The music room at Wolfle Elementary School will beat with a whole lot of rhythm and heart next fall, thanks to A Bright Future Grant awarded last month.

The grant, in the amount of $3,665.25, will be used to purchase about 20 tubano drums students will use with their music teacher, Michael McCurdy, to learn the techniques of rhythm. The drums have feet to stand off the ground and are the perfect height for kids.

“One of the best things you can do is give kids a good rhythmic foundation,” McCurdy said.

A Bright Future Grants are awarded by E. Marie Ponton, a classical pianist and former piano teacher, to support music programs “as a way of honoring the difference that music has made in her life” and inspire and introduce a “familiarity with, and the playing of, traditional musical instruments.”

“I think kids naturally love music. I think it’s born in them,” Ponton said with a warm smile. She and her attorney, Lillian R. Schauer who administers the grants, visited with McCurdy and Wolfle Principal Ben Degnin last month to give them the funds.

“Music has been very important to me since I was 7 years old,” Ponton said. “That’s why I wanted to do this – I felt there was a need there.”

Degnin has passionately worked with his staff to integrate the arts into all curriculums as a way to further engage students in learning.

“The more they get involved, the more they take ownership,” he said.

A number of recently completed and in-progress projects at Wolfle reflect this including the S’Klallam Story Pole gracing the entryway of Wolfle, the Growing Garden behind the school, a colorful mural inspired and painted by students on the hallway leading to the music room, and a very large interactive felt mural used to learn about the life cycle of salmon.

For McCurdy, “Sharing my joy of music has made all the difference with kids,” he said, wrapping up his first year of teaching at Wolfle. “It’s not just pounding music into them, but sharing the joy of it.”

He’s also a professional drummer and plays in the Blues Counselors, made up of staff from local schools that will perform at Kingston’s Fourth of July Music Festival.

McCurdy is building a curriculum around the tubano drums, incorporating the drumming of different cultures. Ponton said she’s looking forward to visiting Wolfle next school year to hear her contribution put to use.