NAEC students feel the beat

Oct 22, 2014

by Valerie Allan

Students and staff found their rhythm at high energy, fun workshops presented by Derek De Beers on Friday, October 17. Derek brought a large assortment of drums and other percussion instruments such as shakers, odd contraptions involving pedals and instruments, and basketballs.

Students and staff learned from Derek that “You think you are drumming, but you are really doing mathematics. You are adding, subtracting, dividing and multiplying. You are counting.” He added that mathematics is important in life, when people have to consider how much rent they pay, their hydro, their gas bill, etc. Teachers were very pleased that Derek highlighted the importance of mathematics.

However, Derek also stressed that without the Arts, students’ “souls would wither and die.” Derek stated that students need a combination of the right brain and the left brain to be successful.

Derek’s workshops were full of fun and drumming. One particularly amusing aspect was Derek’s assigning random names to students and teachers. Due to the very large numbers of participants, it would have been impossible for him to learn everyone’s name, so this was a clever way to still make a connection with the attendees.

The workshop was made possible by a subsidy from the Crabtree Foundation, which subsidized the “Bboyizm” workshop held last year. Students and teachers both enthused over how much fun they had had, and several said they would love it if Derek were to come again