JASON KIHLE

I've been teaching since 1999 and am proud of my career.  I've recently become an advisor for the Dhol Tasha group here on the campus of Texas A&M University-Kingsville.  This is a group of international students from India who have taken the initiative to start their own drum group.  They are very motivated and I look forward to working with them.

  In  the spring of 2013 I received a $9,500 grant from the Texas A&M University-Kingsville to start a steel drum band.  The purpose was not only to start a group but to involve the community in some way as well.  After purchasing pans from Kyle Dunleavy, I arranged to have CJ Menge come from Austin to start our program.  He has started many programs in the Austin area and is a wonderful teacher.  I attended his Steel Band Camp, Inside Out Steel Band Camp, two summers ago, and it was a wonderful experience.  I learned so much from him and he is such a warm spirit to be around.

  CJ came to campus at the beginning of the fall semester in 2013 and helped us start the pan program.  He led rehearsal and spoke some about the history of pan, then we took a break for a BBQ.  The video on the left is from the morning rehearsal.

  After the BBQ we learned some more tunes and then put on a short concert.  The video on the right is from that concert.

After rehearsals during the semester, we were ready for a series of three concerts.  (Special thanks to Randy Fluman for various assistance throughout this process, and especially in his assistance during these rehearsals.  They were on Monday nights at 8:00 pm and he was very generous with his time.)  We gave an evening concert at the University, an afternoon concert at King High School in town, and then went to the Kingsville Public Library for a morning concert on the third day.  The video below is from the Kingsville Public Library concert.

In the spring of 2013 the percussion studio at TAMUK gave its 1st Annual World Music Concert.  Included on the program were Makuta songs.  The recording from that concert is below.

The percussion studio at TAMUK put on its 2nd Annual World Music Concert in the spring of 2014.  The first half of the concert included three pieces for world percussion: Old Toby by Brad Dutz for three pandieros, Tumbao Talk by Julie Davila for conga, and Jam Box by Ron Coulter for three cajons.  Check out the videos below.