Hit Like A Girl Introduces Drum Summit World Drumming Program

An open letter from David Levine, Executive Director of Hit Like a Girl Contest:

Being Executive Director of Hit Like A Girl over the past 8 years has been a tremendously humbling and rewarding experience. Since we started the contest in 2012, the growth of female drumming around the world has been incredible— creating a movement if not a revolution. And, from what I’ve seen, there are many young female drummers who will perpetuate this growth by becoming major influences on other girls and boys in the next few years.

While our efforts to grow the market have been successful, up to now Hit Like A Girl has primarily focused on expanding the drumset segment of the community. Recently, it occurred to me that a focus on hand drumming could also be effective since hand drums are perhaps even more prolific, diverse and accessible to women than the drumset. 

With these thoughts in mind, I am proud to introduce a new Hit Like A Girl program called Drum Summit™. Drum Summit is not a contest. Instead, it is an online promotion designed to encourage and empower girls and women to play hand drums and share their drumming experiences. Drumsummit.com and our social pages will feature a variety of educational resources along with professionally and community-created content. Simultaneously, we will create guidelines and downloadable, multi-lingual promotional materials to facilitate “Drum Summits”, female drumming events organized by local, independent drummers, all over the world.

We have put together an advisory board of the world’s top female percussion artists, including Mona Tavakoli, Valerie Naranjo, Marla Leigh, Noriko Terada, Dani Markham, Jacqueline Acevedo, Nasrine Rahmani, Roni Bat-Or Parnass and others and we are currently seeking support from the percussion community. To learn more, please email us at info@hitlikeagirlcontest.com to comment or request a copy of the Drum Summit presentation.

Special thanks to Dom Famularo and Peter Greco for their invaluable contribution to Drum Summit.