The Freese Elementary Special Education Drum Project

The Flood Family Foundation prides itself on its contributions to community arts and education projects, and Freese Elementary's Special Education Drum Program represents one of our most worthwhile undertakings. This innovative project incorporates drumming, folklore, storytelling, and puppetry into weekly lessons for elementary school students at Freese, who expand their cultural understanding and musical abilities with the short-term goal of putting on a performance of their own! The long-term goal of the project is, of course, to ensure young children gain a broad understanding of how art and music from various cultures can enrich their lives--and those of their communities. The results are truly astounding, and since 2006, the FFF has donated $1000 each semester to maintain the project during California's ongoing budget crisis, which has all but eliminated arts and music programs for San Diego public school children--especially for those in elementary school.

According to John Flood, a professor of drumming and world music at San Diego State University, as well as Artist in Residence with the Visual and Performing Arts for the San Diego Unified School District (of which Freese is a part), music and art programs for children at the kindergarten through third grade levels are absolutely essential:

In my opinion, starting kids with rudimentary music skills in middle school is way too late. There are a number of reasons for this, like hormones, for one thing, which make the older kids a bit harder to work with, and the "coolness factor" that starts to creep into the age groups beyond the third grade. And in some cases it's hard to blame them. Having them learn the most basic stuff--concepts they could have grasped in kindergarten--might seem really childish to older kids. The best strategy all around is to inspire kids while the material is age-appropriate and when that natural spark of curiosity and enthusiasm makes drumming, dance, and cultural education a real joy. That way, they will have a special place in their hearts for music, and maybe a life-long passion. In Carribean and Eastern music programs, music, dance, and performance function less as specialized, individual skills and more as community activities. Music in those cultures brings people together and enriches communities and creates a common cultural language. That is what the Freese Special Education Drum Project was designed to do, too, and that is just what it is doing.

Surely, the success of any educational project results from a combination of proper funding and quality instruction, and thus the Freese project's success owes much to the main teacher and performer, Felix Diaz, whose skills encompass everything the project offers to its students: puppetry, folklore, storytelling, drumming, singing, dancing, mask-making and guitar playing. This talented multi-instrumentalist and multi-disciplinary artist serves as a Lead Teaching Artist with the San Diego Guild of Puppetry and has cemented his reputation while teaching and performing internationally with Drummers Without Borders, a forward-thinking, family-based art and education organization started in 2004 by Felix, Silvio, and Abril Diaz. After graduating from Mexico City's National University with a BA in Visual Art, Felix spent the following twenty years creating, producing, and directing over twenty different types of children's plays in Europe, Mexico, and the US. One of his specialties is staging giant puppet parades for kids that incorporate music, folklore, and drumming, and some of Felix's most recent productions at Freese have featured this fresh and eclectic artform. As you can see from the photos below, the results are spectacular:

Exciting and innovative programs like the Freese Special Education Drum Project are what the Flood Family Foundation values most, and if you also believe in the power of music and education programs--especially ones taught by world-class, master artists and musicians--then we urge you to match our contributions and help us build a more tolerant, skilled, and savvy world community from the ground up.