Northwest Collaboration Uses Rap Music as Teaching Tool

07/28/2004

Any summer school teacher knows the challenge of getting kids to pay attention when the sun, the pool, or family vacation beckons. Northwest teachers and camp counselors know they've got to spice up their lessons to stand a chance of getting through. A collaboration based out of Olympia, Washington is finding success by setting serious subjects like science or violence prevention to music. Correspondent Tom Banse has more.

RAP AND HIP-HOP MUSIC OFTEN FOCUS ON VIOLENCE, WOMEN, AND GANGS. WHAT IF MUSICIANS SUNG ABOUT TIDEPOOLS AND ANTHILLS?

THIS LITTLE DITTY BY A TRIO OF MIDDLE-SCHOOLERS FROM SUBURBAN TACOMA GROWS OUT OF AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE OF SCIENTISTS, SOCIAL WORKERS AND NON-PROFIT GRANT WRITERS. IT STARTED ON A RECENT MONDAY IN THE FOREST BEHIND EVERGREEN STATE COLLEGE IN OLYMPIA.

A COLLEGE SCIENTIST HELPS A VISITING RAP ARTIST ASCEND ON ROPES TOWARD A TREETOP RESEARCH PLATFORM. WHEN THE RAP STAR, NAMED CAUTION COMES BACK DOWN, HE COMPOSES ON THE FLY FOR 40 WATCHING STUDENTS.

Caution: "From above the ground, the scene was smaller/But once back on the ground, the maple trees grew taller/Alders and hemlocks, cedars and firs/With the deers, the mosquitoes, the rabbits and birds..."

THE STUDENTS COME FROM GRITTY NEIGHBORHOODS. THEY PARTICIPATE IN A FEDERAL PROGRAM NAMED GEAR UP TO GET THEM THINKING ABOUT COLLEGE FROM AN EARLY AGE. BUT TO GET MIDDLE-SCHOOLERS TO GIVE UP A WEEK OF SUMMER, YOU NEED SOMETHING EXTRA.

Denny: "The flyer for this basically said, do you want to record a rap record."

PROGRAM FACILITATOR TODD DENNY FEELS IT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO MEET STUDENTS HALFWAY, SOMEWHERE BETWEEN THEIR WORLD AND THAT OF ADULT TEACHERS. HIS TEAM IS WORKING WITHIN THE YOUTH CULTURE.

Denny: "This is the only project I've ever been involved with where we have to turn kids away who want to be involved with a project that involves vigorous writing, literacy, the language arts. That's very rare."

THE STUDENTS TAKE NOTES ON THE FOREST CANOPY. THEY FIND AND MAP ANTHILLS AND WANDER A BEACH WITH A MARINE BIOLOGIST. AFTER THREE DAYS, IT'S TIME TO MOLD THE IMPRESSIONS INTO MUSIC.

Sound: "Alright, you ready. I'll put the beat back in…"

THESE KIDS SAY THEY WOULDN'T BE HERE IF THIS HAD BEEN PROMOTED AS A CAMP ABOUT SCIENCE.

Kids: Not really. No. TB: "Why?" Liz: I'm not good at math. I got a D in math, so you know, I'm not good at that. Careena: I'm not good at science because I don't like messing with nasty things. Like when we went to the beach, I didn't even want to pick up anything so I stayed up near the dry part. Tiana: I honestly love science. I wouldn't go to camp though. I don't know. This inspired me to love science a little bit more. Careena: I don't like to get dirty…"

WHILE 13-YEAR-OLDS LIZ, TIANA, AND CAREENA EXPRESS LITTLE INTEREST IN BECOMING SCIENTISTS, THEY DO WANT TO DO MORE MUSIC RECORDING.

Tiana: "Caution really inspired me so I'll probably want to go to his studio to do rapping and stuff. Now I want to be a rapper."

THIS IS THE SECOND EXPERIMENT IN THE NORTHWEST BLENDING LEARNING AND RAP. IN JUNE, STUDENTS ON THE YAKAMA INDIAN RESERVATION STUDIED VIOLENCE PREVENTION AND COLLEGE PLANNING AND PRODUCED SONGS LIKE THIS…

PROVIDED THAT MORE GRANT FUNDING CAN BE SECURED, THE VIOLENCE PREVENTION THEME WILL BE REPEATED AS AN AFTER-SCHOOL ENRICHMENT PROGRAM IN TACOMA THIS NOVEMBER. I'M TOM BANSE IN OLYMPIA.