TRAP Uses Drums to Empower Kids with Disabilities

At X8 Drums, we believe in percussion music’s ability to create a sense of togetherness, strengthen bonds, generate excitement, and help people express what they can’t put into words. The Rhythmic Art Project (TRAP) shows us yet another use for percussion instruments and the rhythm they allow us to create.

After using drumming and rhythm to help him recover from an accident that left him paralyzed from the neck down, TRAP founder and director Eddie Tuturi started looking for ways in which he could use drums to help others. He eventually created TRAP, a program that helps children with developmental disabilities learn basic life and learning skills as well as reading, writing, and arithmetic through the use of rhythm. For example, the kids will use drums to learn how to count or spell. The combination of seeing four quarter notes on a piece of paper, hitting the drum and knowing that every hit is one quarter note, and hearing the sound helps the kids better grasp concepts that are normally abstract. Learn more about how it works in the video below:

Playing drums also empowers the children and teens involved in TRAP, helps them build self-esteem, and creates a feeling of inclusion. While the program doesn’t teach students to play the drums and isn’t really about drums and drumming, we think it’s pretty cool that the kids are able to use drums to not only learn basic skills that don’t come as easily to them but to give themselves a voice.