This guide sets out the school incursion curriculum links in full and how schools usually fund the program, so you’ve got a clear case to put to a principal or business manager.
Every student gets a drum, and within a few minutes the whole group is playing together.
A West African drumming incursion includes drumming, dance, song and cultural learning, led by experienced players and performers.
The workshops line up with three parts of the Australian Curriculum: The Arts (Music), the Personal and Social Capability, and Intercultural Understanding, across every year level.
This guide lays out the curriculum links in full, and how schools usually fund the program.
We bring West African drumming to schools and kindergartens right across Australia, either as an incursion at your school or as an offsite workshop at a venue that suits you.
Sessions run as single workshops, 4-week term programs, or whole-school events.
Each workshop option is pitched to the year levels and group size on the day, and every student gets their own drum to play.
Yes, across three areas of the v9 curriculum. Here’s how each one plays out in a session.
The Arts (Music), Foundation to Year 10. The Exploring and Responding strand asks students to look at where, why and how different cultures and communities make music. In a drumming session they do exactly that by playing it, picking up the rhythms and the stories behind them firsthand.
Personal and Social Capability. Runs through every year level and subject, and ensemble drumming covers it naturally. To keep a rhythm going, students have to listen, hold their own part, respond to the players around them, and pull together as a group. In the curriculum’s own terms:
Intercultural Understanding. A whole session sits inside this cross-curriculum priority. Students play West African music, find out where the drums come from and what they’re for, and spend the time alongside facilitators from that background.
For coordinators mapping the session against specific content descriptions, the main links are below.
| Outcome | Strand | Content descriptions |
|---|---|---|
| Explore where, why and how people across cultures, communities and other contexts experience music | Exploring and Responding | AC9AMUFE01 (Foundation), AC9AMU2E01 (Years 1 to 2), AC9AMU4E01 (Years 3 to 4) |
| Sing and play instruments to improvise and practise music, drawing on music from a range of cultures | Creating and Making | AC9AMU2C01 (Years 1 to 2) |
| Develop aural skills by exploring and imitating sounds, pitch and rhythm patterns using voice, movement and body percussion | Creating and Making | Foundation to Year 6 bands |
Every state and territory teaches the same national curriculum, so these links hold for a school anywhere in Australia.
From kindergarten and early years through to primary school and secondary school, up to Year 10.
We pitch each workshop to the age and ability of the group, from simple call-and-response play with the little ones, to rhythm and ensemble work that stretches older primary and high school students.
How much does a school incursion cost, and how do schools fund it?
Cost depends on your group size and the format, single session, term program or whole-school event, so the easiest way to get a price is to request a quote.
Almost every school funds the incursion from its own budget rather than an outside grant, and a clear curriculum link makes it an easy yes. The usual options:
Are you facilitators insured?
Yes. African Drumming holds public liability insurance, and every facilitator has a current Working With Children Check (WWCC).
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