"New Ideas"
Billy Ashbaugh and Bob Gatzen conducted two more legs of research in Springfield, Massachusetts, New Britain, Connecticut, and St. Cloud, Florida in March and May of 2003. The drum duo learned much from the students and applied new ideas to the program.
The Sea of Ideas - this is very basic in that, everything is an idea and the things we see and use are ideas that someone made happen. To depict this, Billy Ashbaugh spoke of one his biggest influences, the legendary, Steve Gadd. He then played a segment of a performance by Steve Gadd . Billy explained how he took Steve's idea (from the Sea)and transformed it into his own. Than, he demonstrated how he used this drum groove idea on the N*SYNC tune, "Drive Myself Crazy", which of course, all the kids recognized. Billy mentioned how other drummers were inspired by it. So in a way, Billy threw his idea back into the sea for others to discover and be inspired by. Bob then described how passion and desire is your captain, guiding you right to the fish in the sea. This was a great way to communicate how the Sea of Ideas works.
Speed Answers - One of the biggest challenges was to get the kids to open up and speak out, especially with cameras rolling. The duo came up with a little game called "Speed Answers". The idea for the game was that everyone in the gallery had to complete a sentence as quickly as possible. For instance, "My passion is..." or "I get my best ideas when I..."
The event was timed on a stopwatch so each group was competing with a previous group record. The kids not only enjoyed the challenge of the game, they shared some of their deepest secrets with their fellow classmates. This technique opened everyone up and it was clear they understood the connection of "sharing ideas" in the "Growing" phase of the process. Also, the message of "teamwork" was communicated and felt.
Closed Eyes - Another technique the duo expanded on was, "Closed Eyes". They wanted the kids to really experience heightened awareness and sensitivity to sounds and ideas. They asked everyone to close their eyes and only open them after they heard the count of, 1-2-3-4 open! With eyes closed some of the lights in the room were shut-off and the two drummers switched drum kits and played a groove together...1-2-3-4- open! It surprised the duo that they knew the drummers switched kits. They could tell the difference in the sound and style between the two drummers! They claimed Bob plays softer than Billy especially the bass drum, which is totally true! Within a few seconds we asked what else is different? They responded and the hands shot up like fireworks on 4th of July...."the lights are different" Yes, we proved that simply closing your eyes puts you into a special place...an idea place!
Create-a-Menu - Sounds like a business seminar on how to manage a restaurant but actually it is about creating. We invited the kids to come up with their own ideas for the drum duet composition and they stepped right up to the plate. They suggested ideas like...play loud and fade out or, play a drum solo. Also, they had definite ideas for changing the musical form by rearranging the sections. This accomplished many things and the students sensed originality, teamwork, brainstorming, and pride in accomplishing a goal.
Passionate learning - Once passion and desire are clearly understood as a basis for creativity, it's easy to form a picture of how applying one's creativity can transform work into play. Bob asks the children..."have you ever read a book and felt like the author is speaking directly to you?" This is all about triggering your passion with information that seems unrelated. Once this connection is made the cycle of learning and creating begins to flow. The greatest creative minds are passionate learners.
Interactivity - the new techniques further heightened interactivity between the drum duo and the children. The key is to present an idea in the form of an experience. Idea-making is not something you talk about, it's something you do, feel, and experience. Also, the image of the dual drum sets is compelling; helping to keep the children focused the entire hour.
Billy and Bob... "It's all very exciting but we haven't even warmed up yet...wait till you see what we're creating for Phase II of START!"
