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The idea to drum-up awareness of world hunger came from Marv Dahlgren, who was principal percussionist of the Minnesota Orchestra for forty-eight years and is a celebrated percussion educator and author. Marv explains:
"I believe those of us who live in the richest nations 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 millions of children who are losing their lives every day to starvation."
If you're going to participate, you can interact online with the Alliance’s website, www.drumforfood.com, so that you can play along with the host performance of the solo, which will be streaming live in real-time from McNally Smith College of Music in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Marv Dahlgren has worked closely with percussionist David Stanoch to organize the hunger beat-down. David is a prolific drummer who has played with some of the best-known musicians around the world and is a noted educator and award-winning author. Dahlgren and Stanoch both teach at McNally Smith College of Music.
David adds:
"The goal is to raise awareness. We are not collecting money. There are excellent, vested organizations such as UNICEF and more with the means to accept donations already in place, and we encourage people to donate to them. We are using the drums just as they were used ages ago in Africa: to send a message. People are starving. Right now. We believe if more people understand that, more people will help to turn the tide."
