Adults with Disabilities Express their Inner Musician through TRAP Drumming at CBS

Wander up the stairs of CBS’s very own farmhouse on the Cultivating Dreams property, and you’ll find pumping and bumping karaoke, dance, and drumming classes in session. And if you happen to stroll into the first floor of the CBS InterArts Center, a wide range of arts and crafts lessons are at your disposal. Not to mention, theater and yoga classes dot the horizon, as a theater stage, dance studio, yoga room, and other exciting artistic spaces within the Art Center are in the process of construction.

In these crafty CBS spaces, adults with disabilities can explore practically any and all creative avenues that might tickle their fancy. Debbie Major, a music teacher in the Cultivating Dreams farmhouse, shares how students are encouraged to taste test as many art forms as they wish and however they wish “in order to find what works for them.” This highly malleable and entirely person-centric approach, Debbie notes, helps each and every one of her students “shine in their own special way and feel very accomplished.”

One of the classes specifically — a drumming class called TRAP, taught by Debbie Major — taps into cultivating this sensation of accomplishment and so much more. Learning how to play TRAP drum sequences requires students to listen to a drum rhythm, repeat it verbally or to themselves, learn the shapes and colors that correspond with rhythms, and ultimately create the rhythms on their own.