A peek inside my classroom would reveal an inclusive environment where all students discover and experience music. I believe all students deserve a high-quality music education; however, it can be a challenge to meet the needs of many students with such a wide range of ability levels and interests.
Every student is highly motivated to sing, dance and play instruments, and through music we learn respect for other cultures and different ways of doing things.
We learn to play together in ensemble. Knowing that all members of the group must work together for the group to succeed, we invest in each other’s success and lift up those who struggle. We learn to sing in languages other than English, and in so doing we listen for different sounds and different ways of expressing thoughts. We learn to complement one another’s rhythms and melodies on instruments—an essential of good back-and-forth communication. We create movements in small groups to accompany the music we are learning. We sing and play in circles that exemplify our equality and shared community.
My Project
We need a REMO Bahia Bass Drum, one of the many percussion instruments needed to implement World Music Drumming in our music classroom. The addition of these instruments would establish an exciting atmosphere for hands-on learning, allow a wider range of repertoire, develop musical teamwork and connect to multicultural music. With the addition of a lower sounding drum, students will learn to communicate better with their fellow classmates; understand and demonstrate the value and techniques of cooperative teamwork; demonstrate techniques for playing various types of drums and other percussion equipment; and, improvise new drumming ensemble patterns which are complementary to those played by other students.
Through our drumming activities, learning to play a drum is not the only thing students are being taught.
They are learning to support each other and accept everyone. They are finding out how to work together and make our music the best it can be. One of my students said it best, "Low sounding drums would really help us match and play together."
Any support you can give us will be greatly appreciated; even small donations can help us toward our goal. Please consider sharing this project with others via email, Facebook or other social media. Thank you for taking the time to learn about our classroom needs and helping us build community . . . one drum at a time!
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