…and the xylophone, and shake the maracas, and scratch the güiro.

That’s what several dozen children—and probably their parents, too—learned about at the “Meet the Percussion” program sponsored by the New Jersey Youth Symphony (www.njys.org) on Sunday in New Providence (click here to watch the video).

Scott Simpson, percussion coach for the group, and three of his teen musicians demonstrated different kinds of percussion instruments, for different kinds of music. It’s part of the Youth Symphony’s Meet the Orchestra series. The idea is to educate kids about 3 to 8 years old about the different kinds of instruments a symphony orchestra uses.

Back in November, the focus was on woodwinds. On February 24, they will demonstrate the different instruments in a brass section. And on April 13, it’ll be the woodwinds.

Sunday’s percussion demonstration began with a marching band rhythm that featured snare drum, cymbals and a huge bass drum. It moved on to Latin beats that included maracas, bongos, and the two sticks called claves uses to beat out the 1-2-3, 1-2 rhythm — also called the clave (www.formedia.ca/rhythms/1clave.html) — that is at the heart of Afro-Cuban music. Later the musicians played the xylophone and the timpani, the tunable kettle drum widely used in classical music.

In between, Simpson and his students talked about each instrument and how it is played. When the children in the audience were asked what “percussion” meant, they all started out talking about instruments that you hit. Little by little, Simpson guided them into realizing other percussion instruments can be played by shaking, like maracas, or by scratching, like the güiro (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guiro).
 
Simpson and the other leaders of the Youth Symphony hope to nurture musical talent, whether in the full symphony orchestra for advanced students or the Orchestral String Training Ensemble, for beginners in grades 3-5.

The concerts are held at the Suburban Community Music Center (www.scmcmusic.org) of New Providence, which offers music instruction and concerts involving some 1,100 students. If you’ve got a little one who likes music, it’s never too early to get them tuned in.