Andrew Young is bringing more than just a new face to Jackson Elementary School. He was hired this year as the new music teacher and immediately began a campaign to provide his students with a curriculum that would go beyond simply teaching them how to play an instrument.
Young plans to purchase an entire set, 39 total, of world percussion instruments, including African drums, shekeres, ginkgoes and more. He said he wants to use the instruments to teach students about cultures from Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America, as the instruments are authentic to those regions.
“It doesn’t matter where I’ve taught, I’ve taught in rural environments, urban, suburban, the one thing that all these kids gravitate toward are these drums,” Young said. “I’ve seen it. It’s all kids. It doesn’t matter the demographic, this music is universal and they can all connect that way. I’m just hoping they foster a lifelong love of the arts and music.”
His passion for music and teaching led him to a World Drumming Training for teachers, where he met his wife, Chelsea, who is a music teacher at Wilson Elementary.
“I think music is important
because it’s a universal language. Children are born with that
creativity, with that innate sense of wanting to be creative beings.”— Andrew Young
Smiling, Young pulled up a video of his wedding day. There, crouched over the very drums he hopes to buy for his class, was his wedding party, including the bride, banging out a perfectly synched rhythm as their guests laughed and sang along.
“I think music is important because it’s a universal language,” Young said. “Children are born with that creativity, with that innate sense of wanting to be creative beings. As soon as you hear music kids want to move to it so being able to learn about it and intelligently speak about it is also a goal in addition to just having fun with it and unleashing that creative side.”
Young said he is hoping members of the community step up to help him purchase the instruments for his class. He started a campaign on DonorsChoose.org, a website created by a teacher in the Bronx where teachers can post classroom project requests and donors can choose what venture they wish to support.
“I’ve done smaller projects on (Donors Choose) before and they’ve always been successful,” Young said. “The site is for teachers and I looked and there are quite a few projects in the Tampa area so if someone just looks for Mr. Young in Plant City mine is the first project that comes up.”
The instruments will cost $4,275 and the deadline for donating on the website is Nov. 30. Jackson has also added the project to its PTA so checks can be sent to the school under the title Jackson Elementary PTA with Music in the Memo or For line.
Young is also in the process of writing grants to help cover the cost of the instruments. He said it is the duty of every music teacher to work hard to ensure their students have the best experience.
Approximately 550 kids attend Jackson and all of them will end up in Young’s class twice a week. He is able to put two kids on each drum so the desired instruments will be able to ensure no child is left sitting while the rest of the class learns.
The cuts across the country to the arts has many schools going without music classes altogether. “I didn’t grow up with a music program,” Young said. “Up until fifth grade I didn’t have anything. I want to give kid’s an experience that I didn’t have. Sometimes music is forgotten about in schools but it’s so important, just like all the other arts and children benefit so much from it.”
Hillsborough County is one of the leading counties in the country for arts education. It has been recognized multiple times as one of the best communities for music education. However, Young said, while the county is inarguably one of the best, the equality between schools tends to vary.
“I really believe that if every single person in the year took on one human rights thing, whether it’s donating to the ASPCA or volunteering your time at the ‘Y’ or something, the world would be a better place if everyone were to just champion one cause,” Young said. “I’m hoping the community rallies behind music and gets involved with their schools. I’m not looking for Mozarts, I’m just looking for people who will go out and really support the arts.”