Percussioni la colonna sonora, Free Percussion Workshop at Teatro La Casetta, November 9 to 30, 2026

Percussioni la colonna sonora is a free percussion workshop for girls and boys aged 10 to 17, at Teatro La Casetta, Via Federico Borromeo 75, in Primavalle, Municipio XIV. The program includes four two-hour sessions, on Monday, November 9, 16, 23 and 30, 2026, at 17:00, plus the final rehearsals. Participation is free with mandatory booking, by phone at 334 8977384. For information you can also call 338 3707076 at Cantieri dello Spettacolo E.T.S., the association that runs the project and manages the theater. You get there by metro line A, Cornelia stop, and by buses 46, 49, 907, 907L and 916. The workshop is led by Andrea Thioune and Ady Thioune of the Sunu Africa Oumy association, and is part of We Have a Dream, the free program of shows, readings and workshops on the Constitution that culminates on December 5, 2026 in an ensemble show.

Language: a performance based on dance, music or visual acts; no English version is announced, any spoken parts are in Italian.

Four Monday afternoons to learn the basic rhythms and techniques of African percussion and, at the end, play the music of a real show. The group that forms at the Casetta isn't taking an instrument course: it's building the sound score of the final We Have a Dream show, its soundtrack. It's a precise idea, and the most successful one in the project: giving a group of teenagers responsibility for the rhythm of a collective production. Here you'll find the dates, how to book, who leads it, what gets played, what the theater is like and how to get there.

Percussioni la colonna sonora at a glance

Percussioni la colonna sonora is a workshop of four two-hour sessions, on Mondays at 17:00 from November 9 to 30, 2026, free with booking, for girls and boys aged 10 to 17, at Teatro La Casetta in Primavalle.

The four dates

The sessions are on Monday, November 9, Monday, November 16, Monday, November 23 and Monday, November 30, 2026. The program published on Roma Capitale's cultural portal adds the final rehearsals, which prepare the performance in the December show: when you book, ask for their schedule.

Time and length

It starts at 17:00. Each session lasts two hours, so you come out around 19:00. It's a time that fits with morning school but, in late November, means getting home in the dark: something to consider for the youngest.

Who can take part

The workshop is for girls and boys aged 10 to 17. The program talks about basic rhythms and musical techniques: you don't need to already play an instrument, and this opens the group to those who have never picked up a drum.

How much it costs

Nothing. Admission is free, with mandatory booking. The project is carried out with the support of the Ministry of Culture, Directorate General for Performing Arts, and won Roma Capitale's public call Lo spettacolo dal vivo fuori dal Centro 2026, in collaboration with SIAE.

What you do at the Percussioni la colonna sonora workshop

In the Percussioni la colonna sonora workshop the basic rhythms and musical techniques of percussion are introduced, with a stated goal: to build the sound score of the final show of the We Have a Dream project.

Basic rhythms

The starting point is rhythm: how to keep time, how to come in and out of a phrase, how to listen to others while you play. In ensemble percussion, individual technique matters less than the ability to stay inside the group, and this is a lesson that goes well beyond music.

Technique

Alongside rhythm there's gesture: the position of the hands, how to strike the skin to get different sounds, the physical stamina a long performance requires. Two hours a week for four weeks are enough to build a solid foundation, if the group works consistently.

The sound score

The word the organizers chose is "writing," and that's no accident. The group doesn't perform a ready-made piece: together with the leaders it composes the music that will accompany the scenes prepared by the other workshops. Entrances, scene changes, moments of tension and celebration will have their rhythm, and that rhythm will be decided here.

The final rehearsals

After the four sessions the program includes the final rehearsals, in which the music meets the rest of the show. It's the most demanding moment and also the most formative: understanding that your drum has to wait for an actor's line, or support a figure's entrance, is the real theater lesson of the program.

Who leads it: Andrea Thioune and Ady Thioune

The Percussioni la colonna sonora workshop is run by Ady Thioune and Andrea Thioune, in collaboration with the Sunu Africa Oumy association, which promotes Senegalese culture through music, dance and theater.

