Check out the full flyer below.

An inspirational program designed to celebrate creative, innovative thinking, build strong self esteem and install confidence. Thirsty For The Sky is just the thing for your organization’s next conference, retreat, symposium, festival, orientation, celebration, graduation…any culminating or initiating event.

This Program works well for high school, college and adult audiences. Most of these songs carry positive NLP language patterns so the constructive thoughts get stuck in your head more effectively than affirmations.

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Here are the songs from the CD:
(I haven’t yet recorded the spoken word/storytelling part of the program. In addition I’ve written dozens of additional songs that support this theme since recording this)

Overtone Overture: Overtone Singing, African style yodeling, throat whistling and the “wooo” sound accompanied by a huge frame drum.

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Thirsty For The Sky: Title song expresses the longing many of us feel for being unlimited and empowered rather than victims of our own self talk.

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Victory Song: This song is full of “Why” questions that Noah St. John calls “Afformations” because they are questions they are more powerful than affirmations. The questioning process engages your Unconscious Mind to filter for the presupposed answers. Having a rough day? play this song quietly in the background. You will be delighted with the shift to a more positive state by the end of the day.

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Arise, Arise: A song about rising up to new levels in response to challenges.

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Coming Home: A drum song about personal healing.

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Spirit In A Body: We are spirits with bodies not bodies with spirits. Big difference!

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Children of the Drum: the story of my African drumming teacher, Kevin aka Kazi Oliver and I met, connected and influenced each other even though we came from widely different backgrounds and cultures.

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Be Patient With Your Drumming: Based on a saying by the Shona people of Zimbabwe

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Beautiful Person: a quieter, more meditative version of this song. The original version is from my Visions & Voces CD. Slightly altered the lyrics after learning about NLP language patterns.

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Field of Dreams: This really happened.

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Why Is It Possible?: Using NLP presuppositions as well as the powerful effect of asking questions has on the unconscious mind, this chant is designed to run in the background of your day alerting your “Reticular Activating System” to “filter” for possibilities. To learn more about this process check out http://ModernJedi.com

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Better Than Expected: One of the concepts I live my life by: Why does it work out better than you can possibly imagine? In NLP reframing we take anything that seems bad and find a way to turn it around. It’s technically called “reframing”. Hopefully I’ve managed a bit of humor to get the message across. BTW that’s Joe Mennonna playing a real Tuba in the back ground.

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Best Day of Your Life: Inspired by my reading of Carlos Castaneda books. A warrior lives as if each day, each moment is his last. Turns out to be really good way to have an incredible life.

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Ancient of Days: A spiritual but not religious song.

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Fly, Fly, Fly: A lot of sky and flying themes fill my music. someday I will take those hang gliding lessons or get my pilot’s license!

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Back To College Programs

Back To K-12 School Assemblies

Back To Corporate/Non-Profit Programs

• Campus Coffeehouse/Concert Stage – When you need something different to uplift the spirits and attract an audience with plenty of humor as well as thought provoking and mesmerizing content that goes beyond mere entertainment.

• Festivals, Special Events, Multi-Generational Concerts - Ideal for special events where the audience might include younger siblings, parents or grandparents or folks from the larger community beyond campus.

Below are a few samples of Mark Shepard’s DrumSongStory selections appropriate for College audiences:

Narcissism: A humorous look at what we all know is true… (accompanied by Irish Bodhran)

Hippie Girls: Another humorous song (accompanied by guitar)

Rain On A Tin Roof: A Joyful Love Song

Raven Stops The Rain: A Creation Story From Siberia. this is one of the many stories I tell where I hadn out dozens of sound effects instruments for the audience to play. (Studio Version)

These are just a small sampling of songs and stories available for any given performance. I draw on over 400 songs written over a lifetime and countless folktales and original stories to mix and match for a unique concert experience your audience will remember for years.

check out these other programs:

• The Drum of The Elephant King: My most interactive program
• Thirsty For The Sky: Drums, Songs & Stories About Daring to Live Your Dreams
• All My DrumSongStory College Programs

For booking Call 888-598-7709 or e-mail me at Mark [at] MarkShepard.com

Featured Theme for Multicultural Family Night Program: “Beyond The Borders – Drums, Songs & Stories Celebrating Cultural Collaboration”

Learn more about my programs suitable for: K-12 Assemblies & Family Concerts Concerts

]]> http://drumsongstory.com/family-concert-reactions/feed/ 1 http://drumsongstory.com/teacher-reactions/ http://drumsongstory.com/teacher-reactions/#comments Thu, 04 Jun 2009 04:11:11 +0000 Mark Shepard http://drumsongstory.com/?p=350 Teacher Reactions from Halliwell Memorial and Smithfield Schools, Smithfield, RI, after Mark Shepard’s DrumSongStory performances Winter of 2009

Program Theme: “Beyond The Borders: Drums, Songs and Stories Celebrating Cultural Collaboration”

Introducing the Frame Drums

Mark performs “Curiosity” a “DrumSongStory” where Mark plays the drum, sings and tells a story all at the same time.

