The Group Drumming Experience

The drum circle is becoming a popular way for students and teachers to set shared goals and have fun. Drum circles expose students to traditional African and Caribbean rhythms and a variety of percussion instruments, from congas, bongos, frame drum, talking drum, and djembe, to various bells, xylophone, and marimba.

“From the kids’ standpoint, [the drum circle] makes a class unlike anything they have ever had before,” says Will Schmid, founder of World Music Drumming (worldmusicdrumming.com). “Even in music classes, there are very few opportunities in the day when students get to be as in control of their outcomes as they are in a drumming class. And that motivates the teachers. They don’t have to fight the battle; they are working with the students, going the same direction.”

The World Music Drumming program trains teachers in drum circle methods. “We use an open tone and a bass tone stroke, which works well with the West African and Caribbean styles,” Schmid says. He recommends classes of 25 to 30 kids, with everyone learning all the parts. “They learn to understand and hear the other parts and work with each other. That is crucial. It is about teamwork and respecting each other.

“Once [students] get into it, they realize it is not so easy,” Schmid continues. “To make it sound good they know they have to work really hard. Some of the rhythms require tremendous concentration. The students get the immediacy, and they also can dig into the depth of the rhythms.”

When students understand the basic rhythms and how the instruments fit together, they often create their own ensembles, sometimes with hip-hop rhythms and raps. “That shows us that they have absorbed the learning,” Schmid says. “That is a magical thing.”