Greg Beyer, professor of music and head of percussion studies and some NIU Percussion students teach a contingent from Project FLEX to play samba music.
The percussion room in the NIU Music Building is often filled with the rhythmic sounds of music from all over the world. Lunchtime Thursday, April 25 was no exception, as samba music could be heard echoing down the hallway. What was different about it was the hour of joyous dancing, singing and percussion featured sixteen special guests from Project FLEX, an NIU-based research and outreach project created in 2018 by kinesiology professors Zach Wahl-Alexander and Jenn Jacobs.
Project FLEX has a team of graduate students, alumni and researchers who work with incarcerated youth to make a positive impact on their lives. The program focuses on physical and mental health, character development, career exploration and higher education access with the aim to set youth up for success post-incarceration. Typically their activities are based around sports, but on this day the group of mentors and youth found themselves working up a sweat while enjoying a crash course in Afro-Brazilian music being taught to them by Greg Beyer, professor of music and head of percussion, along with a group of NIU Percussion students.
“My father has a background in drumming, and he comes to all of the NIU Percussion Ensemble concerts,” Wahl-Alexander said. “He told me that I should get in touch with Dr. Beyer to see if we could put something together like this. We did, and it’s been a great success.”
Beyer said he jumped at the opportunity for a collaboration, and picked samba because he knew the infectious rhythms would encourage participation and be fun for the contingent from Project FLEX to engage with.
Beyer began with some simple introductory beats, as he and the percussion students demonstrated. Then as the beats began to build on each other he encouraged the guests to choose their new favorite instrument and join in. Halfway through the hour, everyone was into it, playing and dancing.
At the end of the session, Beyer’s invitation to the Project FLEX team members and youth for a return engagement in the percussion room was met with an enthusiastic cheer.
