Whitewater teacher drums up fellowship
Edwin Scherzer | September 13, 2015

“I have a passion for working with children; each one truly is a gift and a joy in my life,” [Christine] Hayes said.

Hayes is…past president of the Wisconsin Music Educators Association.

Hayes’ passion for drumming as a musical art form and a means of musical education helped fuel her desire to travel to Ghana.

“My goal was to bring back to the students a deeper level of understanding of the culture of a beautiful people — their song, dance, stories, living, environment, speech, the children, the food — all to truly comprehend the drumming that comes from Ghana,” Hayes said.

She will pass on the techniques that she learned to her students, to the drum choir she started at her church and to local residents through community education classes that are in the works.

“A child given the skills and opportunity to create and perform meaningful music will possess the ability to express their inner and true self,” she said.

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