Beat of Different Drummer Leads Students to Learn

You might not expect to hear African drums rumbling through the Latino neighborhoods of East Los Angeles. But then you visit Monterey High School.

Inside a small classroom, 11 students are thumping and slapping wooden drums -- a booming performance so powerful the chairs and floor vibrate.

“That’s great,” instructor Chris Armstrong bellows as the group bangs out an intricate West African dance called Manjani. “That’s the fast version. You guys hung in there.”

The weekly drumming classes are part of a 3-year-old effort by the Los Angeles Unified School District and California Institute of the Arts to expose struggling students to art -- and, in turn, excite them about academics. The ArtsCOOL program is CalArts’ newest effort to reach young people with art.

ArtsCOOL classes are offered in playwriting, dance, animation and other art forms at 17 other L.A. Unified continuation schools. The small, alternative campuses are designed for students who have had trouble succeeding at large traditional high schools.

At the 82-student Monterey High, located behind Garfield High School, students say they eagerly await the two-hour drumming class each Tuesday morning.

When class starts, idle chit-chat stops as the students pay close attention to the instructors, copying the complicated rhythms and tones of African music on drums made from cowhide and goat skin.

“It definitely makes school more interesting,” said senior Fares Garcia, 18. “You look forward to it. Maybe other schools should have it so they can open up [students] to other cultures.”

Though Arts- COOL classes eat up time that would otherwise be spent studying math, English or other core subjects, Monterey High Principal Enrique Gonzalez and administrators at other continuation schools say the music is a good investment.

“We need to find hooks to bring kids in and make [school] special,” Gonzalez said. “By bringing them into a place where they can enjoy themselves and display their talents, that helps with self-esteem. It’s a real big magnet.”

An outside evaluation of ArtsCOOL arrived at similar conclusions.

The study by the nonprofit Evaluation and Training Institute in Los Angeles found that ArtsCOOL classes in the 2002-03 school year helped improve attendance and increased the amount of homework completed by students in other classes.

“It’s a program that shows promise and is good for the school district,” said Tronie Rifkin, the evaluation project manager. “Having artists from the outside teach the program was really an asset. It was positive for everyone involved.”

CalArts officials said the classes, taught by institute faculty and graduates, provide teenagers with an important outlet to express themselves, something not always available in school.

“I hope that through art, they can find something they really enjoy about learning and that it opens up all sorts of possibilities for them,” said Glenna Avila, director of CalArts’ Community Arts Partnership, which runs the classes.

“It can help them define who they are and give them a sense that learning is a lifelong activity that they’ll be able to gain a lot of satisfaction from,” she said.

The CalArts partnership also runs after-school arts programs with community organizations throughout Los Angeles County. The partnership was recently recognized by First Lady Laura Bush as one of the nation’s exemplary youth arts programs.

The creativity of the effort is evident at Del Rey High in Westchester, where students are taking a playwriting class called Urban Street Stories -- Hip Hop Theater.

Fifteen Del Rey students spent much of the semester working on a play they titled “Hood ‘n Politics: Classified Information.”

Blending dialogue, poetry and hip-hop music, the students tell a story about President Bush paying a visit to the Watts Towers and listening to young people vent about violence, homelessness, drugs and the war in Iraq, among other things.

Ashley Brown, 16, said that writing the play gave her a reason to come to school. She also said that learning about African American leaders, such as Condoleezza Rice, President Bush’s national security advisor and nominee as secretary of state, gave her a new appreciation for the importance of education.

“Instead of trying to slack off, I feel like I’m part of something,” she said. “I want to come and make people proud, to make myself proud.

“I feel like I can’t accomplish anything unless I graduate high school,” Brown added. “If I don’t graduate, I can’t be a leader like her.”

The group’s instructor, actress and writer Barbara Roberts, said she was impressed by the students’ seriousness as they grappled with important issues.

“They have so much to offer,” said Roberts, who is working on a play with another group of students at a continuation school in Boyle Heights. “They’re bright and energetic. They bring so much to the piece.”

That’s the way the drum instructors feel at Monterey High.

Armstrong and two fellow drummers have developed a close rapport with their students. Although the drums are loud, the instructors rarely have to raise their voices. The students soak up the lessons, following every instruction and fretting when they get lost in the complex rhythms.

“They rock,” said Mike Robbins, 28, one of the three drum instructors. “They pick up [the music] quickly and they’re enthusiastic. They’re into it.”

The ArtsCOOL students will get a chance to show off their newfound skills during performances this spring, including some at the Plaza de la Raza cultural center in Lincoln Heights.

A few of the Monterey High students are nervous about performing. They are still learning their craft. But they are excited at the prospect of showing off their new talents to parents and friends.

“We need a lot of practice,” said drummer Jose Madera, 17. “It’s fun but it’s hard.”