“Oh! It sounds good!” a fifth-grader whispered to her friend as Diali Cissokho began plucking the kora, a stringed instrument from Diali’s native country, Senegal.
Siler City Elementary’s fifth-grade class gathered in the school’s multipurpose room for an introduction to Senegalese culture via music, song, dance, and storytelling — all presented by Diali (pronounced “Jelly”), the school’s resident artist for the week.
The students’ eyes were glued to Diali throughout the hour-long introductory performance, which ended with an impromptu dance party.
As kids left the room happily waving and high-fiving Diali, a young man wandered up to Diali. “Can you teach me how to make a kora?” the student asked.
“Of course! You can do it!” Diali encouraged. Fishing line, a wooden stick, goat hide, and a hollowed out gourd are the parts he would need.
The boy grinned with confidence. “I can do that! I want to make it so I can remember this time after I am gone [to another school] next year.”
Learning to Drum: Student Workshops
Throughout the week, students learned drumming on traditional, hand-carved djembes in a close-knit circle inside the music room.
Their goal was to master the skill of communicating only through the drum beats.
After teaching bass, tone, and slap–the three types of sounds on the drum–each class learned a different call and response from Senegalese culture.
There were moments of struggle at first–learning how to play rhythms together was proving to be a bit challenging!
Ms. Harvel, SCE’s music teacher, joined in alongside her students to help them feel more comfortable with this new skill.
“You have a team to help you play. Play with them!” Diali instructed.
Students sat up straighter and helped guide their neighbors in the circle, often counting out loud to stick to the beat. Diali had them work in teams of three in order to perfect the beat and play with each other at the same time.
When every student was on beat together, the drummers laughed and smiled at how good they sounded!
“Something I liked was when we played the drums really fast because it helped me relieve stress,” one student shared.
“I really liked how Diali was nice and strict at the same time and that he made teaching and learning fun!” one student said.
Diali told the students they were expected to dance at the final performance at the end of the week, so of course they had to practice!
Some chose to do Senegalese dance moves that Diali had taught them.
Others added their own funky moves to their dance time.
Student Performance: Dancing and Drums
On the last day, Siler City Elementary’s front office was bustling with parents and family members signing in as visitors to watch their children perform. “There were five pages of sign-ins!” sponsor Elizabeth Bonitz exclaimed.
The multipurpose room was filled to the brim with a buzzing student audience, composed of second- through fifth-graders, and close to 50 visitors!
“My daughter has been practicing at home all week!” one parent shared from the audience.
The audience heard the presentation in both Spanish and English languages to honor Siler City Elementary’s dual language program commitment.
Each class of fifth-graders drummed in their classes on stage, offering the African rhythms they learned during their week with Diali.
Fifth-graders drummed traditional rhythms, including the lamba and the cuckoo.
And every single fifth-grader got up and danced–along with one fabulous fifth grade teacher! The audience encouraged every dancing student with a round of applause.
“Today at the performance, I actually saw one of my students smiling the most that I have seen practically all year. They enjoyed this experience so much,” shared fifth-grade teacher Ms. Matthews.
The kids in the audience imitated the drum beats from their seats on the floor, with so many wide grins and laughter spreading throughout the room.
“The smiles on their faces when they realized they could do this seemingly really hard thing was immeasurable. Even the principal [Tania Poston] said she was getting emotional seeing the kids rock it out!” said music teacher, Ms. Harvel. “They don’t have opportunities to perform like this–this was just an awesome experience!”
And by the end of their time together, the boy who had asked about building a kora had gotten the plans from Diali and was ready to commemorate this awesome experience forever.
The residency at J.S. Waters School was sponsored by Elizabeth and John Bonitz. This residency is part of the Chatham Arts Council’s Artists-in-Schools Initiative.
Arts for Resilient Kids programming is made possible by partnerships with Chatham County Schools, Chatham County, the North Carolina Arts Council, and many individual, foundation, and business donors. If you feel inspired to help us educate kids through the arts, click here to donate.
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