BEATING THE BLAHS KIDS DRUM UP EXCITEMENT IN CLASS.Byline: Naush Boghossian Staff Writer CASTAIC - Pounding an African drum slung slung v. Past tense and past participle of sling1. slung Verb the past of sling1 slung sling over her shoulder, Christine Stevens walked around the circle of kids Tuesday and, without saying a word, challenged each youngster to imitate im·i·tate tr.v. im·i·tat·ed, im·i·tat·ing, im·i·tates 1. To use or follow as a model. 2. a. the rhythm. Most of the 70 kids at the KinderCare learning center, ranging from infants to sixth-graders, initially pulled away or shook their heads until one took the challenge and opened the floodgates to two hours of music and dancing. ``It's the spirit of music, and that brings out the spirit of the kids,'' said Stevens, the director of music therapy and wellness programs at Remo, a Castaic-based manufacturer of drums and other percussion instruments This is a list of percussion instruments. Tuned percussion
``Who felt the beat? Tap your feet to the beat. Clap your hands to the beat,'' Stevens directed as the wary kids came alive to the music, shaking their bodies and pounding their instruments. The kids wildly shook maracas - shaped like bananas, oranges, apples, squashes and potatoes - and pounded with their hands and little wands on a large gathering drum and small percussion percussion /per·cus·sion/ (per-kush´un) the act of striking a part with short, sharp blows as an aid in diagnosing the condition of the underlying parts by the sound obtained. drums made especially for kids. ``I've never done something like this,'' said 10-year-old Clayton Davis, who liked to use the large mallet mallet, n a hammering instrument. mallet, hard, n a small hammer with a leather-, rubber-, fiber-, or metal-faced head; used to supply force or to supplement hand force for the compaction of foil or amalgam and to seat cast on the big drums Big Drum is a genre and a musical instrument from the Windward Islands. It is a kind of Caribbean music, associated mostly closely with the music of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Carriacou in Grenada and in the music of Saint Kitts and Nevis. . But Ben Davis Ben Davis may refer to:
``You get to use your hands, and I liked the beats,'' the 7-year-old said. Teachers chimed in with tambourines, and Stevens added a soft touch with an American Indian American Indian or Native American or Amerindian or indigenous American Any member of the various aboriginal peoples of the Western Hemisphere, with the exception of the Eskimos (Inuit) and the Aleuts. flute. Stevens, a board-certified music therapist, said the activities aim to build children's self-esteem and to recognize each child as special - a technique that also works for adults, she said. Also, the drumming gives the angry kids an outlet to express themselves. ``We tend to get very individual-focused, and it helps to learn communal activities at an early age,'' Stevens said. ``There were 60 kids of all ages with sticks in their hands, and nobody hit anyone, because they're really engaged in the experience.'' The teachers were impressed as the kids learned leadership skills and improved their self-esteem when each got up to lead the group in a unique beat. ``It opens them up to music, and it helps kids be open to different kinds of music and instruments,'' said teacher Suzanne Nicolas, explaining that the drumming added another dimension to what kids studied about music in class. ``It's very inspiring. She called the drumming a communal activity that teaches children to be expressive both individualistically in·di·vid·u·al·ist n. 1. One that asserts individuality by independence of thought and action. 2. An advocate of individualism. in and as part of a group. ``I liked it whenever we were in the middle, drumming all together,'' said Ivy Cameron, 9. ``I liked the sound we made being in a group.'' Most of the kids loved the beats they created banging the wands on the drums or the drums on their legs or their heads. ``I loved the different rhythms,'' said Casey Hebebrand, 9, who did a tribal dance while the teacher created the beats. To balance the hectic pace of marching and drumming, Stevens asked all the kids to sit, close their eyes and think of a wish they'd like to come true while she played the flute. ``I feel like I'm giving kids at this age what I wish that I could have had at their age,'' Stevens said. ``We all have a really huge creative spirit in us.'' FOR MORE INFORMATION Remo's center in North Hollywood holds drum circles drum circle, n a spiritual, communal, or therapeutic music experience in which participants join together in a circle with drums, move, dance using various percussion instruments, voices, and other devices. for all ages every Tuesday. For more information, go to the calendar section of www.remo.com. CAPTION(S): 3 photos, box Photo: (1 -- color) Kids find rhythm on a giant drum brought to the KinderCare center in Castaic by a manufacturer's representative. (2 -- color) Christine Stevens of the Remo drum company lets 1-year-old Darin McTight bang a bongo bongo (bŏng`gō), spiral-horned antelope, Boocercus eurycerus, found in jungles and thick bamboo forests of equatorial Africa. Shy, elusive animals, bongos never emerge into the open and are seldom seen; they browse singly or in small in a KinderCare class. (3 -- color) Casey Hebebrand, left, and Ivy Cameron, both 9, dance to the beat of their own music-making in a demonstration of percussion instruments from the Castaic-based Remo manufacturer. David R. Crane/Staff Photographer Box: FOR MORE INFORMATION (see text) |
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