Teaching drums

Yesterday I had my first foray into teaching drums (well, my first since Rocktech back in 2002 at least), when I was asked in as a special guest at a local school to show young children the basics of African drumming, as part of their African month. I haven't been this unsure about something in years - I am no teacher, I mumble, I probably don't listen as much as I should do, I'm a little impatient. But it was lovely, largely because of the way the primary school was run, there was a proper teacher there, and throughout the four lessons Grace was also in the class to teach the children dance and theatrics to my rhythms. The wide-eyed fascination in their faces at seeing a full drum kit (and percussion) set up for the first time was inspiring, and in every lesson we had a hell of a groove going with the whole class involved. This generally started with me playing an Afrobeat - and then a third of the class replicating my bass drum, another third playing my hi-hat groove, and another third playing my snare rhythm. They all had homemade drums, a majority of them got the hang of it really quickly, there's certainly a few future drummers in there. And it was nice to spend the day with Grace too - a remarkably talented and alive actress (and also a very kind young lady), just like our meeting in Bristol a couple months back much discussion was had about future projects and we're both a bit excited about what can be achieved. What was achieved in the school hall yesterday was something really nice I think, I hope it goes beyond a novelty of seeing a drummer show off a bit, I hope at least a couple of them will want to carry on playing funky grooves as they grow up. It wasn't a day without it's minor glitches (cutting up the school bus in the car park/accidentally ending up in their assembly and feeling very awkward) but I feel a new sense of energy after what was an exhausting day, and I'll treasure the generous drawings of thanks I was given as a present for a long time.