Elijah used to find communication difficult and struggled in school. Playing African drums in a group has given him the confidence to express himself, socialise with others, and even achieve GCSE grades that no one expected.
Elijah lives in North London with his mum and sister. He was born in the UK and his family are originally from Martinique in the Caribbean. “I haven’t really met my dad,” says Elijah, “he left before I was born.”
When Elijah was 7 his mum encouraged him to start attending drumming classes, where he picked up the djembe, a traditional African drum played by hand.
"I did it for about a year and then stopped – but as soon as I stopped, I realised I needed to get back into it."
Difficulties in school
Elijah was finding school really tough, and was in the process of being diagnosed with dyslexia, dyspraxia and mild autism.
“My handwriting was terrible. Maths was ok, but English was terrible. I was always in special classes, and because the teachers didn’t know what it was [before I was diagnosed], they just thought I was being lazy or stupid.”
When I was doing drumming, it was about the only time when I thought ‘nobody’s gonna tell me I’m doing something wrong'
Opening up a world of music
Elijah was 11 when he first met Skanda and Khalifa, music leaders at local arts organisation Everyone’s Climbing Tree. They saw that Elijah was a natural at picking up rhythms, and helped him realise just how far he could go on his musical journey.
“I could hit the drum in the specific timing,” says Elijah, “but I didn’t know about technique, tone and slap, how to make the different sounds, the history of drumming or where it came from.”
"Before, I thought there was nothing more to learn. But when I started getting deep into drumming, I realised I was just twisting the knob, I hadn’t opened the door yet."
Joining the troupe
Over the next few years, Elijah took part in several different music projects and made amazing progress – even joining a couple of adult drumming groups as the youngest member. For the last two years he’s been part of the advanced African drumming troupe ‘Gidde Bille’ at Everyone’s Climbing Tree.
They’re a 15-strong group of teenagers who rehearse together every Wednesday afternoon. Many of the members were first introduced to African drumming through the work of Skanda and his team in local schools with pupils at risk of exclusion.
Elijah has relished being made captain of Gidde Bille, a role which means he has to know each piece off by heart and play musical cues (‘calls’) to guide his fellow drummers between sections.
"It’s getting me used to taking responsibility. Everyone’s waiting on you to make the call so that you can move on with the rhythm.
There are loads of small things like that which you can take from drumming and put in the outside world. It’s made me have more confidence.
Gidde Bille
Drumming together – at times playing some really complex rhythms – has helped the group members develop vital skills like teamwork, focus and concentration.
Drumming also provided relief from the stress of exam revision. “Some people go and do sport to let it out,” says Elijah, “and drumming is basically a sport if you think about it. Even though you get tired, it’s a way of relaxing yourself and forgetting everything that’s going on outside.
“GCSEs went really good even though I completely failed my mocks. For my mocks I only passed Maths. But then in my final exams I managed to get from Cs to As in everything except English Literature.
"I know there were some teachers that didn’t believe in me at all. When I got my grades I was actually angry, because I was thinking if they’d pushed me forward instead of saying hold back, I could have done even better."
From captain to conductor
A year after he’d left school, Elijah had the opportunity to go back and perform there with Gidde Bille. Khalifa, who usually conducts the ensemble, was away, so Elijah took an even bigger step up in responsibility.
“I went to the front of the stage and did all the hand signals, like ‘you, do your solo’, getting everyone clapping and stuff… I would have never been able to do that.
"Even though it was after I left, I feel like that was the only time in that school that I was really proud of myself and happy with what I did."
An inspiring example
Skanda, who co-founded Everyone’s Climbing Tree, recognises how far Elijah has come. “To go back to your old school and be leading an ensemble of that size, and to be able to take on that leadership, it’s a pleasure to see that.
“To see Elijah overcome [people’s preconceptions about] autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, and just to turn it all on its head through a certain level of self-determination, it makes me really happy.
“For me, Elijah’s autism is like a superpower! I remember when he was younger, you’d give him a phrase and he’d play it back straight away – so the ability was always there, but he’s used that to develop his confidence as well.”
Making musical and personal progress is a long-term thing, so Elijah’s an example to some of the younger guys that are coming through.
Elijah’s now finished college and is working out what to do next. “I’m just trying to keep myself busy,” he says. “I’m learning to be a barista at a café on my high road. They want me to go full-time, but I’m still not gonna let them take me on Wednesdays!
"Drumming is always one of my main priorities over everything. It doesn’t feel like a chore being at Everyone’s Climbing Tree. I want to be here so I know who I am and where I need to be."
If I didn’t have drumming, I would most likely be lost.