A Drum Circle Rolls In

About 60 small hands moved in sync — mostly — in a drum circle at the Amagansett School on Monday, with results greater than the sum of its parts.

Over the course of the last three months, the 30 students in grades three and four learned all about playing a type of drum known as the djembe, and Monday’s performance was the culmination of their work with Jerome Liggon, a professional drum instructor. Along with exercises in rhythm and technique came lessons on listening, teamwork, and communication, as well as development of focus and hand-eye coordination.

“There are so many ways it benefits the children,” said Janine Balnis, the school’s social worker, who brought in the program along with Cindy Galvin, the music teacher.

“You’re really communicating through the drumming,” Ms. Balnis said. “The goal of the drum circle is to have one sound, even though there may be 18 drums.”

During Monday’s sometimes chaotic but always energetic performance, Mr. Liggon engaged the students in call-and-answer drumming and changed up the pace for more challenging rhythms. The students used different parts of their hands and a variety of up-and-down, side-to-side, and back-and-forth motions to create the sounds.

The program involved the third and fourth grades, but on Monday, students in grades five and six — and even parents and teachers — were invited to try out the drums.

“With the drumming, they get a real sense of community,” Mr. Liggon said after the performance.

He has worked with children through East End Hospice’s summer camp and through the Stony Brook Cancer Center, where the therapeutic qualities of drumming are emphasized. “They forget about their harsh realities. When they’re smiling and having fun, it’s a beautiful thing,” Mr. Liggon said.

In Amagansett, he said, the children picked up the drumming techniques right away — even faster than adults have been able to learn them.

Amagansett’s superintendent, Elea­nor Tritt, said it was the first time the school had brought in a drum circle program. “We’re always excited about opportunities for children to learn creative ways of expression, working together, and communicating together,” she said. C.S.