MONROE - As the fifth-grade students at Northside Elementary School in Monroe rehearsed for their concert Thursday, what started out as just one rhythm slowly turned into a symphony of different cadences full of crescendos and diminuendos.
The music part of the Northside Elementary School African Drum Ensemble, and in the midst of making music, students are also learning life skills and balance. The ensemble is something Northside music teacher Sarah Bodell has been heading up at different schools for more than 14 years.
There are now 39 fifth-grade students at Northside taking part in the elective, practicing for about an hour after school on Thursdays. That number will likely increase to around 50 students during the second semester.
Two music pieces have been the group's focus since October and they're planning for their next concert at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 29 at the Monroe High School Performing Arts Center.
Northside fifth-grader Skylar Morse joined the ensemble not only to be with her best friend, but also because her sister had done it previously.
"It's been fun because we all have the different parts and we get to choose what we want and most of the time we get them because there's so many of each part," Morse said.
Morse said she's learned a lot with the group, like playing the instruments without breaking them and testing her skills on the xylophones. She also said someday she wouldn't mind playing the drums in a rock band.
"My favorite part is the drums because afterwards me and all my friends always show off to see whose hands are the reddest and I usually win," she said.
Fifth-grader Logan Lancaster also decided to join the ensemble because his sister had done it a few years before.
"It's just fun to try a whole bunch of different instruments and do it with all my friends," Lancaster said.
Bodell said she thinks participating in the ensemble is especially valuable for students because it gives them real life skills.
"There's an element of teamwork," Bodell said. "There's listening skills involved and there's understanding balance."
The group is especially important to Bodell and was something she continued from other schools prior to coming to Monroe. When word got out she wanted to start the African drum ensemble at Northside, her mother's best friend, Virginia Ward, a retired music teacher, donated the $3,000 to purchase her first drum sets.
Through the years, Bodell has been able to purchase more drums and has added xylophones to the ensemble with help from the Monroe Optimists and Northside PTO.
It was several years prior to her time at Northside when Bodell taught at a school in Chicago and opened a cabinet to find some drums.
"I was like 'Oh cool, I've never drummed before and I don't know how to do this,'" Bodell said.
She began attending summer sessions after finding a book called World Music Drumming, and made it her mission to offer it as a curriculum. The following year, Bodell taught music in Evansville and started an after-school African drum ensemble.
She eventually earned her master's degree in music education with a focus on Orff Schulwerk, a teaching method combining music, movement, drama and speech into lessons similar to a child's world of play.
Bodell has studied with Sowah Mensah, a master drummer from Ghana and has stayed in contact. Mensah has helped Bodell obtain instruments, curriculum and music to offer her students.
For now, Bodell said the ensemble encourages students to pay attention, so they know when to play softer or louder, depending on their part. They also need to be aware of the other musicians.
"It's really a team coming together," Bodell said. "I really think they're not only learning to play really cool music and really feeling that beat, but also learning all those other key skills as well."
Her favorite part of having the student ensemble is the growth she's able to see in her students, Bodell said.
"When they come in they have no idea the potential of what they could accomplish," Bodell said. "When they do get it their faces are just like 'Ah we can do this!' so it's just a really cool, rewarding thing."
The spring concert will be 6:30 p.m. May 7 in the same location.
The music part of the Northside Elementary School African Drum Ensemble, and in the midst of making music, students are also learning life skills and balance. The ensemble is something Northside music teacher Sarah Bodell has been heading up at different schools for more than 14 years.
There are now 39 fifth-grade students at Northside taking part in the elective, practicing for about an hour after school on Thursdays. That number will likely increase to around 50 students during the second semester.
Two music pieces have been the group's focus since October and they're planning for their next concert at 6:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 29 at the Monroe High School Performing Arts Center.
Northside fifth-grader Skylar Morse joined the ensemble not only to be with her best friend, but also because her sister had done it previously.
"It's been fun because we all have the different parts and we get to choose what we want and most of the time we get them because there's so many of each part," Morse said.
Morse said she's learned a lot with the group, like playing the instruments without breaking them and testing her skills on the xylophones. She also said someday she wouldn't mind playing the drums in a rock band.
"My favorite part is the drums because afterwards me and all my friends always show off to see whose hands are the reddest and I usually win," she said.
Fifth-grader Logan Lancaster also decided to join the ensemble because his sister had done it a few years before.
"It's just fun to try a whole bunch of different instruments and do it with all my friends," Lancaster said.
Bodell said she thinks participating in the ensemble is especially valuable for students because it gives them real life skills.
"There's an element of teamwork," Bodell said. "There's listening skills involved and there's understanding balance."
The group is especially important to Bodell and was something she continued from other schools prior to coming to Monroe. When word got out she wanted to start the African drum ensemble at Northside, her mother's best friend, Virginia Ward, a retired music teacher, donated the $3,000 to purchase her first drum sets.
Through the years, Bodell has been able to purchase more drums and has added xylophones to the ensemble with help from the Monroe Optimists and Northside PTO.
It was several years prior to her time at Northside when Bodell taught at a school in Chicago and opened a cabinet to find some drums.
"I was like 'Oh cool, I've never drummed before and I don't know how to do this,'" Bodell said.
She began attending summer sessions after finding a book called World Music Drumming, and made it her mission to offer it as a curriculum. The following year, Bodell taught music in Evansville and started an after-school African drum ensemble.
She eventually earned her master's degree in music education with a focus on Orff Schulwerk, a teaching method combining music, movement, drama and speech into lessons similar to a child's world of play.
Bodell has studied with Sowah Mensah, a master drummer from Ghana and has stayed in contact. Mensah has helped Bodell obtain instruments, curriculum and music to offer her students.
For now, Bodell said the ensemble encourages students to pay attention, so they know when to play softer or louder, depending on their part. They also need to be aware of the other musicians.
"It's really a team coming together," Bodell said. "I really think they're not only learning to play really cool music and really feeling that beat, but also learning all those other key skills as well."
Her favorite part of having the student ensemble is the growth she's able to see in her students, Bodell said.
"When they come in they have no idea the potential of what they could accomplish," Bodell said. "When they do get it their faces are just like 'Ah we can do this!' so it's just a really cool, rewarding thing."
The spring concert will be 6:30 p.m. May 7 in the same location.