Bristol Twp.’s Drummers With Attitude: Empowering Students Through Universal Language Of Music

A Bristol Township School District group born out of a teacher’s love of drumming and his desire to provide students with a refuge from stress continues to thrive.

Kevin Travers, a special education teacher at Neil Armstrong Middle School, started Drummers With Attitude in 2000. More than two decades later, he and fellow Armstrong teacher Nancy Indelicato are currently guiding DWA through its annual four-week summer camp at Harry S. Truman High School.

The camp this year will culminate with a Sunday, July 16 performance at a Trenton Thunder game at Trenton Thunder Ballpark.

During the summer camp that runs weekdays from about 9:30 a.m. to 2:15 p.m., Bristol Township students grades 4-12 enjoy physical activities like knockout basketball, kickball and dodgeball, snacks, talks from notables making guest appearances and lots of drumming on their trademark plastic buckets. The summer camp is like an extension of the DWA school-year program open to grades 6-12 that is a mix of special education and regular education students and stresses inclusiveness, Travers explained.

“Anybody can be a part of it,” he said. “As long as you have respect and the desire, I will work with you. It’s great for kids who maybe don’t qualify for other music programs in the district.

“The group gives these kids a sense of belonging. Where else can you have a program that includes students who are visually impaired, students who are on the autism spectrum and students with behavioral issues mixed in with varsity athletes? They are all performing together and they all take care of each other and treat each other like family.”

This year’s summer camp has about 50 students.

“I like that even though I have a disability and can’t see very well, I can still participate and do things with other people,” said Daniel Rosati, who is going into the fifth grade. “I like that I can listen to the beats and hear what other kids are doing and just follow along with my sticks.”

Rising senior Isabella Dias said one of the many things she likes about the group is watching the younger students grow and thrive with the program. Her younger brother Tino is in his third year of summer camp.

“It’s so good seeing them learn and get better,” said Isabella, in her sixth year with DWA. “It’s great being able to learn the different beats, the different songs. They are engraved on my brain.”

A member of the Truman girls’ wrestling team, Dias was one of the key leaders in getting girls’ wrestling instituted an an official Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association sport at all state high schools. She and many others bring that same kind of spirit and drive to DWA.

“The reason why I joined is I knew it would be a place where I could really express myself,” said Bryant Waddle, who is going into the seventh grade. “What I like most about it is probably how everybody is supportive and they will help you throughout everything.”

Drummers With Attitude members being there for each other is also very important to rising sophomore Brandon Savoy.

“It gives me a lot of courage,” he said. “And it really gives me all the support I need.”

Travers is a skilled and accomplished percussionist who started drumming at a young age as a way to escape drug, alcohol, abuse and other problems in his family. It became one of his life passions, and the origins of DWA have their roots in that passion, he explained.

“I started the group because kids just had an interest,” he said. “They knew I was a drummer and saw me playing and wanted to play with me. Music is the universal language and they gravitated toward the rhythms, the drumming aspect of it.

“I think it started as a music group and has evolved into a kind of Big Brother/Big Sister program. It’s a place where kids can go to talk about all kinds of issues and things they might be struggling with. I found out early in my career that kids are always looking for a place to go, to hang out and find some positivity that may not be out there in the neighborhoods.”

The group has gained a widespread reputation over the years and has performed at the White House, in New Orleans, at the Wells Fargo Center, Lincoln Financial Field and many other places.

As he gets fairly close to the end of a teaching career that started with the Bristol Township School District in 1994, Travers said he would like to continue on with DWA even after retiring from teaching. He credits Bristol Township teachers, administrators and school board members with always being very supportive of the program.

Travers would love to have a big reunion of all former DWA members someday. He pictures them performing one of the group’s standards “Old School” at the Truman stadium.

“It’s been invaluable,” he said of the group. “Ever more so now with the mental health issues everyone is struggling with throughout our country and globally. It’s amazing how far the outreach the program has transcended. It’s really gone into the community in ways I never could have imagined.”

Report a correction via email | Editorial standards and policies

---

---