are
three of the oldest art forms on the face of the earth. I did not set
out to learn all three of them much less put them together! I started
out as a songwriter. I wrote all kinds of songs: kids songs, grownup
songs and songs about every subject under the rainbow. I had always
loved drums but never really had the chance to learn them. I had always
loved reading but it never occurred to me that people actually
"told" stories out loud in front of an audience.
One day I was performing for some really young kids at a pre-school.
Some how I was supposed to perform for them for an hour. I don’t know
whose idea that was because after an intense 1/2 hour of jumping up and
down and singing my most interactive, participatory, movement-filled
songs, I was starting to fear for my life! These 3 & 4 year olds
were ready to move, and groove. They were starting to mess with each
other. They were starting to get just a weeeeee bit out of
control!
And I was about ready to drop! had just learned how to play a
little bit on a frame drum which I had luckily brought with me. So, in
desperation, I picked it up and began to make sounds with it. Scary
sounds. The "Wooooo Sound" (click the link for directions on
how you too can make this cool sound).
The kids were suddenly INTERESTED!
All of a sudden Pete Seeger’s story of Abi Yo Yo popped into my
head. I had grown up on that story and knew it by heart. I began in a
sing song voice with an ominous drum roll, "Once upon a time,
there was a giant...Once upon a time there was a giant called Abi Yo Yo.
Now Abi Yo Yo was as big as a house and he could eat a whole cow in one
bite Harrumph!..." Later on in the story the hero sings a song
to Abi Yo Yo and I guess right there it all came together! I was
singing, and playing drums and telling a story all at the same time.
The kids loved it. Their teachers loved it. I loved it.
The next week, (it was a ten week grant from NY State’s Westchester
Arts Council) they wanted to hear it again. And again the third week. By
the fourth week I knew I had to find some other stories! I also knew I
had to learn how to play as many of the different and wonderful drums of
the world as I could possibly learn.
That was a long time ago, almost a "long, long time ago".
Since that time, I have come across stories that wanted to be songs and
songs that wanted to be stories. I have studied drums from all over the
world and found that they too had songs to sing and stories to tell.
Now, in a lot of schools these days folks want to tie in the "enrichment"
program with the "Curriculum". That’s fine. I like
that. However, sometimes, it’s hard to fit an ever changing and
expanding art form (much less three!) into some preconceived idea of
what an "Assembly" should be. That’s where this program
fits in. This program can be anything you want! It can be adapted
to a theme or just be "DrumSongStory". It can be one
thing for younger kids and another thing for older kids. It can even be
appropriate for adults and for those supposedly "difficult"
middle school kids. You can call it "Multicultural" or,
"Musical," "Theater", "Literature",
"Language Arts" , "Creativity", "Folk
Art", or "Global Awareness". You can say it
demonstrates "Multiple Intelligences". You can label
it, "Cultural Enrichment," or "Arts In
Education".