A snare, tenor, and bass drum, with a cymbal – these are the makings of a drumline. In Philadelphia, drumlines can be found at cookouts and block parties. 

Tony Royster has led his own drumline for over a decade.

And at StoryCorps he remembered how drumming changed his life…

Transcript TRT: [2:30]

Tony Royster: I had started taking the music classes in first grade. They had me on a trombone at first. And then, uh, when I seen the drums, I was like, ‘Am I able to play that?’ She said, ‘This is a snare drum. You sure you want to play that?’ I say, ‘Yes! Put me on the drums.’ And my mom allowed me to join the drill team.

Growing up, I had a lot of low self esteem, so the drill team helped with that. So one, like, I’m still shy. When I’m drumming, I’m Mr. Y Not, which is Tony backwards. 

You know, I was born and raised in Queen Lane and Pulaski projects. I lived all the way on the 14th floor. Just, you know, coming from the 14th, you have to make it down to the first floor. You, uh, tend to see a lot of things that you probably wouldn’t normally see if you didn’t live in the projects. 

In 2014, I was in a dark place, and I was at the point where I was just going to end it, and not just wait for God to say it was my time. But, I had those drums, and I just decided to play. I just drummed that pain away.

You know, drums speak, and they also gather.

During the pandemic, everything was shut down, and there we were. Just like, entertaining our city, just showing there’s love. And this specific neighborhood, Mount Airy, we was marching down this hill and we like had all the people come out their houses and, um, you know, with their masks and it was good to see like the neighbors. When we got back to the car, it was a envelope sitting in the window shield, and I opened it up and looked.

This lady, she left this message and a 20 dollar bill, and she said when she heard the drums it gave her hope. But when she said the drums gave her hope, that touched my heart. I said when I was young that I wanted to be a music teacher, and today I work in five different schools teaching music. I believe and I know that this is my life’s calling. You know, like this is exactly what I’m supposed to be doing.

BACK ANNOUNCE:

That was Tony Royster in Philadelphia. 

This conversation was recorded for StoryCorps’ new Brightness in Black initiative highlighting the joy, community, and complexity of Black voices in the United States. Learn more at StoryCorps dot org.