On a tree-lined street, nestled away from busy roads and the hustle of downtown Fayetteville, an imposing brick building stands tall. Through the tall metal picket fence, you can see lush green grass covering the ground. In late August, a small flower bed shows off some of its last blooms of the summer season—a sure sign that the weather will soon turn cold as autumn settles in a little more. Through the heavy white door and down a welcoming hallway, a large, open room full of windows greets you. You’ve just stepped inside a piece of history, but one that’s marching to the beat of a new drum.
The Orange Street School was first opened in 1915 to serve as a school for Black students in Fayetteville. For years, the school nurtured its students’ minds, becoming E.E. Smith High School’s first home. When the school shuttered its doors in 1953, it was used as offices and storage before being abandoned and falling into disrepair.
Now, 110 years after the Orange Street School welcomed its first class, and following a $1.45 million renovation process that began in 2021, these halls of local history are open again. This time, though, following the building’s new beginning as a community center in late February, the space will host more than math and science classes.
A new Youth Music Workshop series and state-of-the-art music production studio—a partnership between the Fayetteville-Cumberland Parks and Recreation Department and the Sandhills Jazz Society, with funding from the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County—is putting music into the hands of Cumberland County students.
Finding your beat
In that bright, window-filled room, 17-year-old Josiah Walker sat upright in a black folding chair on Aug. 23, drumming on a practice pad that was placed on top of an orange 5-gallon bucket. His drumsticks rolled on the foam surface, filling the echoey room with short bursts of rhythm.
His Saturday morning was spent attending the first installment of the new Youth Music Workshop series, titled “Basic Drumming: Finding Your Beat.” Sitting across from Walker, Brandon Jones, a professional musician and the instructor of the workshop, offered encouraging words and pointers while they waited for more students to arrive.
With six students in total shuffling in—some teens, some so small that their feet didn’t touch the floor while sitting behind their makeshift drums—Jones led the group of budding musicians through 45 minutes of drumming. Starting with the most basic beats and moving on to more complex measures, the student’s once chaotic individual sounds became a synchronized corps of staccato taps. With some students never having tried drumming, the workshop acted as an introduction to rhythm and how music can bring people together.
From Jones’s perspective, drumming teaches teamwork. Much like in athletics, students in a drum line learn how to work together to achieve a common goal. Aside from creating music together, Jones believes that new programs like these offer more than just something to do on a Saturday in August.
“This can be an outlet for kids to get away and focus on something positive that they can hold on to and take with them for the rest of their lives,” Jones told CityView. “This is another alternative for kids or youth or anyone to get involved in their community and be a part of something that’s going to help them grow as a person, as a musician, or whatever they desire to be.”
Tyshica Smith-Tucker, youth development and cultural arts program coordinator for the Fayetteville-Cumberland Parks and Recreation Department, saw a need for more music programming in the community, and she set out to fill in the gap. She wrote a grant for the Youth Music Workshop series, and secured funding for that grant through the Arts Council of Fayetteville/Cumberland County. Smith-Tucker said these music workshops, which will happen once a month for the next six months, aim to expose kids to new activities.
After the inaugural class on Aug. 23, the series held a keyboard basics class on Sept. 20. The next workshop will take place at 11 a.m. Saturday, teaching music appreciation, where students will listen to and speak about global music genres.
Next year, the series will teach singing on Jan. 17, then music recording and production for teens on Feb. 7, and playing the guitar on March 7.
“The whole purpose of this is to get students acclimated to something they may not know about,” Smith-Tucker said to the room of students and parents. She explained that beyond the free workshops, the Orange Street School will continue to be filled with music by hosting more in-depth music classes in the future, providing an opportunity for deeper musical understanding to the Fayetteville youth.
The real deal
After the sound of drumsticks clicking and practice pads had faded, students and their parents were ushered up the wooden staircase of the building and into a new space—the Orange Street School’s brand new music production studio.
The music studio, which features a massive screen mounted to the wall, playback speakers, an audio mixing board, and vocal and instrumental recording rooms, will offer students an opportunity to not only make music, but learn the technical skills to produce and record it.
Ron Martin, a member of the Sandhills Jazz Society, said as early as 2019 he began working with Fayetteville-Cumberland Parks and Recreation Director Michael Gibson to establish a music studio space. Martin told CityView that he thinks the music studio will make a big impact on the community. He said it will provide important opportunities for children who are tech-minded or those who don’t find enjoyment in sports or other activities.
Martin, along with the help of other local music gurus like Ja’Paul Whitehurst and Gabriel Swinney, was able to fully design the music studio, from layout to equipment, to best suit the needs of students. Access to the studio and its equipment, along with the guiding knowledge of these local leaders, will allow students to flourish in their musical talents when the school begins offering piano, voice, and other classes in the near future.
“I think it’s going to be really beneficial to those kids that can’t play basketball, football, or baseball,” Martin said, explaining with a smile that it’s important for kids to have diverse options for activities.
A community heartbeat
Inside the studio, students who attended the Saturday morning workshop took turns playing on a real, professional-grade drum kit while their beats were recorded on the studio’s new equipment. With a little extra instruction from Jones, students who began the day being taught how to properly hold drumsticks played beats you could hear as the backing to nearly any song on the radio.
“I just like that I can express myself freely,” Walker said, smiling as he explained why he loves the drums. “It’s like free space.” The 17-year-old, who also plays drums at his church and serves as a section leader for the band at Gray’s Creek High School, said that he sees professional drum sets on social media often and having the opportunity to play one “was crazy.” He told CityView that he hopes to attend North Carolina State University and play in their band.
Jones, with an uplifting and excited tone in his voice, told students that drums are integral in the band. They keep the beat. They set the pace.
“Drums are a heartbeat,” Jones said, the students joining together in the beat on their practice pads. “That’s rhythm. That’s life.”
With the strong foundation of partnerships and musical expertise of local leaders breathing new life into the community, the new music programs and studio at The Orange Street School are set to become a new heartbeat for budding creatives in Fayetteville.
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Read CityView Magazine’s “Arts & Culture” October 2025 e-edition here.
