Village drumming project counters gang activity

"Rhythm and drumming is the absolute common denominator in music."
– Barbara J. Crowe, Project Coordinator of Gang Prevention through the Arts

A critical need in the Phoenix metropolitan community is being met by a new music therapy project. Two years in the planning, Gang Prevention through the Arts became a reality in Fall 2000.

"Gang Prevention through the Arts is a music-based program designed to benefit youth at-risk for gang involvement," notes Barbara J. Crowe, Project Director and Professor of Music Therapy in the School of Music.

The program offers positive impact on the students involved in the pilot project, introduction of music and other arts to a disadvantaged school district and the development and html of the project for nation-wide use.

The Murphy School District, which has enjoyed a three-year partnership with The Katherine K. Herberger College of Fine Arts, was asked to take part in the program. "The district was a natural fit since we have such a good history," says Crowe. "This central Phoenix district is confronting many problems that directly affect the ability of the children to learn," notes Melanie Ohm, Director of Oasis — Arts in the Desert, the unit of the Herberger College that facilitates partnerships between the college and the community.

"Gang activities, in particular, have taken a toll in the Murphy School District. In this low socio-economic area, children are attracted to the acceptance, sense of belonging and time-filling activity that gang involvement provides," says Crowe. "The neighborhoods of this district are in desperate need of violence and gang interventions that are innovative and provide hope for community-wide change," says Crowe.

Sullivan School was chosen because it consists of fifth, sixth and seventh grades, a time when youngsters are most susceptible to gang affiliation and gang violence. "One of our students saw her brother shot and killed before her eyes," explains Crowe.

Crowe serves as the projector's consultant and group leader, while School of Music graduate assistant Joel de la Houssaye is the project coordinator. A professional guitarist and keyboardist, de la Houssaye also has ample experience in world drumming.

During the course of the project, ten guest artists have been brought in to work with the students. They include professional musicians teaching and demonstrating world music traditions, as well as dancers, artists and storytellers performing various types of music, dance and oratory.

"Rhythm and drumming is the absolute common denominator in music," notes Crowe. Plus, there has been a resurgent interest in drumming, as evidenced in the popularity of Paul Simon and Peter Gabriel. "Drumming together, means we're working together."

Crowe and de la Houssaye had to be educated to gang culture, including signs and colors. "The idea of a gang is very old," she notes. "It's taking a basic human need for identification; that in itself is not bad, what is bad the criminality."

"We are creating a village of drumming to create cohesion," says Crowe. "Drumming allows us to do this in non-criminal and non-violent ways. We are not offering a music education program, the school already offers one."

"The village is a metaphor — all its members, in this case the teens have a role in the village, everyone has his/her own importance and all contribute to the village," says Crowe. The village named itself "The Survivors." "We're establishing bonds that are non-gang based and helping to create a sense of belonging," says Dr. Crowe.

The village at Sullivan School is made up of 20 teens, who have been identified as "at-risk" for gang involvement. The 26-week, after-school program has addressed the needs that draw adolescents into gang behavior: peer pressure, the need to belong to a group and low self-esteem. The village drumming experience uses easily-mastered drumming experiences with other creative arts expressions as a means for formation of a cohesive group, experiences in problem solving, practice in conflict resolution and development of personal and group self-esteem.

The program is serving as the basis for the development of a replicable model of gang intervention strategy," explains Crowe. "It also serves as a foundation for the development and national dissemination of a written curriculum for other schools to implement such program.

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