MIDDLESEX TWP — With plans for a drum choir in the works, Sunday services at Glade Run Presbyterian Church could become a little more rhythmic.

By incorporating African drum melodies into traditional music programs, parishioner Diane Beckstead hopes to keep young members, primarily elementary-age boys, interested in worship.

Beckstead, of Middlesex Township, coordinates after-school programs at Glade Run and teaches music at St. Luke's Lutheran School in Cabot.

"Once kids, especially boys, hit the fourth or fifth grade, they don't want to sing anymore," she said. "The drums are a really good way to keep those kids involved in worship."

About two years ago, Beckstead attended a religious conference and participated in a drum choir for the first time.

As a music teacher, she also is aware of the use of African drums in area schools, she said.

This spring the church spent $750 on a set of four tubano and one djembe drums, as well as bells and shakers.

Both drums originated in Africa, said Thomas Chatman, executive managing director of the Pittsburgh Dance Ensemble.

Chatman led a multicultural drum and dance workshop last week as part of the church's Sizzling Summer Surprise Safari.

As one of Pittsburgh's many cultural arts programs, the ensemble provides access to dance, percussion, music and language arts like storytelling and poetry for children and adults, Chatman said.

About 50 children from 4 years old through fifth grade learned basic rhythms on the tubano, a freestanding cylindrical drum, and the djembe, which also stands on the floor but is shaped like a goblet.

Teaching the drum and dance programs gives Chatman "the joy of being able to expose people to the discipline of African culture," he said.

The church's annual one-day summer event also is a fundraiser for Heifer International, a hunger relief agency that provides families with livestock and training.

Last year the church raised more than $1,000 for the group and is on track to donate the same amount this year, Beckstead said.

Children appeared interested in the drums and enjoyed the workshop, said Gloria Dillner, Glade Run pastoral assistant.

Working with the children's and youth ministries, Dillner participated last July in a high school group mission trip to Atlanta, Ga.

Local children in a drum choir entertained the missionaries on the last day of the trip, which made for a perfect ending, she said.

"This is something they can really get into doing," Dillner said of the Glade Run youth groups.

As far as she knows, Dillner said the Glade Run drum choir is the first of its kind in the area.

Drums could become a regular part of the church's Reaching Out to Christ's Kids program, which meets Wednesday afternoons, Beckstead said.

R.O.C.K. is for children in kindergarten to fifth grade, but the drums also could be used by older youths.

"Everyone likes to play the drums," Beckstead said.