TALLADEGA — Students at the Alabama School for the Blind and the Helen Keller School worked hard to learn the language of the drum for their performance Wednesday.

John Scalici, a contracted VSA arts of Alabama teacher and professional drum circle facilitator, helped the students realize they must first learn that drumming was more than just banging on things before being able to play their program finale.

He came to the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind facilities in Talladega for 20 sessions over the course of two months to teach the students the art of hand-drumming and rhythm-based activities as a tool for communication and self-expression. Through the classes, the students have learned vital life skills such as teamwork, cooperation, collaboration and respect.

Scalici worked with two groups at HKS. One group participated in his Rhythmic Empowerment sessions where students learned to utilize drums and small percussion instruments as tools of empowerment to express themselves individually and as a group. Activities were designed to encourage listening skills and teamwork and promote self-confidence.

The second group, also known as the performance group, consisted of five students who had exhibited what Scalici deemed to be exceptional abilities in teamwork and drumming. These students were part of the group performing Wednesday.

Several 11th-graders at ASB learned the same traditional West African rhythm in sessions focused on learning the language of the drums, their purpose in West African culture, the meaning and history of the rhythm and the arrangement or performance style of the piece. This unique collaboration between ASB and HKS is viewed as a great achievement by both schools.

The drums the students learned to play are mostly West African drums known as djembes, ashikos and djun djuns. The djun djuns are the melody drums, and are further differentiated as the doundounba, kenkeni and sangban.

Each drum contributed to an “initiation rhythm” traditional to African cultures as part of the introduction of youth to adulthood. Scalici explained that Wednesday’s demonstration was meant to encourage other students to pursue the drumming experience next year and keep the rhythm alive at AIDB.

“The rhythm is passed down to a new group each year to continue to represent the school,” Scalici said. “This style of drumming is all about celebration and working together and passing down traditions. Learning the language of the drum in no different from learning any other language.”

The students then expressed their gratitude to Scalici for traveling to AIDB to teach them how to play the drums and explaining that it wasn’t necessarily that drums can talk, but that the rhythm speaks to people on a level beyond words.

Scalici presented each of the students with a certificate for their hard work in learning the drumming rhythm and the performance.

VSA arts of Alabama has been working with AIDB for eight years to provide students with this program, and the staff and students hope the funding and interest will continue for many years.

“I think today was the top performance so far in eight years,” said Charlotte Lowry, ASB principal. “The students said this was a lot of hard work, but I walked by and saw they were having a lot of fun too. I hope everyone can see how important it is to us for people to come to this program. We need to keep the money coming to keep this program going.”