Giving each of 30 sixth-graders a floor drum might sound like a recipe for offbeat bangs and bongs.
But in two weeks, Jeff Berman, a local musician and artist-in-residence at Moss Side Middle School in Monroeville, had three groups of students each playing harmonious, yet distinct, beats to create their own toe-tapping composition.
"I kind of thought with all the excitement in our class, it was going to be out of whack," said sixth-grader Anthony Scalise.
Emily Korinek, also in the sixth grade, said Berman was able to take her class's energy and channel it.
"I learned that instead of focusing on what you're doing, you focus on the whole group as one," she said.
Berman worked with 24 groups of fifth and sixth-graders in their twice-weekly, 30-minute music class. He taught them techniques of playing Tubano drums, which are floor drums about 4 feet tall.
"My experience was really wonderful because these kids were interested in getting down to business," said Berman, 55, of O'Hara.
As the students improved, he had them create a rhythm dubbed the "Mrs. Spina" beat, after their teacher, and play solo rhythms with the rest of the class as backup drummers.
"It's got to be fun so that it's engaging," Berman said. "It's not so much about the technique of playing, but about the listening part of working as a team."
Moss Side Middle School music teacher Alexis Spina said it was a great experience.
"These kids ate this up," she said. "It's the best thing I've done in 14 years."
Sixth-grader Jacob Passalinqua said he's playing his drums at home much better because Berman taught him the importance of rhythm.
"You don't really have to bang the drums hard for it to sound loud, you just have to put energy into it," he said.
Berman's residency was sponsored in part by Gateway to the Arts, an East Liberty nonprofit, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
Gateway to the Arts reaches 100,000 students annually through musical performances, artist residencies and other programming it organizes in schools in 13 Western Pennsylvania counties, said spokeswoman Carly McCoy.
Berman said he began doing art education shortly after he moved to Pittsburgh from New York. He's been involved with Gateway for four years.
"I saw there was a real need in the schools to take the aesthetics of art education to another level," he said. "Because there's only so much that can be done in the public schools just given the time and resources."
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