Andrea Thioune

The program is led by Andrea Thioune, born in 2010, who grew up in the intercultural meeting between Senegal and Italy. It's a detail that matters: the person leading the group is roughly the same age as the participants, and this changes the dynamic in the room. Always immersed in African rhythms, he plays sabar, doum doum, djembe, tama and congas, and regularly takes part in concerts with his father and uncles. He has already led percussion workshops for children.

Ady Thioune

Ady Thioune is the president of Sunu Africa Oumy. A versatile percussionist and arranger, he has been active in Italy since 1999 as an ambassador of Senegalese culture and works with the group Sunu Africa, combining musical tradition, dance and theater. His work, according to the project presentation, is rooted in the tradition of the griots, the keepers of oral and musical transmission in Senegal.

A family of musicians

Father, son, uncles: the workshop brings to the Casetta a way of learning music that passes from generation to generation, by imitation and by listening, before sheet music. It's exactly the griot method, and seeing it applied to a group of kids from Primavalle has a meaning that goes beyond teaching.

The Sunu Africa Oumy association

Sunu Africa Oumy works on Senegalese culture through three languages, music, dance and theater. The collaboration with Cantieri dello Spettacolo places this heritage inside a project on the Italian Constitution: a choice that speaks for itself about what citizenship means today in the neighborhoods on Rome's outskirts.

The instruments: sabar, djembe, doum doum, tama, congas

The instruments Andrea Thioune plays, according to the official workshop presentation, are the sabar, the doum doum, the djembe, the tama and the congas: a family of drums covering the West African and Afro-Cuban traditions.

The sabar

The sabar is the drum of the Senegalese tradition, played with one hand and a stick, and it accompanies dances, celebrations and ceremonies. It's the instrument that more than any other ties the workshop to the culture of Sunu Africa Oumy.

The djembe

The djembe, the goblet drum played with bare hands, is the best-known African instrument in Europe. With three basic strokes, a low tone in the center of the skin, an open one and a sharp one on the rim, it lets a beginner play in a group after a few sessions: that's why it's often the entry point for youth workshops.

The doum doum and the tama

The doum doums are the low, cylindrical drums, played with sticks, that hold up the rhythmic structure of the ensemble. The tama is the small talking drum held under the arm: squeezing the cords changes the pitch, and the drum seems to imitate the human voice.

The congas

The congas come from the other side of the Atlantic, from Cuba, and bring into the workshop the memory of how African rhythms traveled and changed in the Americas. Putting sabar and congas together means telling, even if only through sound, a story of migration.

We Have a Dream: the project behind Percussioni la colonna sonora

We Have a Dream is a multidisciplinary project by Cantieri dello Spettacolo that from September 11 to December 5, 2026 crosses Rome's northwest outskirts with free shows, readings and workshops for young people, inspired by the Constitution.

80 years since the Constituent Assembly

The project sets out to rediscover, through beauty and inclusion, the values of the Constitution 80 years after the Constituent Assembly, with particular attention to the Mothers of the Constitution, the women who helped write it.

An ensemble work in departments

Each workshop in the project is a department of a single production. At the Casetta, before the percussion, there's Le figure della Costituzione, the playwriting and puppet theater workshop for kids aged 9 to 14, which writes the scenes and builds the figures. Other groups work as an acting company at Intersos Lab in Ottavia and in the Comitato Bastogi hall. The percussion workshop is the music department: without it the show would be silent.

A neighborhood network

We Have a Dream connects institutions and nonprofits in Municipi XIII and XIV: the Biblioteca Cornelia, the ASL Roma 1, ATER, Intersos Lab, Teatro La Casetta, Comitato Bastogi and the Sunu Africa Oumy association. It's a geography of the outskirts that audiences from the center rarely cross.

December 5

The program closes on Saturday, December 5, 2026 with the ensemble show that brings all the departments together in a single participatory performance. The percussion kids will be on stage, or in the pit, keeping time for the others.

