Box Elder NEWS JOURNAL – Brigham City, Utah
Wednesday, January 21, 1998
Lori Hunsaker, Assistant Editor
The Hopi Indians created a symbol for the white man – a stick figure with its head disconnected. That isn't a racial judgement, but rather a reflection of culture, musician George Grant explained at Discovery School last week.
Grant helps children and adults connect their head and body through music using DrumTalk™.
"We need to feel music in our bodies," Grant told students. "Music is not just about what you understand in your head."
Grant is concluding two weeks at Discover School through the Artist In Residence program and is working with all grade levels.
The fifth grade class has worked with Grant daily, preparing for a performance Thursday, Jan. 22 at 6:30 in the multi-purpose room at Discovery School. The performance is open to the public.
Fifth graders were given complex tasks. Some were using silent finger counting to keep track of the beat. "Markers" were those students marking the last two counts of an eight count pattern. Other students chanted DrumTalk™ words, and still other students played marimbas.
Grant modifies his methods, depending on the age of his students. Kindergarten students played two sticks, holding them like telephone poles, railroad tracks, or snowplows.
Students also played their hands, holding one like a pizza tray and clapping it with the other hand.
Children from kindergarten to second grade are at the prime age to get timed. A child is timed when he/she can perceive the steady beat that underlies a pattern. A pattern is something that repeats itself.
Grant said he's known musicians who can play a difficult pattern without being aware of the underlying beat.
Grant cited a recent study which indicates that "if a kid is timed, he/she will be in the upper third or ten percent of his/her peers throughout life," he concluded. "Music coordinates all parts of the brain at the same time. All centers are stimulated simultaneously."
DRUMTALK
DrumTalk is a global phenomenon. Cultures create words to represent each
sound that a drum makes. Grant teaches American DrumTalk. He taught
students four DrumTalk words: Dome, Gadget, Takataka, Chikachika.
Americans need to dance more to connect themselves to their bodies. Our culture conditions us, or rather deconditions us, Grant explained. American music is about finding out who is the best, which is very exclusive.
"DrumTalk is about not excluding anybody. I have something for everybody to do," Grant said. "If you can say it, you can play it."
Performers on rock videos are almost always moving around. If they don't move, it's like water backed up behind an irrigation gate. The water is there but it isn't going anywhere.
Grant is a self taught musician. He grew up with music in his home but didn't have a music lesson until he was in college. He learned to play by ear. His experience isn't typical of many musicians in the United States.
To be a musician, we don't have to be trained for greatness from day one. Each person needs to learn to be comfortable with music, whether one is a professional musician or a personal musician who plays for himself and family for the enjoyment of it.
Grant's use of DrumTalk has evolved into a book, George Grant's DrumTalk which is being edited for national publication. Grant offers weekend workshops and has been an Artist In Residence in various schools since October. He does some performing and gives private lessons. The Artists In Residence program is funded through Marie Eccles Caine Foundation, Utah Arts Council, and Box Elder School District Foundation. Various schools in Box Elder School District take advantage of the program every year by inviting artists from different mediums to visit.
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