Drummin at COEUS International and WILSON HS

Schools have sure changed - and then again, some haven't changed at all.

My own memory conjures large, loud cafeterias smelling like a combination of pepperoni and bleach, providing young people with "ham"burgers containing probably 60% soy protein; mac n cheese made with velveeta; canned green beans; square pizza with extra grease. Libraries containing practically no books about politics or other cultures, except for the encyclopedia, where you could learn about the continent of Africa in less than 8 pages. Hallways with identical rows of lockers; classrooms with identical desks; history and English classes without a pinch of critical thinking added. Memorization was all the class required for a good solid A. In fact, too much analysis might make the teacher suspicious. I suppose all of this is why I leaned towards music. Though being in band was like leaving behind any hope or dream for popularity and stepping into eternal geekdom, well i really didn't care. Music was a way to express myself and get away from the mundane, reptitious, colorless, cultureless enviornment that for the most part was SCHOOL for me.

Lucky for me to have landed here in DC 6 years ago and to have fallen in love with the djembe, for it seems everyone else can't help but do the same. Everywhere I go with my car brimming over with drums (10, 20, 30...), no matter how much toil and trouble i go through to get there, it's always worth it. The way children (and adults!) respond to the drums - with vigor, excitement, enthusiasm ... enough to actually FOCUS for more than 2 seconds ... makes my life a blessed one.

On Wednesday, i took a trip to the COEUS International School to provide a drumming workshop for 20 of their students, mostly 5th and 6th graders. The school requires that students work towards fluency in one other language besides their first. Taking up one floor of an otherwise very regular-looking building near UDC, the school is shaped like a donut and, as you walk around, you come across rooms that are more like little cultural centers; Cantonese, Spanish, French, Arabic, and the list goes on. The school houses roughly 80 kids at this time. The 20 I was lucky enough to have in my circle were of many different backgrounds - in these new schools, it seems to go without saying that the student body EMBODY diversity. it's quite beautiful to see all of the children working together, as if they had forgotten their own barriers without necessarily denying each culture's significance.

One of the first things I ask the kids to do is explore their drums - feel the skin, feel the wood, turn them over and look inside, smell them, make a noise inside the hollow part (this one is always hilarious). Then, i have them begin a roll with both their little hands in the center of the drum. it gets louder - and louder - and louder - their faces become red and smiley - their eyes bulge - it's a phenomenon all it's own. I could see two of the teachers look at each other and point upward, as if concerned about the upstairs tenants. this always makes me smile, because i firmly believe drumming should simply be allowed to resonate anywhere it likes...well, within some reason of course. at the end of the class, one question I get at almost every one of these workshops is - doesn't it hurt your hands? And then comes the best part of the day...when all the children jump out of their seats to come feel my callouses and ooh and ahh at their marvelousness. after this particular session, the Spanish instructor asked to interview me. Two very young women asked me a couple of excellent questions and I gave answers, which will be posted on the COEUS Podcast in the next couple days - so be sure to check that out! www.coeusis.org.



Today - Thursday - my friend and drumming student Laura Lee invited me to Wilson HS where her son's humanities class was carrying on a celebration and study of Africa in the auditorium. Much more similar to my own memories of school, but with much better technology of course, Wilson is a public school in good standing. One of the remaining few, unfortunately, but for more on that topic see www.saveourschoolsdc.org - my friend and cohort Zein El-Amine has created a wonderful coalition to help stop the privitization of education, wherever that's possible.

The student body at Wilson, some seemingly a bit stoned, still responded enthusiastically to the drums. When we arrived, a trio of young men were reading a strange script that included a little something about drugs and something else about money - I'd wished I'd been there for the intro - and then a couple of young women talked about beadwork and batik designs. There were some clouded over eyes but many of the students had really attempted to create the scene by wearing African garb of one kind or another, and bringing some interesting foods for a small buffet-style setup near the back.

I came on the scene, and Laura's son Christoph began passing drums around.
Leaning on my more recent conversations with Baile, my teacher, (www.bailesadw.com), and also a conversation I recently had with Liberian storyteller and healer Vera Oya Yaa Anna (http://www.storynet.org/Programs/Directory/view.php?id=1000815), I asked them not to touch the drums just yet - then launched into a calm (because it was morning) description of the power of the instrument. It can invoke the ancestors, fire up a room of people, even just one drum can affect the energy of an enormous crowd. They must come to the drum with that knowledge.

The kids learned kuku, but then forgot it as the dancers made their way into the center, singing a song I know, "Siya Humba," so Laura stepped in at the last minute to hold down KuKu part 1...afterwards I was able to briefly describe YWDEP, to which a professor promised a donation, and the day was complete.

Drumming catches on like a movement or a revolution, and in itself is NOT just drumming, NOT just music, but its own form of consciousness-raising, spirit-infused community building.