Keeping the

Keeping the beat

A group of Maxfield students drum in front of a Culture Wellness Center sign in Brother Qadash’s culture drumming class. | Photo by Zach Walker

Brother Qadash uses his life experiences and passions to teach the culture drumming class at Maxfield Elementary.

By Farries

Brother Qadash likes teaching drumming, driving his blue 2016 Dodge Charger and helping his community. Brother Qadash is a basketball coach and Maxfield Elementary School. He teaches Monday through Thursday between 10 a.m. and 1:40 p.m.

He teaches his students the

seven principles of Maat: order, truth, propriety, reciprocity, balance, justice and harmony. Students do plays like “The Cripple Boy” while Brother Qadash drums on a dundun with sticks.

In class, students also drum with their hands on djembes. Before teaching at Maxfield, he worked at a juvenile detention center that helped teenagers calm down. It turned around their behavior

so they did not go to jail. He would share his own

experiences of childhood with the teenagers like he does every day with kids at Maxfield in order to connect

with them.

“WE ALL DRUM TOGETHER. IT SOUNDS BETTER WHEN WE DO IT TOGETHER.”

“A lot of students come to the

class, you know, and if they are having a rough day, they get some of that energy out, get some of that frustration out,” Brother Qadash said. “And then, at the same time, it makes them feel good.”

Every student who attends Maxfield will have the

opportunity to take the drumming class. Each classroom, kindergarten through fifth grade, visits Brother Qadash on its assigned day of the week to learn drumming, dancing and singing.

“We all drum together,” fifth grader Kiara said. “It sounds better when we do it

together.”

Q&A

with Brother Qadash

Q: Who is your inspiration?

A: Brother Mark Robinson.

I met him when I was a young man working in the Cultural Wellness Center. He was

that male role model I didn’t

have coming up to teach me how to do things on the right hand side. Coming up in the inner city living in poverty and with my father not being in his right state of mind, I didn’t get to have that good male role model. When I met

[Brother Mark], that’s the kind of man I wanted to be, the kind of father I wanted

to be. He was such a big inspiration on me. That’s why I wanted to be in this work.

Q: What was your childhood like?

A: It was up and down. I was born in Chicago on the West Side. Initially, my mom and dad were together. We had a strong household and strong family. Then, my dad became sick. Doing drugs is a sickness. It’s not something you should be put in jail for; it’s something you need help for. It kind of took a turn for

the worse. Drugs took over and my parents got a divorce.

Later in our life, things got a little more rocky. I wound up having to move out on my own when I was 15. I became

a man. I had my first son. I didn’t get to be a normal high-school kid. I had just made the varsity basketball team as a sophomore, but I found out I was having a son. I was surviving in the world however I had to. A

few years later, I met Brother Mark Robinson. I got a great job working with people and working with children. Everything turned around.

We might go through things, but life really can turn around if you surround yourself with people who care about you and love you. It can turn around no matter how bad

the journey starts off.

Q: Every morning, what makes you want to get up?

A: You. Coming here for the students every day is what makes me get up and do it. That’s it. Me being there is one more kid who I

can help that day. Or a seed of something righteous I can plant in a kid’s head to make them want to be better or

make somebody’s day better or help somebody. That’s why I do it. I do it for the people.

Additional help by K’yon Edited by Zach Walker

Above: Three Maxfield students rest after drumming with Brother Qadash. | Photo by Zach Walker

Farries

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE DISNEY MOVIE?

Maleficent

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE RESTAURANT?

Outback Steakhouse

IF YOU COULD BE ANY ANIMAL WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Green anaconda

WHAT IS A CHANGE YOU WOULD MAKE TO SCHOOL?

McDonalds in the school

K’yon

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE THING ABOUT SCHOOL?

Recess

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE WINTER ACTIVITY?

Building a snowman

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?

People raging on “Fortnite”

IF YOU COULD BE ANY ANIMAL WHAT WOULD IT BE?

Invisible leopard

Brother Qadash drums on a dundun after calling for an impromptu dance party during culture drumming class. | Photo by Zach Walker