Most people who are familiar with Dave “The Waz” Wasik know him for his phenomenal drumming skills. But there’s another side of Wasik; a much softer and quieter side of the musician. When Wasik isn’t drumming, he’s instructing children how to create miniature books from scratch.
Typically, Wasik visits schools, or attends events, where he provides the children with the blank books, which he then helps them to build out with words and drawings. I posted on Wasik’s work back in 2017, when he paid a visit to children at Canalside (see here).
Along with the rest of the creatives, and instructors, Wasik is taking his teachings online. He’s already started conducting a series of episodes where he not only incorporates lyrics into his child-friendly act, he also adds some super fun electronic music, which is very captivating. Wasik’s body language, intriguing sounds, musical abilities, and storylines, are the perfect remedy for pent up kids who are looking for some artistic inspiration.
At the end of the video, featuring the ‘song’ Ickle Me, Pickle Me, Tickle Me too by Shel Silverstein, Wasik talks about his Create A Mini-Book program. He even reads aloud one of the books from one of his learners. Intrigued about Wasik’s ability to take his whole program online, I decided to ask him a few questions about the relatively seamless transition.
What’s it like to move the show online, with a different type of audience?
I have done this before, basically filming myself playing drums solo showing that you can communicate a wide range of feelings and emotions at the instrument, without having to use words.
The show must go on! Did it come together naturally?
I just produced it by myself, thinking about stuff design and the message that I wanted to get across.
What about the material? The subject matter?
The choice of material was important as well – I have always been a big Shel Silverstein fan, so the message comes across with conviction… and I love building original compositions around his work – so much fun!
What’s it like to go live in person to shows on the internet?
Working and putting up videos online is nothing like working with the public… I’m a social animal and I like to be in touch with people… but if this is what we got for now then I can learn something from it and hopefully my message is getting across clearly.
What’s next?
I will continue exploring the work of Shel Silverstein – there is a large body of it. I enjoy coloring his text with modern sounds, with the end result being something interesting in the form of tone poems. His work was not only created for children but for adults as well – kind of in the way another favorite author of mine Roald Dahl did.
If you like the video episode that I posted here, then be sure to tune into The Waz’s Facebook page tomorrow – he will be posting his next lesson at 4pm. You can keep track of the rest of his session posts by following his page.