Discovery AfterSchool Stories – African Drumming

This is a cross-post from the Green Street Teaching and Learning Center. In this series,  Discovery AfterSchool Instructors share stories from their classes. For more information on our AfterSchool Program, please visit their website. Spring registration is open! Remember that Wesleyan faculty and staff get 50% off the attendance fee! 

By: Peter Van Siclen

In the Green Street African Drumming class we worked on a variety of songs including: Gahu – a social song from Ghana, Fanga – a welcome song from Liberia, and KuKu – a fishing song from Guinea. We played a variety of drums, bells and rattles and played challenging polyrhythms. We learned to create a variety of sounds with a djembe drum, and had a fantastic time performing our music at the Winter Solstice student showcase event.

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This spring African Drumming class will be on Mondays for Grades 3-5 with Mr. Peter.

jroach

Jennifer Roach is the Civic Engagement Fellow in Allbritton for the academic year 2015-2016. She is a recent Wesleyan alumni, class of 2014. Since graduating, she has moved to Hartford to continue developing Summer of Solutions Hartford, an urban farming internship program she worked on during her time at Wesleyan.