Bang Bang Drum School starts a week today! It’s a new venture for us and we’re very excited that you and your little ones will be able to join us. In the meantime, we’ve included some info about ourselves and the ideas behind the project below.

Explanation of the project:

As parents and carers of young children, who regularly take our little ones to music groups, we noticed that there are no classes in Islington that cater specifically to the development of drum practice, percussion and rhythm making. The music groups that do exist are largely based in Angel and can be prohibitively expensive.

We strongly believe that musicality should be encouraged from an early age and accessible to everyone. Our aim is to bring free music classes to the Cally so that parents and children from all backgrounds are able to attend.

The impact we want to make:

Music tuition tends to start around the age of five, but preschoolers are already musicians. We want to encourage their creativity and teach them through play. We’ll show them that listening is an integral part of music and that the spaces between the notes are just as important as the notes themselves.

Who are we?

Laura Rogatchevskaia has been playing the drums since the age of 16 and a Cally resident since 2014. She has played in various underground bands and experimental music projects, performing across the UK and internationally. Her aim with Bang Bang is to provide children with a space in which they can express themselves rhythmically, in a play-orientated environment that incorporates experimental and DIY aesthetics.

Janine A’Bear is an electronic musician, DJ and sound artist. She has performed at venues such as Cafe Oto, Corsica Studios and Rye Wax as well as the Supernormal and End of the Road festivals. Janine has worked as a childminder for over 10 years and is also a qualified yoga teacher and gong practitioner.

Ilia Rogatchevski is an artist and writer specialising in adventurous music. Ilia has lived on the Cally since 2004 and was a peer mentor at the Copenhagen Youth Project. His audio-visual installations have been exhibited in various galleries across the UK and abroad. He’s a regular contributor to Resonance FM and Wire magazine.