The Tivoli Drum Corps recently started weekly brass music instruction at Alpha with Alpha School of Music’s brass tutor, Leon Ince. The corps, which has a storied musical past that includes numerous national competition victories and participation in international events, acquired the instruments through a grant from the Culture, Health, Arts, Sports, and Education (CHASE) Fund as part of its music in schools programme.
Tivoli drum corps director, Rohan Douglas, said the goal for his programme is to create opportunities and music is a great way to do that.
"Our brass section is made up of youth 11-15 years old who love music, want to be a part of something positive in the community and learn skills to grow as a person", he said. "The drum corps is how they see themselves moving forward so the partnership with Alpha is very important to us because it will help our students achieve their dreams."
Alpha has a respected history for training many of Jamaica's most accomplished brass musicians such as jazz innovator Dizzy Reese, ska pioneer Johnny Moore and reggae veteran David Madden, to name a few. Mr Ince started at Alpha this academic year with a goal of strengthening brass music education and performance at Alpha and across the community. The partnership is equally important to Alpha and Mr Ince expressed gratitude for the opportunity to work with the Tivoli Gardens Drum Corps, saying, "Brass music is a central part of Jamaican music as well as marching music. Drum corps is an international format of performance, and it's a great opportunity for these young musicians." He continued “I'm glad to be able to help get the young kids involved and looking forward to seeing how far they can go.”
