementary-age kids,” Dillon said. “It’s fun and exciting to share with them something new. Kids are completely open to it.”

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