Kimberly Wise
Kimberly Wise
THEN: Bluecoats mellophone, 1992-1996
NOW: Director of Bands and World Drumming, Ridge Road Middle School
With the help of a grant from the Country Music Association Foundation, Bluecoats alum Kimberly Wise is bringing world drumming to her North Carolina music classroom which caters to an economically disadvantaged population.
A middle school band director at Ridge Road Middle School in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District, Wise started the program that teaches call-and-response type drumming to students after school administration added a general music class to her already packed schedule as a band director.
“It was survival of the fittest,” Wise said about the pressure of taking on the new class. “There was no curriculum, no support, it was just ‘go.’ After 20 years of only teaching band, I was thinking, ‘What are we going to do?’”
Wise’s mind gravitated toward world drumming which she long had a fascination with in her tenure as a music educator. She was also spurred on by her own observations of the student population which is made up of a large percentage of lower income families with students who do not have any sort of formal training in music.
“I would always see these kids beating on tables and drumming with their pens,” she said. “So I decided this would be a good fit.”
Finding a week-long workshop over the summer in world drumming, Wise earned a first level of certification in the program and added it to the curriculum. Provided with 20 drums to start with from the district’s fine arts coordinator, Wise’s class became a pilot program to potentially be rolled out to other area schools in the future.
CMA Foundation and U.S. Bank visit Ridge Road Middle SchoolCharlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is just one of the many programs our CMA Foundation & U.S. Bank supports to shape the next generation through high quality music education. Watch as Russell Dickerson joins teacher Kim Wise as they visit Ninah & other students at Ridge Road Middle School in Charlotte, NC. #MusicMadePossible
Posted by CMA Country Music Association on Thursday, December 5, 2019
Now in its second year, Wise says that after some initial apprehension from students, she thinks that it truly is gaining momentum and making a difference.
“Now the kids are coming around and enjoying it, because they learned that it's different than band class,” she said. “There's no music reading. It's all traditional African drumming in terms of I demonstrate, then you do, and then we create rhythms together.
“I had no idea that it would be this successful, but these kids are saying hi to me in the hallways now. I'm not just the band director anymore. I'm even doing a once-a-week 45-minute lesson with our special needs kids, and we’re even seeing the difference it makes in them. Yeah, it's made a huge difference.”
Wise played mellophone with the Bluecoats from 1992-1996.
The success of Wise’s program was enough to catch the attention of the Country Music Foundation Association who sent a camera crew into her classroom in August to tell her story. The Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District has been the recipient of one of five $50,000 grants awarded nationally from the foundation, and Wise has been one piece of the puzzle in making that happen. In addition to supporting the district’s music programs, the grant will also give her the opportunity for professional development, which she plans to use to earn the next teaching certification in the drumming program.
Originally hailing from northeastern Ohio and a mellophone player with the Bluecoats throughout the mid-1990s, Wise’s success in the classroom is one that she says can be traced back to her time with the corps. It marks a seminal experience for her that she says has been far-reaching in both her personal and professional life, from meeting her husband in the corps, to affecting how she operates in the classroom on a day-to-day basis.
“I really learned to be a part of something greater than myself in the corps,” Wise said. “I learned that how I prepare affects everyone else because we’re all a team.”
And those drum corps lessons will serve her well into the future as she aims to continue on the path she’s set for herself and her students.
“I learned such a good, solid work ethic in the Bluecoats. You can't just take a day off when you don't feel like doing something because other people are depending on you. You've got to work through it, and you've got to keep going.”
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