Neuqua Valley’s music department garners praise every year for their effort in striving for excellence. To provide the opportunity for special education students in PACE to also be a part of the music making, Mr. Charles Staley, the fine arts department chair, has been holding a drumming circle especially for them.
Since 2004, Staley, supporting teacher aides, and a few student helpers have been coming together to give PACE students the chance to play with and discover different rhythms in the drumming circle. It all began when Neuqua received a grant to bring in Tom Gill, a drum circle specialist, to work with special needs students.
“It became clear to me, after seeing Tom work with special needs, that we absolutely needed to find a way to provide this experience as a regular part of the schedule,” said Staley.
And with the help of percussionists Lucas Elenitsky and Matt Plaskota, both 2006 graduates, the drumming circle made its first debut at Neuqua and it was enthusiastically welcomed by the students it focused on.
“The students are encouraged to began their own songs and to learn to bring songs to an end,” said Staley on some of the activities the students participate in, “We enjoy doing call and response patterns [and] when the students realize they can control the volume and the pace of a song, they become highly engaged.”
The drumming circle has been helpful in bringing out all of the personalities of each individual member through the methods that they make sound and different body percussion such as clapping or playing other instruments. The ensemble even sings.
“At the very end of the drumming circle, we do our Grand Finale. We start out very slow and quiet [then] get faster and faster, louder and louder, until we end with a shouted 4, 3, 2, 1!” added Staley.
Although Neuqua is known for its upper level music ensembles, it is a group like this which really puts the joy of music into perspective.
Hong-Ah Do, Editor-In-Chief
