Youth music fundraiser to be held at Lakeview Center

By Michele Hester
Photos submitted

For more than two decades, Dr. Arvin Scott has taught and inspired fans and students across the globe. The award-winning performer, composer, author, educator and community leader will bring the drum’s spirit to Dawsonville Feb. 24 as The Lakeview Center welcomes “Beat the Drum”, a fundraiser for the community-based Drumming for Success program.

Founded in 1997 by Scott, who has performed with Widespread Panic and many other notable artists, Drumming for Success is a non-profit music education program designed to provide a positive and fun-filled environment that fosters achievement, creativity and self-esteem. The program teaches methods of drumming while also encouraging youth to move to life’s rhythm.

Scott said Drumming for Success makes a difference in the lives of youths through positive role modeling and spreads they joy of drumming throughout the community and Southeast.

Drumming for Success, which originated in Athens where Scott teaches African, Caribbean and Brazilian hand drumming at the University of Georgia School of Music, has received numerous accolades for providing motivational programs which inspire and reward academic achievement and encourages success in life.

“This program affirms a lesson I learned long ago,” said Scott, “that drumming can transform a bad day into a good day, a good day into a great day, and an at-risk life into a successful lifetime. It is a source of joy and passion for me and those whose lives the program touches.”

Throughout the year, Scott and a group of professional drummers, which often includes Widespread Panic’s Domingo “Sonny” Ortiz, travel across the southeast promoting Drumming for Success with “Beat the Drum”.

“Beat the Drum” is an evening of professional drum performances followed by a drum circle where Dr. Scott will instruct attendees on various drumming methods.
Lakeview Center’s Mike Sears organized the event and is looking forward to seeing how Drumming for Success could potentially encourage a more visible local music scene in Dawsonville. He would love to see more bands pop up in this area and believes the younger children are exposed to the art of music the more likely they are to continue appreciating it as adults.

Admission to “Beat the Drum” is $7. The show begins at 8 p.m. and is open to all ages.

Everyone is invited to bring an instrument and “drum until your hands fall off” or just sit back and enjoy the magical rhythms of the night.