Mark Shepard plays “Bob the Big Drum” with the assistance of a young audience volunteer

Mark Shepard demonstrates some cool Djembe techniques to a young audience volunteer

You can Play the song here. Right click the download link to save it to your computer

Music is a Bridge | February 2008 | Song #380

I look at you and see different
You look at me and see the same
I look at you and see magic
You look at me and see the world explained
Out of the fog and distance
We can find a way to dance
Out of the cold and darkness
We can find warmth and happiness

Refrain:
Music is a language
That connects us like a bridge
Meet me in the middle
Meet me at the edge
Music is a story
That connects us like a thread
Meet me in the middle
meet me at the edge

If you sing with words
That I don’t understand
Still my heart will comprehend
Whatever’s been torn or broken
Music always helps to mend
Whatever is too straight or rigid
Music always helps to bend
Our love of music makes us friends
Our love of music makes us friends

Refrain:

If you are alone, far from home
(Still the song remains)
Whatever you’ve lost or broken
(Still the song remains)
If you’re a stranger
In strange land
(Still the song remains)
Won’t you join me
In the melody?
(Still the song remains)
Now let’s add
A little harmony
(Still the song remains)
La la la la la
(Still the song remains)
Nu Waba Walangi
Chi Mazi Maya Tu Gatta
Still the song remains

Refrain:

You look at me and see different
I look at you and see the same
You look at me and see magic
I look at you and see the world explained

Commentary: I wrote this song while visiting a friend in San Francisco. It was commissioned by Bill Rodman for the Letters To Daddy Musical. The story I was given for the context was that the main character of the musical has just gotten into trouble for something at school. As a result she ends up in the principals office where she meets a new girl. The new girl is an orphan from Uganda, Africa who has been adopted by an American family. The two have nothing in common…except their love of music.

The larger idea here is that we can find cultural connections in a lot of ways. Music is one of the best. Irish musicians are using African percussion, African drummers are including the Irish tin whistle. And on it goes.

To hear more of my songs visit: MarkShepardSongs.com

- Mark Shepard, New Haven, CT

p.s. please “digg” or “stumble” or “Facebook” or Twitter this okay?

p.p.s. Follow me on Twitter at http://Twitter.com/MarkShepard

• How Drums Came To Be

• Why Leopards Aren’t Vegetarians

• Why Monkeys Live In Trees
  

• AND…
  

• Why You Never Mess With A Drummer’s Drum Without First Asking Permission…

This story is featured in two of my DrumSongStory Programs: Trickster Tales and The Talking Drum.  It can also stand alone as a humorous and refreshing 20 minute keynote that is guaranteed to liven up the most serious corporate conference.

This telling was recorded live at an elementary school with several audience volunteers assisting me on Djun-djun, Djembe, and “Bob the Big Drum”.

To book this program now call 1-800-378-4971 or e-mail mark[at]markshepard.com

See what other DrumSongStory Programs are available for:

• Schools, Family Concerts
• Colleges, Universities
• Corporations, Non Profits, Conferences

I’ve also held instrument making workshops just before a performance of Drum Of The Elephant King so that the participants can be an integral part of the show.

Here’s a small audio sample so you can hear how I use these instruments in my DrumSongStory programs:

Part One: How To Make A Rain Stick (Kid Quality)

Ages: 7 and older.
Time Needed: Approximately one hour for basic work. More time to decorate.

Materials:

1. Cardboard Tubes.
   a. Simplest – paper towel rolls.
   b. Best sounding – 24″ Postal Tubes with a diameter of 2″-2 1/2″. (they usually come with end caps and can be ordered 50 at a time).
2. Nails one quarter inch shorter than the diameter of your tube.
3. Hammer.
4. Tape – Masking, duct, clear packing, or contact paper.