Teatro La Casetta in Primavalle

Teatro La Casetta is at Via Federico Borromeo 75, in Primavalle, in Municipio XIV. It was founded in 2001 as a multipurpose space for training and performance, run by the Cantieri dello Spettacolo association, and by its own definition it's aimed at kids up to age 90.

Cantieri dello Spettacolo

The association was founded in 1996 by authors and professionals with experience in film, television and theater production, and since then it has worked on teaching and cultural projects, from theater to film, from music to literature. Today it's a nonprofit, and it runs the entire We Have a Dream program with Federica Mancini as artistic director.

A box that changes shape

The theater describes itself as a tiny magic box that changes during the day: tables, tools and papier-mâché by day, audience benches in the evening. For a percussion workshop it's an ideal room, intimate and without the echo of large school classrooms.

Puppet and figure theater

La Casetta has built its identity on puppet and figure theater, a genre that, the theater argues with a touch of polemic, in Italy is wrongly left to childhood. Its program hosts companies from all over Europe alongside shows by the kids of its school.

A space for the neighborhood

The space is open to school groups, to young people who run it for other young people, and to parents and grandparents with children. That's what makes it a credible place for a project on citizenship: the Casetta doesn't bring culture to the outskirts, it has been making culture in the outskirts for 25 years.

A curious fact about Percussioni la colonna sonora at Teatro La Casetta, November 9 to 30, 2026

The most interesting curious fact about this workshop is the age of the person leading it. Andrea Thioune was born in 2010: he leads a group of peers, and some of the participants, who can be up to 17, will be older than he is. In youth workshops the leader is almost always an adult, a teacher or an established artist. Here the choice is different, and it reflects the tradition Andrea comes from.

In the griot culture of West Africa, to which the project presentation traces Ady Thioune's work, music is learned in the family and practiced in public early on. A boy who plays alongside his father and uncles in concerts, as Andrea does, already has years of stage experience behind him at 16. He isn't a prodigy, he's the result of a system of transmission different from ours, where the conservatory doesn't exist and the teacher is whoever sits next to you.

Then there's a second curious aspect. The workshop is called "the soundtrack," a term that comes from cinema. Cantieri dello Spettacolo was born from a meeting of film and television production professionals, and the vocabulary gives it away: in the We Have a Dream project each group of kids is a department, as on a film set. The music department, here, plays Senegal and Rome together. It's hard to imagine a more precise image of today's Rome.

Something nobody tells you about Percussioni la colonna sonora at Teatro La Casetta, November 9 to 30, 2026

What's rarely said is that four sessions are few, and that the real work happens in the final rehearsals. The program puts it in one line, plus the final rehearsals, but for a family it means a commitment that goes beyond November 30 and runs right up to the December 5 show. When you book, ask exactly how many rehearsals are planned, on which days and at what time: a kid who misses the dress rehearsal risks not playing on stage.

The second point concerns the time. It starts at 17:00 and ends around 19:00, on a Monday, in late November: it's been dark outside for a while. For the youngest participants, aged 10 or 11, you need an adult at the exit or a group of friends to go home with. Primavalle is a residential neighborhood, but leaving in the dark should be organized like any other outing.

The third is a matter of hearing, and no one ever mentions it in presentations of drumming workshops. About 10 djembes played together in a small room produce considerable volume. For two hours it's not a problem for most kids, but those particularly sensitive to loud noise can bring soft earplugs, the kind musicians use. It's not a sign of weakness: professional percussionists use them routinely in rehearsal.

My advice for Percussioni la colonna sonora at Teatro La Casetta, November 9 to 30, 2026

To parents, my advice is to suggest this workshop especially to kids who don't feel cut out for theater. Percussion is a way into the show that doesn't require speaking in public or acting: you stay inside the group, you play together, and everyone's contribution can be heard without anyone having to stand out alone. For a shy 13-year-old it's often the right door.

Second piece of advice: book right away. The workshop is free, places in a room like the Casetta's are necessarily limited, and booking by phone at 334 8977384 is the only way. Waiting until the week before November 9 means risking finding the group already full.

