Sui Generis Sound Drumming Academy founder Quianna Mahabir: Music chose me

Some people discover the career path they will follow from as early as childhood.

Others, like Quianna Mahabir, miss the initial signs but catch up along the way.

From banging on pots and pans as a child to getting in trouble for beating rhythms on the desks in secondary school, the 26-year-old Mahabir, of Cunupia, never expected to be picking up the tempo as the drummer in an all-girl band, and the founder and teacher at a drumming school.

“I always saw music as a hobby and not something I could pursue as a professional,” Mahabir told WMN. “I played the drumkit in church, and I always enjoyed doing it, but I never thought I could make a career out of it. Maybe it’s because I never really had successful musicians around. I always tell people I didn’t choose music. it chose me...I major in percussions and I can play other instruments, but drumming is my heart.”

Initially, she wanted to study law, then aviation. The latter, she said, is still not completely off the table.

For over eight years Mahabir has been the drummer for the band Axia Nation, formerly Nehilet Blackman & D All Girls Band. She has also played with other artistes, including gospel singer Jaron Nurse, and for Panorama with the Tunapuna Tipica Steel Orchestra – an experience from which she was able to gain valuable drumming skills. but which didn’t sit too well with her mother.

“Drumming for Panorama teaches you a different type of discipline in drumming. because there is so much acoustics going on at the same time...I’m a believer. like my mom, and at that point she did not agree. because she felt I was placing myself in an environment that was not in keeping with what we believe.

"But it was a personal decision and it was a job. I went, did what I had to do and left. I know what I believe, and the environment did not affect me in any way.”

Mahabir started the Sui Generis Sound Drumming Academy in 2016, as a result of her exposure with the band, and in church, people began asking her if she was willing to offer drumming classes.

“Sui Generis means ‘unique’ in Latin,” she said of her choice for the academy’s name.

“I started with two students. We started to grow because of my vision to see music played and taught. I worked hard on building the foundation and the brand.”

She said she later had a vision of starting a programme to train young people to play in a band setting.

“We started off with churches, and eventually it went to other locations in Central, east, and west, where people of all ages came and learned for eight weeks, at minimum cost. After that we had a graduation and awards ceremony.”

The academy is based in Longdenville and currently has over 30 students enrolled, ages five and up, learning to play drums and keyboard.

“Pre-covid, we offered just in-person classes, but the pandemic has encouraged us to expand. Even when we resume physical classes, we will still maintain some online classes, because I’m also aiming for regional and international students.”

She said she prefers to use the syllabic and kinaesthetic methods of teaching, especially for the drumming.

“I use words to teach the students to play. For example, words like ‘wa-ter-me-lon’ or ‘pea-nut-but-ter’ help them to keep the groove or beat. And especially for the kids, connecting the music with their bodies makes it easier for them to play the instrument, because children, by nature, move around a lot.”

Mahabir recently finished her first degree in musical arts at UWI. Before that she was self-taught and had no formal music training. She said when she auditioned for UWI she fulfilled the practical requirement, but not the theory, so she had to complete and pass the Grade 3 music theory exam before she was accepted into the degree programme.

As a child, she attended the Jesus is the Answer Prayer Centre, in Enterprise, and would look at her dad playing the drumkit during the service. After church she would sit behind the drums and mimic his actions.

“He himself had no formal training. He’s just gifted.

"Years later, the church needed a drummer because Dad and another drummer had left. I could have been about eight when they asked me to play at a service.”

As nervous as she was, she accepted and just did what she was used to doing after church.

“For years I was the drummer there,” but even then she didn’t see it as a possible career, and did not think of studying music when she attended Couva East Secondary and Carapichaima East Secondary.

“I did subjects such as literature and history.”

She views her latest academic accomplishment as just the end of one chapter and the beginning of another.

“I love TT culture, but for some strange reason many people feel you have to be of Indian descent to play the tabla. and of African descent to play the djembe. My goal is to introduce different drums from other cultures to the academy, and to turn it into a university one day.”

But with all that she has going on, she still finds time to give back of her talent to the being to whom she gives credit for it.

“I do still play the drums in church, now at Apostle Ministries in Longdenville...I believe I’ve been successful with the gift God has given to me.

"As the late Earl Nightingale (American radio personality and author) said, ‘Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy goal or ideal.’”