The Global Drummers Alliance of St. Paul, Minn., is calling all drummers on Saturday, Jan. 14, to pick up their sticks and join in for the “Hunger Beat-Down,” a grassroots movement to raise awareness of world hunger. As part of the initiative, drummers from around the world will simultaneously play a traditional snare drum solo beginning at 2 p.m. CT on Saturday to raise awareness and encourage citizens to help feed starving children by making contributions to well-known charities like Unicef and Feeding America. Some of Drum Corps International’s groups like the Jersey Surf that will be meeting for its January rehearsal camp this weekend in Sicklerville, N.J., will be participating. “By taking just a few minutes from our rehearsal schedule this weekend, we hope to engage a few folks in considering the massive scale of those throughout our country and the rest of the world who suffer from malnutrition, and to perhaps further consider taking action to help,” Jersey Surf Executive Director Bob Jacobs said. The idea for the “Hunger Beat-Down” came from Marv Dahlgren, a former principal percussionist for the Minnesota Orchestra and an author of several instructional books on percussion. “I’m concerned that the world is not paying enough attention to the incredible famine that exists in Africa and other countries across the world,” Dahlgren said. “I believe those of us who live in the richest nation on earth owe it to the starving children of the world to help them survive the ravages of famine. I want to keep beating the drum to make sure we don’t forget about the millions of children who are losing their lives every day to starvation.” Anyone who’d like to participate on Saturday, can read about the percussion solo “Three Camps.” The piece replicates the rudimental drumming used by army camps during the Civil War to communicate with each other. The following video shows the solo being performed.
