Joe Henderson Elementary School got an early Christmas present this year in the form of a $1,000 music grant for its Drum Circle program by the Solano Community Foundation.
Gabe Guevara, an elementary music teacher with the Benicia Unified School District, said the grant was an honor.

“I feel like there are areas to grow in the music program,” he said. “Definitely, we need more instruments and hands-on things for the kids to learn with, so it’s great having those materials.”

Lesley Cunningham, a BUSD elementary music teacher who instructs fourth and fifth-graders, applied for the grant. Guevara, who teachers first through third-graders, said both teachers would benefit as they use the same space and materials at all the schools.

Guevara instructs students in 35-minute intervals at each of the elementary schools one day a week. He says his curriculum is chopped up into four points: reading music, playing instruments, rhythm and movement. Each school has a Drum Circle program, which Guevera said is very beneficial.

“Putting those drums in there is half of my curriculum,” he said. “It helps a lot with hand-eye coordination (and) having to work together as a group.”

However, Guevara said some schools have more drums than others, and Henderson was in particular need. He said the school had about two or three usable drums whereas other schools had about five or six. As a result, he would mostly have students clap when teaching rhythm and other skills.

“I think Henderson has shown a lot of interest in making the drum program bigger,” Guevara said. “Coordinating that and putting it together will be a lot easier once we have the drums.”

Following Cunningham’s application for a Wong Music Mini-Grant from the Solano Community Foundation, Henderson became one of 13 schools in the county to receive funds. Guevara said the money will be mainly focused on buying durable drums that can last a couple of years. He also hopes that some of the money can be used to provide more percussion instruments, such as shakers and rattles to give students “a wider variety of musical instruments.”

Guevara said music education is important, especially when it comes to giving children an early start.

“Music education has a lot to do with social interaction,” he said. “It has a lot to do with confidence. When the kids perform, the kids get up there in front of a group.”

Guevara said music education can help with hand-eye coordination and provides a fun extracurricular activity for students.

“As we see at the high school, we have an award-winning gold medal marching band,” he said. “These kids are kind of the budding seeds of that.”

The Wong Music Mini-Grant was established in 2011 by Donald and Rose Marie Wong as a way to fund music education in Solano County schools. Among the other recipients this year were Benicia Middle School, which received $1,000 to purchase guitar sheet music for its Music Wheel program. For the full list of recipients, go to solanocf.org.

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