Third, on clothing: comfortable clothes, sleeves that don't get in the way of the wrists, no rings or rigid bracelets that can mark the drum skin or the hands. A bottle of water is useful: two hours of percussion are also two hours of physical exercise.

Finally, make sure you're at the December 5 show, and bring whoever you can. That's where four Mondays of work become music serving a story, and a kid who sees the audience move in time with his drum doesn't forget it.

Another well-known fact, yet rarely mentioned

Everyone knows that music accompanied the birth of the Republic: the Canto degli Italiani by Goffredo Mameli and Michele Novaro was adopted as the provisional anthem as early as October 1946, while the Constituent Assembly was working on the Constitution. Far fewer people remember that the anthem remained provisional for more than 70 years, until the 2017 law that officially recognized it as the national anthem. The Constitution, which came into force on January 1, 1948, describes the flag in Article 12, but says nothing about the anthem.

It's a useful fact for those taking part in a workshop that has to write the soundtrack of a show about the Constitution. The Constitution speaks of culture in very clear terms: Article 9 gives the Republic the task of promoting the development of culture, and Article 33 states that art and science are free and so is their teaching. A free African percussion workshop in a Primavalle theater, funded by a public call, is a practical translation of those articles.

Then there's another thing people forget. Article 3, the one on equality, prohibits distinctions of sex, race, language, religion, political opinion, personal and social conditions. A group of kids of different origins learning the same rhythm, at the same time, led by an Italian-Senegalese peer, is perhaps the most direct representation of that article that can be put on stage. The workshop doesn't declare it, but it does it.

How to get to Teatro La Casetta

Teatro La Casetta, at Via Federico Borromeo 75, can be reached by metro line A, Cornelia stop, and by bus lines 46, 49, 907, 907L and 916, according to the directions published by the organizers.

By metro

Cornelia stop on line A is the most convenient if you're coming from Termini, Ottaviano or the center. From the metro you continue by bus toward Primavalle, or on foot, checking times with the Rome public transport app. For the We Have a Dream project, Battistini stop on line A and the Gemelli and Ottavia stations on the FM3 railway are also useful.

By bus

The lines listed for the theater are 46, 49, 907, 907L and 916. If your kid travels alone, it's worth doing the route together once before November 9, in daylight, and finding the stop nearest to Via Federico Borromeo.

By car

Primavalle is outside the limited traffic zone, and in the residential streets around the theater parking is generally easier than in the center. At 17:00 on a Monday, though, traffic on Via Boccea and Via di Torrevecchia can be heavy: leave with a few minutes to spare.

Getting home

With the end around 19:00, in late November, the trip home is always in the dark. Arranging with other families in the group to take turns dropping off and picking up the kids is the most practical solution, and often the first step toward the group becoming a group outside the room too.

The right photo to take at Percussioni la colonna sonora at Teatro La Casetta, November 9 to 30, 2026

The first rule, in a workshop for kids, is consent: images of minors are taken and shared only with the families' agreement and according to the organizers' instructions. That said, there are three photos worth taking.

The first is of the instruments before the start: the djembes arranged in a circle on the Casetta's floor, the sabars, the sticks, the room still empty. It's an image that tells the story of the workshop better than any portrait, and it raises no privacy issues.

The second is of the hands. A close-up of a kid's hands on the drum skin, in motion, perhaps with a slightly slow shutter speed that leaves a trail: it's the classic percussionist photo, and with a modern phone it works even in the light of a small room. No faces, all the energy of the gesture.

The third is taken on December 5, but after the show, not during it. During the performance the phone stays in your pocket: the kids play for the audience, not for screens, and a parent who films the whole time misses the most important thing, seeing their child keep time for the others. At the end, with the drum in their arms and a tired face, the photo takes itself.

Some important events that happened here

The history of Teatro La Casetta is measured in decades, not centuries, but it's a neighborhood story worth telling. It begins in 1996, when the cultural association Cantieri dello Spettacolo was founded by authors and professionals from film, television and theater production. For some years the association worked on teaching and cultural projects, without a venue of its own for performances.

