Moving beat of the drums

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Drumbeats offer more than the sound of wood or hands hitting a membrane.

Drumbeats strike at the core of life and reverberate with visceral vibes that can bring people to tears, said a young drummer in expressing his love of percussion.

"It's a really expressive array of instruments," said Preston Jones, 16, of Makawao, who recently returned from a prestigious summer percussion and steel band program in Wisconsin.

Percussion instruments may not be able to run up and down the musical scale as smoothly as a clarinet, flute or trumpet, or offer the harmonic chords of the guitar. Still, there is a lot of depth in the beat.

At a concert at the Birch Creek Percussion and Steel Band program that Preston attended, professional marimbist Orlando Cotto, an instructor at the University of Delaware, broke down crying as he played a piece he composed for his son.

"He was just hitting a bunch of pieces of wood," said Preston, "but the way you play - the way people hear it - it's magic."

The Maui High School drummer and son of Zenshin Daiko founders Anthony and Valerie Jones calls the percussion section the "heartbeat of the band."

"They are supplying the boom . . . the groove, like the keystone in an arch, like a heartbeat," said Preston, who will be a junior. "If it's not there, you can feel something is wrong."

Attending the Birch Creek program in Door County was the right thing for Preston. He was one of 38 musicians nationwide selected via audition to attend the Percussion and Steel Band session from July 6 to 19.

Preston had to videotape himself playing two-mallet (on the marimba), four-mallet (on the vibraphone), snare drum and drum set audition scores he downloaded from the Birch Creek Web site. The four-mallet audition was particularly difficult because he had just learned to play that technique, he said.

The percussionist in both the Maui High School Marching and Symphonic bands learned in May that he had been selected for the Birch Creek program, whose mission is to provide intensive, performance-based instruction to promising musicians ages 12 to 19 by immersing them in a professional, mentoring environment.

There were rehearsals and practice sessions from 8 a.m. to midnight with university-level music instructors and top performers as well as assorted concerts.

The program moved to a fast beat. As soon as they assembled their music, a surprised Preston heard the instructor say, "OK, let's go rehearse it."

He felt intimidated at first, likening his fellow students to "musical geniuses," some of whom had played instruments like the marimba for 10 years. Preston had had three lessons in the marimba with his private instructor Darren Duerden at Brigham Young University Hawaii.

As the program progressed, Preston felt more comfortable and like he could bang the drum with the group. His teachers complimented him on his improvisational skills, which he attributed to his experience composing pieces for Zenshin Daiko, a youth taiko troupe.

The sight reading that so threw him on the first day was a skill he worked on during his time at Birch Creek. In fact, Preston said the most important thing he learned at the program was "sight reading" for auditions.

His instructors told the students "to look at the whole page as a work of art," he recalled. The devil may be at the end: A rapid tempo at an easy beginning may evolve into hell at the closing when the score calls for faster and more complicated rhythms.

"When you develop a tempo in your mind, you can get through it without making a fool of yourself," he said.

By the end of the program, Preston had impressed his teachers so much they named him first runner-up for the 2008 Percussion Award at Birch Creek.

Preston learned about himself, his musical skills, his strengths and weaknesses. The experience strengthened his drive to major in music in college and earn a doctoral degree.

Drumming has been a part of his life since he was 4 years old, when his parents put a taiko, or Japanese drum, in front of him.

"I started watching taiko videos instead of 'Barney,' '' he said.

The spirit of the drums came to him at a young age when he internalized rhythms and beats, and learned "how to play with your heart and soul," Preston said.

"I don't know if it's an acquired thing or if I loved it, because I just did."

* Lee Imada can be reached at leeimada@mauinews.com.