The Percustra pedagogy was invented and developed by the founders of Les Percussions de Strasbourg, with the help of Pierre Boulez, in the early 1970s, and has since been disseminated throughout the world. It uses a collective teaching approach that sets itself apart from academic approaches to stimulate each individual’s creative potential.
Percustra’s aim is to open up the art of percussion to a wide audience. Beginners, amateur and professional musicians, children and adults alike can discover a form of music that expresses itself in all media, where creative freedom – in sound and movement – takes precedence over academic constraints.
Percustra is an active, collective approach to music that puts perceptive notions such as listening, breathing and pulsation into perspective. For a long time, the Percustra approach favoured the performance of existing works (some of which are borrowed from the ensemble’s repertoire) as well as works written to measure for a group identified by a composer (through a commission). From now on, Percustra will be based on composition by the participants: any personal idea by a student can be incorporated into the collective work, with the teacher (a musician from the ensemble) rewriting or adapting the score throughout the workshop.
The Percustra project consists of six weekly workshops, led by the ensemble’s musicians, from September to June in the Percussions de Strasbourg instrumentarium (rehearsal and instrument storage room). Two of the workshops are open to all, at very reasonable prices, to residents of the Eurometropole’s so-called priority neighbourhoods (QPV), with no pre-requisites or musical experience necessary. The other four workshops are aimed at schoolchildren, and are being run in conjunction with two classes from the Erasme and Truffaut collèges, and two classes from the Jacqueline and Brigitte elementary schools, in partnership with the Erasme and Truffaut priority education networks, the JEEP association and the Cité Éducative.
Percustra 2025
This year, Les Percussions de Strasbourg are putting on a giant karaoke show! Participants will be imagining the musical contours of the event, alongside the Pelicanto and HTP Chante choirs. The final concert will be a big party on the forecourt of the Théâtre de Hautepierre!
Led by Thibaut Weber and Youjin Lee, soloists with the ensemble, in the Percussions de Strasbourg instrumentarium (where the instruments are rehearsed and stored), these workshops are designed to help you discover percussion instruments and develop your creative potential through a collective and experimental approach to music.
Whether you’re a beginner, an amateur, a teenager or an adult, come and discover music that expresses itself through all kinds of media, and let yourself be surprised!
Percustra adult
with Thibaut Weber
From age 10 with an accompanist, beginners or amateurs, no musical pre-requisites. Capacity: 15 people.
Tuesday evenings, 6.30-8.30pm
tuesday january 21th 2025 – trial session
Tuesday 28th January 2025
Tuesday 4th February 2025
Tuesday 4th March 2025
Tuesday 11th March 2025
Tuesday 18th March 2025
Tuesday 25th march 2025
Tuesday 22nd April 2025
Tuesday 29th April 2025
Tuesday 6th May 2025
Tuesday 13th May 2025
Tuesday 20th may 2025
Tuesday 3 June 2025 – GENERAL REHEARSAL
Thursday 5th June 2025 – CONCERT
Percustra young
with Youjin Lee
From the age of 10 to 18, with previous Percustra experience or group music experience. Capacity: 15 people.
Monday evenings, 6.30pm to 8.30pm
Monday 20th january 2025 – trial session
Monday 27th january 2025
Monday 3rd February 2025
Monday 24th February 2025
Monday 17th March 2025
Monday 24th March 2025
Monday 31st March 2025
Monday 28th April 2025
Monday 5th May 2025
Monday 12th May 2025
Monday 19th May 2025
Monday 26th May 2025
Monday 2nd June 2025
Tuesday June 3, 2025 – GENERAL REHEARSAL
Thursday June 5 2025 – CONCERT
CONDITIONS
Beginners, amateurs, teenagers aged 10 and over and adults.
Apart from the date of the dress rehearsal and the concert, the schedules are given for information only and are subject to change. After the 1st trial session, participants are required to pay the registration fee and attend all sessions up to and including the final concert.
Registration fee: €50
3€ for residents or workers of the Hautepierre / Cronenbourg district and Strasbourg’s QPV. Please enclose proof of address (telephone bill, electricity bill, etc.) or proof of employer’s address.
HOW DO I REGISTER?
On paper: fill in the registration form and send it to Percussions de Strasbourg, 15 place André Maurois, 67200 Strasbourg.
By e-mail: to , including all the information requested on the paper form.
WHERE DO THE WORKSHOPS TAKE PLACE?
Percussions de Strasbourg
15 place André Maurois – 67200 STRASBOURG
Opposite Auchan-Hautepierre (car parks accessible via the surrounding shops)
Accessible by tram: Line D, ‘Paul Éluard’ stop or Line A, ‘Cervantès’ stop.
More information from Lucie Andrès, +33 (0)3 88 27 75 04 / rp[@]percussionsdestrasbourg.com
In 2024, the groups performed the pieces they had created together during the workshops held over the course of the school year, around a single major piece: La Muraille, alongside professional musicians from Percussions de Strasbourg and Percussions de Treffort, an ensemble that brings together disabled and able-bodied musicians. The two ensembles also worked with a group of disabled people who opened the show on 6th June.
In 2023, the Percustra workshops were an opportunity to discover the world of composer Hugues Dufourt through his piece ‘Sombre Journée’, composed for the Percussions de Strasbourg in 1979, which plays on the distorting mirrors of flows, densities and acoustic volumes.
In June 2022, the Percustra concert was part of the Percussions de Strasbourg anniversary festival. To celebrate, Szenik followed us throughout this series of events and interviewed our participants:
This action is being carried out as part of the Strasbourg Eurometropolis City Contract and the territorial application agreement for the Hautepierre priority district.
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