Hooked on Drums Comes to Cabrini Green

The conditions for our work are often less than ideal. Urban public schools in the US are in a state of deterioration that is virtually unimaginable to people in other parts of the industrialized world—Europe in particular. Even many Americans are oblivious to this: some urban schools are so strapped for funding that teachers, parents and staff must provide such basic supplies as toilet paper. I’m not exaggerating, but don’t take my word for it: see here, here, or here.

Music education should not be a luxury, but to schools that are hard-pressed to provide such basic necessities as toilet paper, programs like ours are often all but impossible to accommodate. Many schools do not even have the physical facilities. This was the case at Byrd Academy, in Chicago’s “Cabrini Green” neighborhood. The school did not even have a gymnasium or any other room moderately suitable: we had to bundle the kids up in coats and scarves, and schlepp the drums over to the gym in the park district facility next door for each session of this 3-day program.

Were it not for the generosity of one of the school’s volunteers, Arlene Koziol, this program never would have come to pass: she and her husband paid for it out of their own pocket.

It’s a shame, really, because there is so much raw talent in these schools, it makes your head spin to think about what could be done with the proper resources. Better to be grateful for people like Arlene Koziol who are willing (and able) to dig deeply into their own pockets to bring a fraction of what could be to fruition.

The repetition of the rhythm “Balakulandyan” is probably getting rather tiresome for our regular viewers, but we have reasons for always beginning with this rhythm. It is the most straightforward of the Malinke rhythms. Even with the variations on Sangban and Doundounba, novice drummers can master it in a relatively short period of time. It allows us to teach the basic elements of dunun-technique—the open and pressed strokes, the shift to the echauffement, etc., and transmit basic skills that can be built upon as our students move on to more complex compositions.

So forgive us our monotony: here’s a clip from the program at Byrd academy.



These kids put on this production after only 3 one-hour sessions, in a 3-day program. Forgive us, too, the acoustics. Anyone who’s ever tried to teach a Malinke drumming class in one of these gymnasiums—with 15-20 drums and the kids to play them—will appreciate the difficulty of what we are doing, most often, under less than favorable circumstances.

Things can get pretty lively in our programs, and days like this, with audience participation what it is...




....Balakulandyan doesn’t seem so boring to me!




Looking back on those early years in Europe—the way most of us struggled with even these basic rhythms, the way we took so much for granted: like the ability to hop on a plane, during a six-week paid vacation, travel to Africa to study at the feet of the masters; or hop in the car, drive for 2, 4, 6 hours at 110 miles per hour on a flawless Autobahn to attend a concert, or a workshop with Famoudou Konate, Mamady Keita, Soungalou Coulibally....I am saddened that these opportunities may never be available to these kids.

Hooked on Drums is our attempt to make up for the difference. If you’d like to help us make a difference and get more kids in more places Hooked on Drums, please consider making your tax-deductible contribution via PayPal here, or via US mail, see our newsletter for details.

We are infinitely grateful to all those individuals in the public schools who are down there on the ground, day in and day out, picking up the slack for the basic needs our government and our society fails to provide these children.