Missouri State University’s Percussion Studio recently held its first Discovery Day learning clinic for area middle and high school students.

Thirteen area students participated in the event, held in April this year on the Springfield campus. Participating students came from Springfield’s Cherokee Middle School, Central High School and Parkview High School as well as Neosho, Nixa and Ozark schools.

Students did not need to audition to attend, according to Dr. Yun Ju Pan, assistant professor in the Department of Music. “Anyone with an interest in learning percussion is warmly welcome,” she said.

The Percussion Studio consists of all music major and minor students who take private percussion lessons. The result is a sense of community and collaboration, Pan said. “For us, the Percussion Studio is like a family—a place where students learn, hang out, practice and rehearse together. They are constantly learning from and supporting one another.”

Clinic emphasizes “educational empowerment”

Ten current Missouri State percussion students volunteered their time and energy to assist Pan with Discovery Day. They were Liam Wilson, Lyndon Wilson, Liliam Moreland, Alice Peccati, Gaius Morgan, Gregory Sallee, Simon Shinski, Thomas Williams, Tristan Claxton and Wyatt Schaecher.

“This was not a traditional university-hosted percussion event centered around guest artists, competitions and performances,” Pan said. “Instead, the heart of this project was educational empowerment—placing my students in teaching roles and asking them to become clinicians for younger percussionists.”

In fact, getting her students to think as clinicians proved to be one of Pan’s biggest challenges.

“This involved much more than simply assigning them to teach,” she explained. “They had to design clinic topics, create teaching materials, think carefully about age-appropriate instruction, mentally prepare themselves to lead and communicate with confidence.”

The outcome impressed Pan however, as her students took their responsibilities seriously.

“They took ownership of their clinics, invested in preparing materials and approached the experience with professionalism and care,” she noted. “It reinforced my belief that teaching can be one of the most powerful forms of learning. Developing educators is just as important as developing performers.”

Project serves as pedagogical model

Now Pan has a successful model for continued percussion education with the Discovery Day project. “[It] combines performance, mentorship, experiential learning and community engagement in ways that benefit teachers and learners,” she said.

In November, Pan will present her “Percussion Discovery Day” research at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Project inspired by childhood memories

Pan’s experience as a young percussion student motivated her to start “Discovery Day” at Missouri State.

“It was always inspiring to see the stars of the percussion world,” she remembered. “Those experiences definitely gave me a model of who I wanted to become one day.”

One thing about her experience bothered her, though. “Many times, when world-class artists gave clinics, younger students did not fully understand everything being presented,” she said. “Of course, planting seeds of inspiration is valuable. But from a practical educational perspective, what I often wanted most was direct feedback. I needed someone telling me exactly what I was doing wrong and how I could improve in that very moment.”

Students make the best teachers

As an adult, Pan feels somewhat removed from the perspectives of middle and high school students. But her own students, themselves recent products of middle and high school percussion programs, are not.

“They still understand the perspective of younger students in a way that I no longer directly can,” Pan explained. “They remember what concepts felt confusing, what kind of instruction was most effective and what would have inspired them at that age.”

What better way to teach younger students than to have her own students involved in the teaching process, she thought.

By the end of the clinic, Pan felt vindicated watching her students grow in both confidence and knowledge. “One particularly memorable moment involved one of my freshman percussion majors, who was anxious about teaching,” she recalled. “By the end of the event, he came to me and said, ‘I actually helped teach, and it wasn’t bad! I’m ready for next year.’ Students began to see themselves not only as performers, but also as educators.”

Another Discovery Day next year?

Pan has an ambitious vision for the next Discovery Day.

“Next year, we hope to make the event even stronger, welcome even more participants and continue growing this vision,” Pan said. “My hope is that this peer-led educational model can become a defining characteristic of the Missouri State Percussion Studio, something that reflects not only artistic excellence, but also leadership, mentorship and a culture of collaborative learning.”

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Photos provided by Yun Ju Pan.

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