École K.B. Woodward Elementary receives MusiCounts grant supporting Indigenous drumming

The “heartbeat” of École K.B. Woodward Elementary will soon beat a little louder, thanks to a $19,000 grant from MusiCounts to support the school’s Morning Beats Indigenous drumming program.

This year, K.B. Woodward was one of 74 schools across the country to receive grants totalling $1 million from MusiCounts, a national charity that seeks to improve access to music education through investments in instruments at schools. In her grant application, core music teacher Rebecca Norman requested funding for Indigenous drums to support Morning Beats, a twice-a-week opportunity for all students to start their day by performing Indigenous songs that have been gifted to the school community.

“Rebecca talked about how she uses music and drumming to blend in Indigenous ways of knowing, being and understanding,” said principal Lianne McBride. “That was the main goal of the grant, to add to the drums in our very large community and to continue Morning Beats.”

“A lot of the kids will join in and they’ll get a sense of grounding and place,” said Lyle Dellingham, an Indigenous Child & Youth Care Worker. “We consider the drum to be the heartbeat of a nation of people, and when all of the children are doing the same drum beat, they’re all together as one.”

The MusiCounts grant comes from the charity’s Slaight Family Foundation Innovation Fund, a new stream of funding alongside the MusiCounts Band Aid Program, which has supported music programs of under-resourced schools since 1997. In 2022, Old Yale Road Elementary received a grant for $12,000 from the Band Aid program.

The funds for K.B. Woodward will go toward premade and handmade instruments, including ones for students to assemble in class, as well as opportunities for Indigenous elders to perform at the school and share in music with students.

“We have Dennis Leon of the Kwantlen First Nation and Indigenous elders from River Spirit Drummers coming in for seven weeks to teach songs to our students,” said McBride. “It’s a big moment for us, we’re so excited.”

Both McBride and Dellingham were pleasantly surprised to be selected for the grant and said the additional drums will only increase the opportunities for students to gain a greater understanding of Indigenous culture.

“There’s a lot of hopefulness because it’s actually going to add to a program that is very beautiful and nice to participate in,” said Dellingham.

“As a new principal to this school, I’m just so humbled and appreciative because it will be so beneficial for our kids,” said McBride. “We have such a deep-rooted focus to increase the graduation rates for our Indigenous community, and these drums from the grant will continue to foster that sense of belonging with all of our students.”