Marching to a Different Drum Beat

Alumni News

FWCD third- and fourth-graders are marching to the beat of 120 drums this year! Music Teacher Julie Dean reached out to FWCD alumnus, parent and local chef Jon Bonnell ’89 to help craft drums so her students each have their own.

“I got the idea to make these drums years ago from a supplemental teaching book published by a music teacher I saw at a session at TMEA [Texas Music Educators Association],” Dean said. “After my first year here, I made a classroom set and used them to keep the kids engaged. It has been a couple of years since I pulled them out.”

Since classroom instruments are offlimits this year, and students cannot sing or play their traditional music games right now, Dean knew she needed — and wanted — something special to engage students as they explore music literacy. She decided to make a drum for each of the third- and fourth-grade students. To do so, Dean needed large vegetable cans and immediately thought about reaching out to SAGE Dining Services, FWCD’s food service provider, but SAGE had not started making food before the start of school. She then thought of Bonnell and his restaurant, Bonnell's Fine Texas Cuisine.

Dean was able to collect all the cans she needed — 121 in total — thanks to Bonnell. To fashion the instruments, she added some foam for the heads of the drums, duct tape, drum sticks, small cutting boards (aka beat boards), and miniature tambourines to create "kidstix" stations. “These kidstix stations provide multiple timbres of sound,” Dean shared. Bonnell was elated that Dean connected with him and was able to get her all the cans she needed in just a few weeks. “My first thought was that she talked to the right guy! Luckily, we are in the perfect position to be able to get this number of large cans in a hurry,” he said. “Since the pandemic, our curbside meals have been popular, and many of those have an item that comes in a can. Our Buffalo Bros locations also use this size of can for one of the ingredients in our pizza sauce, so I knew we could fill this order in very little time. Before the pandemic, we would not be able to find this many cans in this short amount of time.”

Ricky ’30, Bonnell’s son, is a recipient of one of these drums. “It is fun to see this effort and project coming full circle,” he noted. “FWCD has been such an influential place for me and my family since the ’70s. I can’t imagine a better place to support.”