LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — A local drum corps that guides at-risk kids along the path of success through music is being featured in a documentary that will soon premiere in Louisville.
Emily Carey said she gets lost in the music when she plays.
"I go with the flow," she said. "I try to be as passionate as I can."
Her passion grew loud at 3 years old, the year she joined The River City Drum Corp Cultural Arts Institute.
"Drum corp has really made me," she said. "It humbles me, and I've just become more responsible."
The program, once called the Parkland Drum Corp, was created more than 25 years ago by Edward "Nardie" White and his wife. Albert Shumake was one of the original members.
Albert Shumake, Executive Director of River City Drum Corp
"We grew up like a family," Shumake said. "A pack of wolves where everything was drum corp 24/7."
The intent behind the program is more than just music.
"This gave us the opportunity to gel and to avoid some of the negative attractive things that were going on in our neighborhood — you know, gang violence," Shumake said.
The drum corp's mission is to teach kids growing up in Louisville's west end about discipline, values, culture and character.
"If it hadn't been for the drum corp program, I could only imagine that I would be like so many other guys that I grew up with," Shumake said. "So many other people that I went to middle school and elementary school with. You know, their pathways led them to jail. Led them to the graveyard."
Over the years, the organization has helped hundreds of boys and girls become a positive influence.
"The things that they learned, the things that their families learned, have allowed them to create a different path for their lives," Shumake said. "We have, you know, very many professional educators, lawyers, doctors, entrepreneurs."
After his predecessor stepped down, Shumake said he felt compelled to take over and is now the director of the River City Drum Corp. The organization will be featured in a new documentary by Owsley Brown Presents.
"It's great for me to see other people watch the film and then attract and really tie into the themes, which are very common," Shumake said. "Mentorship, love, service, art. Everybody has the opportunity to be able to participate in those things. It's just not always readily available, or put in front of us."
Carey, who is featured in the documentary, calls it moving.
"Oh I cried," she said.
Members of the River City Drum Corp said the film shows anyone can march to the beat of their own drum and help create a better place for future generations.
"It takes for you to have a goal and for you to be inspired and to have enough ambition to go for what you're going for," Carey said. "So, whatever it is you're going for, you make that happen for yourself."
You can see the documentary March 15 at The Palace Theater. Also, you can see the River City Drum Corp in action at 4 p.m Sunday, Feb. 23, at the Kentucky Center's Bomhard Theater.
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