Duct Tape Groove

Bill Pagaran was accepting a $1,000 donation from Wal-Mart for Carry the Cure recently when he overheard something that sounded like sweet music to his ears -- the Wasilla Wal-Mart leads the nation in duct tape sales.

Pagaran works as a suicide prevention advocate for Carry the Cure, but he is also an accomplished percussionist, and the thought of rolling duct tape into the repertoire was all he needed to start writing music. Now, the Rhythm of Life (ROL) group, comprised of five students, is taking the stage.

"I thought, 'This is something we can do, duct tape,'" Pagaran said. "It's part of our mentoring through music program with Carry the Cure. It's another way to give kids something that challenges them and keeps them engaged."

The students -- Colony Middle School's Mary Krauszer, Wasilla Middle School's David Donelson, Palmer Pathway's Kipp Riley and homeschool students Devin Kalnins and Katie Heasley -- are all musicians, and the duct tape piece is just another way to have fun with music.

"We do traditional percussion, too, but things like duct tape is more fun for us, and for the audience," Heasley said. "Percussion is an all-around thing."

Donelson said the real challenge is "trying to get the same 'roll' out of duct tape as we do with regular instruments."

While duct tape isn't a traditional instrument by any means, lessons learned through regular percussion playing do translate. "You get the same beat as you do with a snare drum. The counting is all the same, and the beats are the same," Krauszer said.

The duct tape jam was performed for the first time in front of an audience last weekend at Percussion Mania, a full-day percussion workshop that culminated with a concert. The Rhythms of Life group have performed at school assemblies, at the state student government conference and at the Hugh O'Brien Leadership Conference.

Pagaran likens his group of students to a scaled-down Blue Man Group, or even the wildly popular Stomp group. Duct tape isn't the only "instrument" the group has performed with -- they also have used their chests as musical instruments for "Me Tarzan," metal trash bins for the "Trash Can Jam" and used the squeak of balloons for "Baloonology."

Pagaran is a perfect fit for the group -- he's young, and has real-life experiences to which students can relate. He graduated from Wasilla High School in 1988, and got his percussion degree in Oregon. He returned to the Valley to teach, and then went to Nashville to record Christian music.

Back to the Valley he came, and now he works with Carry the Cure. Rather than being a teacher to the students, he is a friend who happens to mentor them.

"We have to live life to the fullest, passionately, and this group does exactly that," Pagaran said.

Right now, there are five students in the group. But Pagaran has been to every middle school and high school music department, and said the interest is there.

"I think it's going to really take off next year," he said.