Marimbas Club At Bridgehampton Has Enduring Appeal

In 2010, David Elliott had the chance to travel to Las Vegas for a week to indulge his love of percussion and make music with revered marimba player Walt Hampton. Elliott, a longtime music teacher at the Bridgehampton School with a particular affinity for percussion instruments, said he fell in love instantly with the marimbas, and had another revelation — they would be perfect for his students.

“I saw that if you had 12 kids, you could have a full ensemble,” he said. “A traditional band would want 90 kids, a chorus would want 100. Big districts have those numbers, but for a school with just over 200 students, marimbas fit perfectly.”

Elliott is now in his 11th year teaching Bridgehampton students to play the marimbas, and his efforts have been even more successful than anyone could have anticipated. A year after giving introductory lessons to students as part of their general music education, Elliott convinced the district to purchase a set of marimbas, with the accompanying pairs of mallets for striking them. The school created an official marimbas club, which steadily drew the interest of students.

“We became this very unique ensemble,” he said. “The more people saw it, the more it got its own little buzz of popularity.”

The club became not only a popular one to join for students, but also started to gain renown outside of the school. Elliott would get calls asking for the ensemble to come play at a variety of local events, such as fundraisers at picturesque and well known locations like Guild Hall, the Children’s Museum of the East End, the Longhouse Reserve, Parrish Art Museum, Bridge Gardens, Long Wharf in Sag Harbor, Cooper’s Beach, Red Creek Park, and at several local public schools, libraries, and private events.

The club has also been invited to perform at several prestigious musical showcase events, including the American Music Festival, Mosaic Street Fair, the Superintendents Conference in Saratoga Springs, and at the New York State Legislature in Albany.

For the second year, the club has the distinction of being the only student group invited to perform at the Long Island Day of Percussion, a prestigious event set for January 21, 2022, that is hosted by the Suffolk County Music Educators Association and includes several highly respected and even globally renowned percussionists, including Dom Famularo, who Elliott described as “the percussion ambassador to the world.”

“For me, it’s a thrill that our kids get to be part of a performance that he’s in,” Elliott said.

There are currently 12 Bridgehampton high school students in the ensemble, including freshmen Evan Buccigross, Kailani Gagne, Beatrix Huberty, Sergio Lazaro, Jose Rojas Dorado, and Eustorgio Rojas; juniors Hugo Kapon, Luna Paucar, Jonah Posner, Kris Vinski and Scott Vinski; and senior Ayanna El.

Elliott said there are typically more students who want to join the club, but it is limited to 12 because the district only has 12 sets of marimbas.

“We’ve had up to 25 kids wanting to join,” he said. “So we do it by seniority.”

The club is self-sustaining and “sells itself,” Elliott said. The marimba players do a mini, 15-minute concert every Friday at dismissal, as the buses pull in, creating a joyful sendoff for the weekend. The club stays connected over the summer as well, often getting together to perform at different events.

The marimbas club will surely continue to be a success at Bridgehampton, and Elliott added more praise of the instruments and why they are so attractive to students, and present a somewhat easier entree into musical exploration than other instruments typically taken up by children, such as violin or clarinet, which require a good deal of practice and can be somewhat painful to listen to during the early stages of learning.

“When the mallet hits the bar it actually sounds like a marimba,” he said. “That’s the big attraction to it. You can do a simple song and it sounds great because of the quality of sound you’re creating.

“It’s also physical,” Elliott added. “When a student is occupied both physically and mentally, you never have a moment of discipline issues. What’s better than handing kids mallets and saying, ‘I want you to hit something for the next half-hour?’ It’s instant gratification; by the end of the first class, they’re playing a four-part song. And it sounds really cool.”

It’s clear that Elliott is enjoying himself, and judging by the enduring popularity of the program, the students are as well.

“It’s presented a great opportunity for the kids,” he said. “And I still feel like I’m just starting out in my teaching career, instead of being at the end of it.”

For video of the Bridgehampton marimbas club performing, go to 27east.com.