In 2001 Teatro La Casetta opened on Via Federico Borromeo, in Primavalle: a multipurpose space for training and performance that aims to welcome audiences from children up to age 90. Opening a theater on the outskirts, far from the circuit of central venues, is in itself a political choice in the highest sense of the word.

In the following years the Casetta built its identity around puppet and figure theater, with courses and a program, hosting companies from all over Europe alongside shows by the kids of its school. It became a reference point for schools, families and youth groups in Municipio XIV.

In 2026 the theater is one of the central venues of We Have a Dream, winner of the Lo spettacolo dal vivo fuori dal Centro call, with the support of the Ministry of Culture. In October and November it hosts two of the project's workshops, Le figure della Costituzione and Percussioni la colonna sonora. This year the soundtrack of a show about the Constitution is born, within these walls, from the tradition of the Senegalese griots.

Who has passed through Percussioni la colonna sonora at Teatro La Casetta, November 9 to 30, 2026

In 25 years the Casetta has mostly seen ordinary people pass through: children, teenagers, parents, grandparents, teachers with their classes. It's the vocation of the place, which the theater itself describes as open to school groups, to young people who run it for other young people, and to families with little ones.

Its stage has also seen puppet and figure theater companies from all over Europe and beyond, hosted in the program alongside shows conceived and made by the students of the theater school. For an outlying neighborhood, seeing marionette and puppet artists from other countries up close is an opportunity that elsewhere requires a ticket to a festival in the center.

Among those who bring the theater to life is Federica Mancini, artistic director of the Casetta and of the whole We Have a Dream project. In October, with Paolo Iorio, she led the Le figure della Costituzione workshop here, for the youngest.

In November the Casetta welcomes Ady Thioune, a percussionist and arranger active in Italy since 1999, president of Sunu Africa Oumy, and Andrea Thioune, the young percussionist leading the workshop. With them come the drums of Senegal, the sabar and the tama, and a way of passing on music that comes from the griots' oral tradition. And the kids of the group pass through too, who on December 5 will set the rhythm of the final show. For a small neighborhood theater it's a guest list to be proud of.

Primavalle and the area around the theater

Primavalle is a working-class neighborhood on Rome's northwest outskirts, between Via Boccea, Via di Torrevecchia and the area of the Policlinico Gemelli, in Municipio XIV.

A borgata neighborhood

Primavalle was born as a borgata, an outlying settlement, in the 1930s and 1940s, and for decades it was a byword for a tough suburb. Today it's a dense residential neighborhood, with many associations and a network of cultural outposts, of which the Casetta is one of the longest-running.

The green of Monte Mario

The nearest green spots for a weekend walk are the Monte Mario nature reserve, the highest hill in Rome, and the Monte Mario astronomical observatory. On clear November days the view over the city from the top of the hill is one of the widest in Rome.

Toward the center

With metro line A from Cornelia you reach Ottaviano in a few minutes, a short walk from St. Peter's, and then Piazza di Spagna. A Saturday in the center after the Monday workshop is a good way to make the kids feel the city belongs to them too.

Practical tips for families

Percussioni la colonna sonora is designed for kids aged 10 to 17, a wide range that goes from fifth grade to high school. For local families it's a rare opportunity: a free music workshop, led by musicians, with a concrete final goal.

Different ages in the same group

Putting together a 10-year-old and a 17-year-old is a bold choice. In ensemble music it works better than elsewhere: the older ones hold the more complex parts, the younger ones learn by imitation, as in the tradition the workshop comes from. It's worth explaining this to the kids before starting.

Attendance

The workshop is a path: what you learn on the first Monday is needed on the second, and so on up to the rehearsals. Only sign your kid up if they can guarantee attendance at all the sessions.

Accessibility

For accessibility needs, reduced mobility or specific educational needs, calling the organizers in advance at 338 3707076 is the right way. The Casetta's workshops, by vocation, are aimed at a broad and varied audience, and ensemble music is among the activities that best welcome kids with different needs.

