Think Local, Crank Global: Summer 2021 Go-Go Workshop for Educators
By Lila Chafe
On Tuesday, August 17, DC educators joined the virtual workshop “Think Local, Crank Global” hosted by Teaching for Change’s Teach the Beat program and the DC Public School Office of Teaching and Learning, Music, and Arts.
At the start of the meeting, participants introduced themselves in the chat, sharing their favorite go-go memories and songs. Chat contributions ranged from memories of being introduced to go-go at HBCU campuses, “listening to it on the radio in the 80s and wanting very badly to go to a Rare Essence concert,” to current experiences “hearing cars drive by blasting go-go” and “playing ‘Welcome to DC’ with my class and seeing the way they dance when we play go-go music.”
Matt Miller, Teach the Beat program specialist, introduced Teach the Beat, thanking program funders DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities (DCCAH) and the D.C. Office of Cable TV, Film, Music and Entertainment (OCTFME) and shouting out Wheatley Education Campus, whose educators made a strong showing at the go-go workshop. We were also joined by Mary Lambert, Katy Weatherly and James Mitaritonna from the DC Public School Office of Teaching and Learning, Music, and Arts.
Participants were invited to visit the Teach the Beat website to read about classroom visits and get access to the Go-Go Sound of Summer films. Miller welcomed the host, Uncle Devin Walker. Walker introduced himself by playing a song.
Walker explained that the workshops’ objectives were to use instruments to teach the art of go-go and follow the Junkyard Band’s example by “making something out of nothing” and using body percussion and items within the student's environment to create rhythms.
While listening to Mister Magic by Grover Washington, Walker explained the roots of go-go music starting with Chuck Brown’s proposal to use a continuous rhythm to merge songs within a band’s set.
Leading the workshop in call and response, Walker called on participants to share where they were from, creating community through song and place. Participants shared that the call and response exercise made them feel involved, connected, and engaged.
Throughout the meeting, participants were encouraged to imagine how go-go might be used in the classroom. Educators envisioned that the call and response could be used for affirmations, introductions, attendance, practicing memorization fluency, and even emotional check-ins.
Walker transitioned the call into a history lesson, teaching the workshop the Hambone and Juba, dances that some participants had been taught as young children! While educators practiced the ancient African body-instrument, Walker impressed everyone with his musicality.
In breakout rooms, educators were challenged to create a body percussion pattern that matched their names and then shared them with their teams. Relating experiences as classroom teachers, educators brainstormed how go-go tradition could build musical skills and confidence in the classroom.
Back in the main group, Walker introduced the Junkyard band, explaining that the fundamentals of go-go percussion are shaking, scraping, and striking and that instruments can come from everyday life.
Engaging the workshop participants in physical movement, Walker shared his original song “Shake, Scrape, and Strike”. By the end of the song, forty-five educators were engaged in an immersive dance. Learning more about the instrumentation of go-go, participants were introduced to the shekere, djembe, and cabasa.
Think Global Crank Local: Go-Go Worksop was just the inspiration and energy I needed! Big thank you and shout out to @teachingchange @DCPSArts @TroubleFunkBand @uncledevinshow #gogo #hundredlanguages #Blackhistory #joy #windmeupchuck @SWSatgoding @PrincipalBurst @TheDCArts pic.twitter.com/Mj36E9wSk8
— Marla McLean (@MarlAtelierista) August 17, 2021
After watching The Table Top Groove by Uncle Devin, participants continued to brainstorm different materials that could be incorporated in the classroom as instruments. Continuing these conversations, participants were divided into breakout rooms to share objects within each of their environments that could be used to shake, scrape, or strike.
Returning to the main room, participants shared their gratitude for Walker’s children’s music rooted in history and culture. As participants discussed the value of music in the classroom, many teachers mentioned the importance of reframing student’s behaviors that are often discouraged such as tapping on the table or clicking a pen into celebrated parts of the classroom.
In a final musical interlude, Walker emphasized the international reach and roots of go-go, exemplifying its Calypso, Latin, and Jamaican Ska influences. After generous thank you’s by participants and a discussion on the cultural relevance of go-go, the session concluded!
Teach the Beat
Teach the Beat brings the distinctive D.C. sound of go-go into the classroom working with D.C. area schools and the authors of The Beat! Go-Go Music from Washington, D.C. to develop lessons and share teaching ideas for infusing the history and music of go-go in social studies, language arts, math, music, and/or D.C. history classes, and to bring renowned go-go performers into D.C. classrooms.
About Uncle Devin
The Uncle Devin Show® is an interactive musical experience for children by renowned drummer Devin Walker. The show cultivates the minds of children through percussion instruments and is a dynamic cross between DC’s Trouble Funk and Schoolhouse Rock. Known as The Children's Drumcussionist, Uncle Devin is also a Teaching Artist with both the Wolf Trap Institute for Early Learning Through the Arts and Young Audiences/Arts for Learning - Maryland.
His children's book, The ABC's of Percussion with Music CD, was named a 2015 National Parenting Publication Awards Bronze winner, and his Uncle Devin’s Drum Tales CD won a 2013 Parents’ Choice Presentation Award. Uncle Devin’s latest release Be Yourself! CD takes a different approach to children’s music, using funky drum and percussion grooves as the foundation to teach children about the importance of individuality.
He is also the creator of the 24/7 online music radio program for children called Watoto Entertainment & Education or WEE Nation Radio, providing Global Beats for Little Feet! This past April, Uncle Devin debuted the companion WEE Nation Radio show on WPFW 89.3 weekly on Wednesdays 7pm-8pm. In April 2021, he launched WEE Nation Radio on KBOO 90.7FM in Portland, OR bi-weekly on Thursdays 12 pm – 2 pm PST/ 3 pm – 5 pm EST. Both shows can also be streamed live on the Simple Radio or TuneIn apps.
Lila Chafe is a volunteer with Teaching for Change in the 2020-2021 school year while studying education at Barnard College.