THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, November 4, 1994 TAG: 9411020040
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FERY TOOSI, HIGH SCHOOL CORRESPONDENT
LENGTH: Long : 127 lines
WHEN FARRAH MONIS ventured into her mother's kitchen as a child, she discovered a talent for drumming, not baking. At 5 years old, Farrah was more interested in clanging on cookie tins than eating from them. A self-taught drummer, the 1994 Churchland High graduate now impresses friends with her abilities and indulges their requests to learn a few simple drum lines.
Lately, more females, and especially teenagers, are beginning to take up the drum. Not only do they enjoy the catharsis of banging on drums, but many take pride in mastering an instrument that has traditionally been the domain of males.
Susan Maiorana, a sophomore at Kempsville High who started playing the drums last December, said, ``I enjoy it because it's something different for a female to be doing. It's indescribable to be going off on a drum.''
Drumming also interests young women who don't want to conform.
Alexis Ewing was a rebellious fifth-grader at a strict Catholic school when she decided to play the drums. The 1994 First Colonial graduate said, ``I didn't want to be like the other girls. I didn't want to play the flute or the clarinet. I just thought it would be more interesting to play the drums.''
According to local female percussionists, many people are surprised when they find a female sitting behind a kit or marching in the school band.
Rasheda Gregory, a 1994 graduate of Great Bridge High, said people are often incredulous when she tells them she can play. But after she taps out a few measures on her snare drum, they shrug their shoulders and say, ``Aw, anyone can do that.''
The truth is, the drums are a challenging instrument to master, and it is even more difficult for females who must battle societal stereotypes that dictate that drumming is a masculine activity.
``Since girls are the underdog in drums, they have to prove themselves,'' Rasheda said. ``They have to prove that they're just as good.''
Andy Payne, a drum teacher at the A&E Music Center in Virginia Beach, notices that some females worry too much about becoming technically proficient in order to prove themselves.
``I stress with my female students. . . that they don't get caught up in the technical side of drumming and neglect the feel side,'' Payne said.
Jennifer Grant, a graduate of Connecticut College who lives in Norfolk, hates that many people consider female drummers a novelty. ``You can play and be really bad, but everyone thinks it's so great,'' she said. ``But at the same time, they don't respect you. It's kind of annoying.''
Jennifer attempted percussion at her junior high school, but says that teachers didn't encourage her interest. She finally began drumming seriously in college and assembled her own all-female band.
Like Jennifer, many teenage girls become frustrated at the high school level.
``It kind of saddens me that there aren't more female drummers. I'm not trying to say that the band directors are sexist, but they don't seem to encourage the girls,'' said Becky Abramson, who was co-captain of Great Bridge High's marching band during her senior year last year.
Dwight Leonard, band director at Tallwood High. says band directors are not prejudiced against female drummers. However, some do have concerns that females with small physiques may not be able to carry the larger bass drums, which can weigh up to 35 pounds.
``From a technical standpoint, the girls are just as good as the guys,'' said John Hamilton, band director at Salem High School. ``Physically, she's going to have to be able to carry the equipment. Even some of the smaller guys have trouble.''
Dedra Bagby, a freshman at Booker T. Washington, has played the drums for four years. At band camp this summer, she carried the heavy snare drum for the first time. ``First I was standing up, then I dropped about an inch, like I sunk into the ground,'' she said.
Now she marches with the band weekly and has developed ways to deal with the pain that comes with being a marching percussionist. After performances, her cousin walks on her back to ``pop it,'' and although she has some shoulder pain from the harness, it's nothing serious.
Dedra insists on being treated like the rest of the drum line despite her gender. ``I'm just one of them,'' she said.
Tallwood has ``girls who drum as well as anyone else,'' Leonard, the school's band director said. ``It takes a lot of aggression to withstand what it takes to be in a drum line. It takes a certain amount of assertiveness, but it shouldn't be a sexist issue at all.''
Leonard recalls that his best jazz band student at Kempsville Junior High was female. Now Vachelle Ogden is a percussion performance major at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. She has a passion for jazz and performed weekly this summer at the Bienville Grille and the Omni Hotel in Norfolk.
Vachelle, who is blind, reads music that is printed in Braille and sometimes prepares by listening to pre-recorded pieces. But when she is performing with a jazz band, she relies on her ability to improvise.
Not all young female percussionists will become professionals like Vachelle. Some form rock bands with friends, join the symphony or perform at the college level. Those who have been there say it gets easier to bust the stereotypes as drummers grow older.
Jennifer Turner, an 18-year-old music education major with a concentration in percussion at Old Dominion University, encourages all young female drummers to ``stick with it. At the high school level, it's a lot more discriminatory. College is a lot more supportive.'' MEMO: Fery Toosi is a 1994 graduate of Norfolk Academy who attends Oberlin
College. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
PETER D. SUNDBERG
First Colonial graduate Alexis Ewing was a rebellious fifth-grader
when she decided to play the drums.
MOTOYA NAKAMURA/Staff
Dedra Bagby, a freshman at Booker T. Washington, has been playing
drums for four years.
Fery Toosy is a 1994 graduate of Norfolk Academy.
Photo
PETER D. SUNDBERG
Ralph Copley teaches First Colonial graduate Alexis Ewing how to
play drums.
by CNB