John Flood

We are proud to feature the following short film by San Diego videographer Lisa Franek, who captures the musical philosophy and philanthropic work of John Flood, a founding FFF board member who has been working with the San Diego Unified School District to implement a comprehensive World Music program at a time when budget cuts are decimating K-12 music education. His efforts are truly inspiring:



John serves as the Artist in Residence for the Visual and Performing Arts in the San Diego Unified School District, and he has worked in conjunction with the International House of Blues Foundation in order to bring real drums (that is, hand-crafted instruments from local artisans in Cuba and Mali, rather than plastic drums) and world music education and performance programs to more San Diego kids. For these efforts, and for his work with schools in the Madison High School Cluster, he was recently awarded the prestigious Outstanding Multicultural Music Educator Award by the California Music Educators Association Southern Border Section (CMEA-SBS). As is evident in the video above, John truly believes multicultural education in our K-12 schools can help make the world a better place, and we are elated that more people are beginning to come around to this way of thinking.

The musical and educational philosophy of John Flood also extends into the territory of his full-time teaching position at San Diego State University, where he teaches African Drumming and Dance through the Contemporay Cultures Music Program. John's expertise in Ghanaian percussion, drum set, jazz vibraphone, and classical performance has allowed him to train a wide variety of working musicians in the San Diego area and beyond. His reputation at SDSU is, by no stretch of the imagination, that of a resident drum guru--a master whose skill is matched equally by his mentorship.

But education is not the only facet to John's musicianship. A large part of John's talent is also devoted to his love of performance, which he displays through his work with Ho-Asogli, an African drum and dance band that performs the traditional musics of Ghana. Since 1994, John has served as the group's Director, and his leadership has brought the band's multicultural sights and sounds into the hearts of Southern California.

John's work through the Flood Family Foundation echoes the support his mother Charleen gave to him as a boy, when he was first interested in drumming, and he credits his mother's influence in helping him make music a serious career. Charleen was, of course, a member of the Sky Larks (the female counterpart to the US Airforce Singing Sergeants) and a formidable piano player in her own right. Through the FFF, John hopes to honor the memory of his mother, carry on her musical legacy, and help find a cure for Parkinson's--the playfully-dubbed "Mr. P" against whom she fought so bravely.

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.