How To Make It:

1. Draw a spiral along the length of your tube.
2. Hammer nails along the spiral approximately one finger width apart.
3. Fill with popcorn, rice, beans etc.
4. Cap ends
5. Cover nail heads with tape or contact paper.
6. Decorate. One innovative teacher uses brown shoe polish over strips of torn (rather than cut with a scissor) masking tape. The result looks kind of like wood)

For Really Young Children (ages 4-5) you may want to try the following two alternatives:

1. Instead of hammering nails, you can wad up small pieces of newspaper and fill your tube with that. Then put in the pop corn. You may need to experiment with different size wads.
2. One innovative teacher suggested using an egg carton. Put the pop corn or beans and rice in an empty egg carton and tape closed. Turn so the stuff falls from compartment to compartment.

Part Two: How To Make A Rain Stick (Professional Quality)

For Older Instrument Makers (Middle School to Adult). This is how I make my own professional quality rain sticks

Materials:

1. ABS Pipe (black, lightweight w/excellent sound quality) or PVC Pipe (white easy to find but heavier than ABS -  3-6 feet in length, 2 inches to 2 and 3/4 inches in diameter
2. Bamboo barbecue skewers
3. Sandpaper
4. Colored tissue paper
5. Water Based Polyurethane
6. Brush
7. Rubber end caps
8. Electric drill with bit
9. Filling material – popcorn, rice, dried peas etc.

How To Make It:

1. Take a piece of ABS or PVC pipe, (the lighter weight black grade ABS Pipe is the easiest to work with. It is also louder. I think you can get it at electrical supply stores.)
2. Drill holes in a spiral approximately 1/4 inch apart. You might want to mark the holes a head of time. But a little bit of free form is alright too. The holes should be large enough to accept the bamboo pegs snugly but not so snugly that they are impossible to hammer in.
3. Cut the bamboo barbecue skewers into peg lengths that are just shorter than the diameter of the Tube. In other words you want the peg to go across the open space of the tube but not jam into the opposite side.
4. Hammer pegs into holes. If the fit is nice and snug there is no need for any glue.
5. Sand it so that the ends of the skewers are flush with the outside surface of the pipe.
6. Experiment with different amounts and kinds of filler material. I started favoring dried peas because they are nice and round. But pop corn is a bit louder.
7. Cap the Ends. I find that the rubber caps available at plumbing supply stores work well but eventually loosen up. After having the end caps fall off at the worst moments, spreading popcorn and rice all over the place in themiddle of a performance (  I started gluing them. Elmer’s Glue only works for a while…So far the only thing that seems to hold is painter’s caulk or super glue (both of which can be messy and nasty).
8. Decorate – When I decorate my rainsticks I tear or cut tissue paper into small pieces and then paint them onto the tube with water based Polyurethane. The result is a very pleasing multicolored overlapping “Decoupage” effect. I then add several more coats of the Polyurethane (“glossy” is the shiniest but “semi-gloss” works too) for a deep shine sanding lightly between coast with a very fine grit sandpaper. When I have the black kind of pipe I just sand it and poly it. The ends of the skewers make a beautiful pattern on the black tube.

Time Needed: Depending upon the length of pipe you are working on, it could take anywhere from 4 to 10 hours of work to complete your rainstick. However, when it is done it will last a lifetime and give a lot of pleasure to anyone who plays it.

Tip: I have found that local plumbers and plumbing supply as well as electrical supply companies are quite generous in donating scraps of PVC pipe (some as long as 6 feet!) for making rainsticks. The rubber stoppers I use for the ends though are a couple of bucks apiece, but worth it for their protective value! Before you actually spend money on this project, give these folks a call and see what you can scrounge up. Good luck!

he How To Make Cool Sound Effects Instruments Series:

• How To Be A Shaker Maker
• How To Make A Cuica (a.k.a. Chicken In A Cup)
• How To Make a Rain Stick
• How To Make Wind Tubes
• How To Make An Ocean Drum
• How To Make A 2X4 Xylophone, Old Wrench Xylophone, Wind Chimes etc.
• How to Make A “Paint Stirrer Rhythm Stick”
• How To Make A “Paint Stirrer Stir Drum”

To book one of Mark Shepard’s DrumSongStory programs now, call 1-800-378-4971 or e-mail mark[at]markshepard.com

See what other DrumSongStory Programs are available for:

• Schools, Family Concerts
• Colleges, Universities
• Corporations, Non Profits, Conferences