- Kids love drums and drum sticks. Reading rhythm is much like reading words but uses a different part of the brain. Kids that read well, read music well. I’m working in the other direction, helping kids that are motivated by drums but not reading. Just scanning the page from left to right with a “return sweep” and counting the rhythm aloud promotes reading fluency. I’ve seen it happen. I’ve done several teacher research projects on this and it works. I’m interested in getting a grant to provide drum pads for a class (26). They all have sticks and drum books. We’re lucky enough to have a drum set in the classroom. It’s taken a while to get there. What we also need is a laptop so that the students can create through midi. I want to spread the news and write a book. My students are mostly middle class but I want to reach other kids, kids that might not be getting it. Maybe I’ll win the money to write that book, too, but I’m starting here to spread the word and hook-up with teachers and people that want to promote literacy in a creative way or learn to read better. I love music, teaching, gigging, and reading, so here I am, still playing, but with a public school teaching gig that I want to be different, exciting, inspiring and help kids learn to love music and reading like I do.
