The bang of the Djembe-style drum acted as a primary communication tool between two sets of schools, binding two separate sects of students into one musical machine this past week.
On Dec. 13, seventh-grade student mentors from John Adams Middle School visited the fifth-grade classroom of Kim Griffin at Will Rogers Learning Community, bringing the boom of the drums to form a circle of community. The hour-long drum circle was one in a series of sessions provided by JAMS mentors, learning under the Arts & Healing Initiative’s "Beat the Odds" program.
Arts & Healing Initiative enhances art activities with mental health practices, something founder and director Ping Ho says is "done with the intention of proliferating kindness, compassion and connection." Projects like the drum circle offer nonverbal tools to help children express themselves, bringing a "backdoor approach" to helping mental health and behavioral issues during a crucial developmental stage.
"The arts actually have (many) social-emotional benefits that many people who participate in them know, whether its mindful presence, stress reduction … you get to know other people very quickly, so for social connection (arts are) very powerful," Ho said.
Rooted in an evidence-based curriculum published in 2012, Beat the Odds piloted a drum circle program earlier this year at Long Beach Unified School District, seeing that the activity decreased a broad range of behavioral problems and was a positive developmental approach like previous Arts & Healing endeavors.
"We discovered not only was it feasible, we were also witnessing changes right before our eyes," Ho said. "The students, all of a sudden their inner wisdom became apparent, their teamwork (improved), the way they supported each other (increased), they made new friends, they became more expressive. Some kids who initially didn’t talk at all were now speaking up and (were) willing to present verbally."
Ho proposed the program to JAMS with an excited response from staff, including JAMS Mental Health Counselor Nancy Gutierrez, who previously took the drumming training herself. Working with an average of 20 seventh-grade mentors for the past three months, JAMS kids had rehearsal time before delivering a class to Will Rogers fifth-graders, and eventually developed their own activities for the session. Ho added that teaching children to be mentors, rather than adults, can cultivate "a very large contingent of people who could actually make a difference in their community."
Drumming activities included games like Simon Says, Name that Tune and Telephone Rhythm. Will Rogers students also learned "weather check-in signals," different beats that represent weather patterns like sunny, stormy and snowy. These beats also serve as metaphors for different feelings, and the fifth-graders used the signals to emote how they felt about preparation for middle school.
Bridging the emotional support gap through music is important to Ho because the activity "enables anybody to participate" and that "everyone can participate at a similar level and contribute" to the fun. Honing in Beat the Odds on students in fifth and seventh grade is also critical, as Ho says that they are beginning to experience the stressors of life more rigorously, and togetherness through activity can raise a student’s mood.
"When kids are so disconnected from their community, then that’s when they want to harm themselves and harm others," Ho said. "So this builds connection and some of the kids who seem … more along start to develop friendship and feel part of the community."
Arts & Healing Initiative will continue to work with JAMS students in the spring to deliver more lessons, and hope to eventually put together a demonstration for parents during a future open house night. Ho wants the entire community to see how the bang of the drum can expand student empathy and increase positive behavior.
"When you’re drumming and you’re sitting in a circle … you’re literally seeing each other," she added. "And when you mirror each other, and you do the same thing, or somebody plays something and you play it back, it’s like a metaphor for empathy. It’s saying ‘I see you, I hear you, I validate you.’"
For more information on the Arts & Healing Initiative, visit artsandhealinginitiative.org.
