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Approximately 40 students and visitors pounded out their own rhythms as part of a freeform drum circle at noon April 22, led by music instructor Steven Coughran and his World Music class.
During the half hour Earth Day performance, many passing by stopped, lowered headphones and wandered over, and were offered instruments ranging from milk bottles filled with sand to professional drums and were invited to join in.
Coughran offered suggestions and challenges for his students while pacing and bobbing his head, sometimes crouching down and slapping his palms on African drums with his students, who themselves swayed and danced to their own beats during the performance.
"Playing in a drum circle tends to connect people with our fundamental roots," said Coughran. "It's an experience where if you just try and get involved in the present moment, then somehow on a visceral level you can connect to everyone else."
Participants ranged from a student in crutches shaking a rattle to numerous children standing on their toes and patting a large drum set as gently as they could. One infant in a stroller helped by shaking his feet.
Others were from the Child Development Center, which was participating in a nearby recycling project stand for Earth Day. They wandered over and shook rattles and makeshift instruments.
Brenson Freeman, 6, was one of many children at the drum circle. He pounded on a drum as large as himself while his mother watched over him and helped out with the music.
"I came out here to showcase the little guy's talent, and let him have some fun," said his mother, Kailene Freeman.
Coughran said many of the participants were previous students of his, and that the group had run out of instruments to hand out.
The music, he said, could help people connect with their "inner self".
"If you drop your guard, you can find a way to contribute to the whole," Coughran said. "You can play as one but you don't have to play what your neighbor is playing."
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