Rhythms of Life (DrumBus®) provides hands-on group-rhythms activities for elementary and middle schools with the specific goals of increasing students’ personal wellness, reducing social friction in school communities, improving communication skills, and providing opportunities for artistic expression, personal creativity, empathy, awareness of others, and the development of leadership skills.
The program utilizes 15 years’ experience facilitating group-rhythm events and for the past three years the evidenced-based “Beat the Odds” curriculum from UCLArts and Healing Institute. Beat the Odds® integrates activities from group drumming and group counseling to build core social-emotional strengths such as maintaining focus and attentive listening, team building, positive risk taking, self-esteem, awareness of others, leadership, expressing feelings, managing anger/stress, empathy, and gratitude.
Because music is a universal language, group-drumming is well suited for many of our current social, emotional, behavioral, and cultural challenges. Students can participate, contribute, and even demonstrate leadership, regardless of language or level of previous musical experience.
Media related to DrumBus® and Beat the Odds®:
How a Mobile Classroom is Transforming the Oxnard School District
“Giving the students an outlet to be independent, to express themselves, to kind of come together as a class, that is just amazing, you just feel the energy that they create as a family and we always are pushing that school is not only for learning, it’s about the relationships between the students and each other and the relationships with teachers and staff.”
-Principal Allison Cordes