Keeping the beat: singing, drumming group teaches tradition, respect
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For the members of the Arlee Singers, drumming is more than an after-school activity: it’s a way of life. “Everything evolves around the drum. It’s the heartbeat of our people,” says 15-year-old Zach Felsman during a session long after all the other students have gone home, and the squeaking of basketball shoes silenced in the gymnasium next door.
Felsman and four other youths sit around a drum in the cafeteria, among folded up lunch tables and chairs, singing a straight song, a southern style song, and then a round dance.
Instructor Walden Tewawina leads the group singing softly, tapping the drum rhythmically until the others join in. The song grows strong as it echoes off the walls, filling the room with the young voices.
Tewawina said he saw an advertisement for a drumming and singing instructor and was immediately interested. It caught his attention because he remembers being around the drum and hearing the music at a young age.
“I would sit on my dad’s lap with a stick,” he recalled. “And ever since then, since I was 7 years old, I’ve been the lead singer of our family drum group ‘Red Sand.’”
Now Tewawina wants to pass on what he knows to a new generation.
“I really enjoy teaching what my father taught me,” he said. “I’m not saying my way is the only way, but the way of the drum.”
Tewawina said he teaches all interested students in the fourth-12th grades how to sing, drum and respect the drum. This includes members of the group being drug and alcohol free, or sitting with the drum the whole time during powwows or events among other rules.
“When (children) learn to respect the drum,” Tewawina said, “then they will respect themselves.”
Tewawina mentioned he would like to incorporate hand drumming in the group as a way to build confidence and boost self-esteem, because instead of singing in a group, the individuals sing and drum solo.
The Arlee Singers have existed for three years and have performed during graduations, athletic games and Arlee School’s Native American Heritage Day. The Arlee School District’s Johnson O’Malley Program funds the group.
“The whole group was based on a needs assessment by the JOM and it was the highest priority, so the organization decided to fund it,” said American Indian curriculum coordinator Willie Wright, who explained students and parents expressed a need for a drumming and singing club.
“I love it,” Camas McClure, 17, said of being in the drum group. “It’s part of my family, they have drum groups and they go to a million powwows…it’s just in my blood.”
McClure said he grew up watching his uncle’s drum group sing and sees being a part of the Arlee Singers as more than just a hobby.
“I can pass (what I learn) down to my kids and my grandkids and the tradition keeps going,” the teen said.
