WELLINGTON percussionist Andreas Lepper is the kind of man you wish was your grandfather. He has a fabulously dry sense of humour made better by his thick German accent and he’s very, very funky.
Lepper’s been a part of many of our greatest bands since he moved here from Germany in 1982, including loosely arranged band Bongmaster, which featured more than a dozen of Wellington’s best musicians. His main creative project at the moment is Balkan gypsy brass band Niko Ne Zna.
Lepper’s day job is also in music. He runs percussion workshops for team building and has shared the magic of music with special needs children for 35 years. Lepper sees percussion instruments as ideal for teaching anyone with limited musical knowledge.
“Percussion is instant. You hit a drum and there’s a boom. There’s also a variety of instruments to use so you don’t have to do a whole lot of motivating, you just put the instruments in front of them and watch them go.”
Lepper, who is constantly in trouble for banging things on the table and has to test the sound of every handrail he passes, thinks many parents are in danger of stifling potentially musical children.
“Kids start hitting something and they get trampled on, being told ‘stop that, that’s annoying’. That behaviour discourages kids rather than helping them to grow.”
Lepper is running a free workshop at Te Papa where everyone is encouraged to whack away, even those with “two left hands”.
“I’ve got a tonne of instruments with ambient sounds for those who are too young or too unco to keep a beat. I’m of the Miles Davis attitude that there is no wrong note. If you play anything with conviction at any point in time, it is right. Only hesitation can give you away.”
And the Beat Goes On, 12:30-1:30, The Marae, Level 4, Te Papa, January 4.