Implement an intervention program built on shared music and individual counseling sessions.
"Dom ti-dom di-ga di-ga dat dat" — tubano drums that mimic speech resound through the school as cowbells, gankoqui and shakaree keep the timeline for Beat for Peace.
Thirty 4th- and 5th-grade students sit in a circle. Together they play an intricate ensemble of rhythms that is as much a song as a model for human interaction and communication.
At Starlight Cove Community Elementary School (where 22% of the 946 students are English Language Learners and 78% are on free/reduced lunch), music teacher Paul Corbiere and I (school counselor) saw the need to reach some students who are disenfranchised even at this early age.
Beat for Peace is an intervention program woven into music and counseling sessions. Teachers and school administrators assist by referring students with academic or behavioral difficulties, family problems and/or those with poor self-esteem.
The program draws from Will Schmid's 1998 World Music Drumming: A Cross Cultural Curriculum ($18, training information at www.remo.com) and the U.S. Department of Education's Creative Partnerships for Prevention: Using the Arts and Humanities to Build Resiliency in Youth.
In addition to Caribbean and African musical rhythms, students are motivated to learn the traits of social competence, school affiliation, self-concept, a sense of purpose and the value of diversity. We play through the curriculum, pausing to discuss how the musical tasks can be applied to real life. In small-group counseling sessions, we reflect on matters of diversity, respect, goal setting and responsibility for oneself and others.
When students join the drum circle, they each sign a "behavior contract" that outlines expectations. On rare occasions, a student may be suspended for serious school-based offenses. When this occurs, we help students draw up reentry plans. Students are not expelled from the group.
For the 2001-2002 school year, a series of surveys, pre/post tests and students' reflections indicate:
- 67% scored good or excellent on teacher ratings of class performance and social competence
- 35% improved attendance
- 82% were free of discipline-referral
- 52% showed significant improvement on self-confidence/self-image scores.
Beat for Peace is an active medium by which students develop resilience — the ability to bounce back from life's stressors. It is also finding echoes. Two area schools and several community aftercare programs are in the process of implementing their own drum circles.
Michael Kane
Starlight Cove Community Elementary School
Boynton Beach, Fla.
