Debbie Does Music: Fun-do-mental Music in Thousand Oaks

Ya’ll saw the Harvest Moon the other night, right? It was big and beautiful. The specialty of the harvest moon was that it rose in direct correlation with the sun setting. this was because of the fall equinox. It actually hasn’t happened since 1991, and is known as the Super Harvest Moon this year.

This was cause for celebration. And in Thousand Oaks, David DePalo, owner of the new Fun-do-mental Music studio, decided to celebrate with a free-form aleatoric jam (for us simple folk, it was a music jam).

DePalo, holds a master’s degree from the Peabody Conservatory of John’s Hopkins University.He’s worked in the film industry for the past fifteen years as a composer and orchestrator. “I’ve played classical guitar since I was eight. I jammed in my basement all through high-school and that’s how I knew such a concept [as Fun-do-mental Music] was possible.” says DePalo. ” You don’t need to be a trained musician to make music. It’s a simple as howling at the moon.” Which is what it felt like Wednesday night.

After taking pictures and warming up to the participants, a participated by banging on the bongos like a good music lover! My kids keep reminding me that Debbie Does NOT, in fact DO music…I just write about it. But here is proof, to everyone, that even I, a writer more than a player, can get down and howl with the best of them.

There aren’t just drums at Fun-do-mental. There are all kinds of interesting instruments. Some that make you go hmmmmm. I had to ask David about some of them. “The concert bass drum and 34″ Han Chi Chau Symphonic Tam-tam are favorites with the kids. As is the Water Phone, which is a bowed percussion instrument the emits eery sounds like whale song. I personally love the Khamak, an exciting drum that has a string attached to the head which you strum with a plectrum to create frantic, thrilling rhythms. The harmoniums and pixie harps are fun, too. And everyone loves our double bass.”

Not only can you come to one of David’s jam sessions (he updates his website frequently with dates of upcoming events), you can also have parties and take lessons there. “For a while I kept the studio completely acoustic. But we score a short film for kids’ parties, and one day I cut some old sci-fi scenes of a space ship landing and taking off into that movie. So then, of course, I had to get a Theramin!”

The studio is clean, modern and comfortable. It’s a wonderful place to create music, or take a class. Check out everything Fun-do-mental Music has to offer our community.

Printed by permission. Visit Debbie's blog @ http://www.exurbmagazine.com/