Ben Sloan is a dancer when he drums. Watching him play feels like watching a conversation between him, his instrument, the other musicians and you as a viewer. Ben’s love of music has led him to many interesting collaborations such as traveling the world touring with Why?, playing shows with his band Lazy Heart, and most recently teaching at MyCincinnati, a free after-school program for students who are interested in learning music but don’t have access to programs at their schools. Ben is presently in the process of taking his passion for music to the community, by building a Percussion Park in Price Hill.
This week we met Ben at his studio in Northside and the park site in Price Hill to see where he is in the process.
Ben visited his father’s woodworking studio in Virginia for help in creating many of the wooden drums and instruments. “Tongue Drums” are cut from wood and are tuned by carving out bits of wood from the bottom of the “Tongues.”
A lot of the material used to create Ben’s instruments has come from scavenging the Moskovitz Brothers metal yard.
The lot where the Percussion Park will live is next to a bus stop with no bench or shelter. Ben has had multiple passerbys ask him if he can build them a bench. Ben is now trying to incorporate this public need for seating into his plans.
More updates to come, thanks Ben!