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One man's junk, another's drums

Jason Unrau
Northern News Services

Inuvik (Jan 21/05) - Empty coffee cans, vitamin bottles and water jugs. To the untrained eye, these are items bound for the recycling bin. To Toronto-based percussionist Romano DiNillo, they are music makers just waiting to be discovered.

Thanks to sponsorship from Municipal and Community Affairs (MACA), DiNillo was able to share his secret with students from Sir Alexander Mackenzie school (SAMS) this week. And when the secret was out, the fun increased exponentially.

"It was like science class," said Grade 4 student Henry Djorgee. "Because right now we are learning about sound."

For SAMS student Dustin Greenland, the excitement was getting to make his own instrument.

"It was cool because we got to use different instruments and build some, too," he said.

DiNillo says he developed an interest in "found" percussion tools while studying music at university in Newfoundland, where he's originally from.

"My teacher, the artistic director of the orchestra, was very into sound and letting us explore sound," DiNillo said between classes. "And he encouraged us to make our own instruments."

During DiNillo's week at SAMS, he passed that encouragement on to the kids here and certainly enjoyed their reaction.

"We're having so much fun, it's been great," he said of his time at SAMS. "Pots, bowls, cans, you can use anything to make music and when you show kids this, you definitely see a light go off in their heads and that's gratifying."

DiNillo ended his visit to Inuvik with a concert in SAMS' auditorium on Wednesday afternoon. Then it was back to Toronto, where DiNillo occasionally performs with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and Kitchener Symphony and continues his work as a session drummer.