TalkingDrums is both the name of the ensemble and a project in its own right: the university’s student percussion ensemble is called TalkingDrums and a three-phase music pedagogical project also goes by the same name. The project has an accompanying concert program that is also called TalkingDrums.  

The TalkingDrums project – a concept for teaching music

TalkingDrums is a three-phase music pedagogical concert project. The project has evolved over the years under the guidance of the student percussionists and the university lecturer Klaus Dreher. Likewise, Klaus Dreher and the TalkingDrums percussion ensemble from the university were responsible for implementing the project across the State of Baden-Wurttemberg in co-operation with local organizations and schools.  

- Phase 1: "Guest lessons“ individual members of the ensemble visit local schools and take part in their lessons usually several days ahead of the concert date

- Phase 2: The school concert itself: the concert is scheduled to take place around midday in the local host’s concert hall and the concert is adapted to suit school children with respect to duration and so on.  

- Phase 3: Evening concert: a performance with a comprehensive program for the whole family with tickets available for purchase.  

The artistic foundation for the project is the concert program that bears the same name: TalkingDrums. These concerts are performed as a series of evening concerts for the general public with tickets available for purchase.

To celebrate the concerts and if the opportunity arises the ensemble performs a special concert for the local school children. Preparations for this concert can be targeted through a series of workshops, in which the musicians introduce the children during their music lessons and either individually or in groups, to the world of percussion music. The same workshops can also be used to pre-rehearse the parts of the concert where the school children are to participate using a live albeit reduced audience.  

Alongside the music itself, other integral parts of the concert include moderation and the aforementioned participation consisting of clapping and stamping as well as a refrain type of battle cry, which is integrated into the music performance and triggered on cue. The moderation reflects the program selection and usually tracks the evolution of percussion music drawing parallels with the history of human civilization.