We were delighted to welcome Jo May to our April meeting for a workshop in playing the spoons.
Jo is a professional Orchestra Playing Percussionist with an avid interest in the art of spoon-playing. She is particularly interested in its folk music applications in Ireland and in the American Bluegrass Hillbilly tradition. Jo outlined the different types of spoons you can use from ordinary metal spoons to plastic measuring spoons.
She then took us through the different techniques of making music with them, starting off with gentle taps, how to do drum rolls and how to develop rhythm.
We ended with everyone joining in a singing and spoon bashing version of What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor. We’ll let you know when we form the West Ealing WI Spoon Players Band!
We’re still keeping a close eye on updates from the Government and very much hoping that our May meeting will be the last one on Zoom.
We can’t wait to get back into the community centre and see our members in person again, especially those who haven’t been able to join our online meetings.