Where to eat

With the end around 19:00, dinner naturally comes after. Along Via di Torrevecchia and in Primavalle's shopping streets you'll find pizza-by-the-slice places, cafés and neighborhood trattorias at outer-suburb prices: for a group of parents and kids hungry after two hours of drumming, a pizza together is the best way to end the Monday.

Other We Have a Dream events this autumn

If you're taking part in Percussioni la colonna sonora, you can also follow the other free We Have a Dream events in Municipi XIII and XIV, all run by Cantieri dello Spettacolo.

At the Casetta

Until November 12, in the same theater, the Le figure della Costituzione workshop is running, for kids aged 9 to 14. If you have a younger sibling, you can combine the two paths.

The other workshops

Dentro la scena at Intersos Lab on Via della Stazione di Ottavia until December 2. Immaginario in the Comitato Bastogi hall until November 27. Each group is a department of the final show.

At the library

At the Biblioteca Cornelia, Via Cornelia 45, the reading Storie di magia, amore e libertà is scheduled for November 19 at 17:00.

December 5

On Saturday, December 5, at Parco Dominique Green on Via San Igino Papa, the puppet show Princìpi con le ali at 10:00 and La valigia di Charlot, a tribute to Charlie Chaplin, at 17:30 are planned, alongside the ensemble show We Have a Dream.

November in Rome for kids

November is the month when kids' afternoon activities in Rome get into full swing: schools are up and running, sports have started again, and the municipalities' free workshops offer an alternative to screens.

The weather

In November the days are mild but rainy, and by 17:30 it's already dark. An umbrella in the backpack and a light jacket are the right kit for the trip to the Casetta.

An idea for families

If you want to broaden the theme of the Constitution, a visit to Montecitorio, where the Constituent Assembly met, on its public opening days, completes the path with the place where the Constitution was written.

Frequently asked questions about Percussioni la colonna sonora

When does the Percussioni la colonna sonora workshop take place?

The Percussioni la colonna sonora workshop takes place at Teatro La Casetta in four two-hour sessions, on Monday, November 9, 16, 23 and 30, 2026, at 17:00, plus the final rehearsals for the We Have a Dream show on December 5. Ask for the rehearsal schedule when you book.

How much does Percussioni la colonna sonora cost?

Percussioni la colonna sonora is free, with mandatory booking. The We Have a Dream project is supported by the Ministry of Culture and by Roma Capitale through the Lo spettacolo dal vivo fuori dal Centro 2026 call, in collaboration with SIAE.

How do you book the percussion workshop at Teatro La Casetta?

Booking for the percussion workshop at Teatro La Casetta is by phone at 334 8977384. For general information Cantieri dello Spettacolo answers at 338 3707076 and at cantieri.dello.spettacolo96@gmail.com.

What age is Percussioni la colonna sonora for?

Percussioni la colonna sonora is for girls and boys aged 10 to 17. The program introduces basic rhythms and musical techniques, so you don't need to already play: it's a workshop suited even to those who have never picked up a drum.

Who leads the percussion workshop?

The Percussioni la colonna sonora workshop is led by Andrea Thioune, a young percussionist who grew up between Senegal and Italy, and run by Ady Thioune, president of the Sunu Africa Oumy association, a percussionist and arranger active in Italy since 1999.

Where is Teatro La Casetta?

Teatro La Casetta is at Via Federico Borromeo 75, in Primavalle, in Rome's Municipio XIV. You reach it by metro line A, Cornelia stop, and by buses 46, 49, 907, 907L and 916.

What instruments are played at the workshop?

At the Percussioni la colonna sonora workshop you work on percussion from the African tradition: the leader Andrea Thioune plays sabar, doum doum, djembe, tama and congas. Ask the organizers for the list of instruments available to participants when you book.

Final advice

In Rome's theaters kids are almost always spectators. This workshop puts them on the other side, and on the hardest side: that of the person keeping time for everyone. If you have a child or grandchild between 10 and 17, in Primavalle or nearby neighborhoods, call right away and book. Four Mondays of drumming are worth more than many paid courses.

Article written by the editorial team of Tour Leader Pro, contact them for Private/Corporate/V.I.P. Tours and Experiences.

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