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Our

About Us

I'm a Montessori-trained educator, cultural explorer and professional musician. I use firsthand stories, instruments and hands-on participation to help students connect with people and places beyond their own communities. My travels and learning across thirty countries on five continents inform the experiences I bring to schools.

My background includes a sociology degree from Virginia Commonwealth University, percussion studies at the College of Charleston, Arabic language immersion in Sana'a, Yemen, and eight years with Colonial Williamsburg's Fife and Drum Corps. These experiences help me connect geography, history, language, art and music in ways students can see, hear, touch and remember.

MONTESSORI-TRAINED EDUCATOR, CULTURAL EXPLORER AND PROFESSIONAL MUSICIAN.

Hey! I’m Daniel Scruggs

A collection shaped by learning from people

The Peace Culture Music collection has grown through firsthand cultural exchange with musicians, artisans, educators and communities. Each object opens a connection to its materials, makers, uses and traditions.

An instrument becomes a starting point for observation, questions and discovery. Students connect its sound and construction with geography, history, language and cultural expression.

The Peace Culture Music approach

Each experience begins with something students can encounter directly: an object, a sound, a story or a pattern. Demonstration, cultural context and guided participation turn curiosity into connected learning.

For younger children, that may mean noticing materials and responding to sound. For older students, it may lead into migration, language, cultural exchange or the responsibilities of interpretation. The aim is to make a wider world accessible through concrete experience.

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I created Peace Culture Music to bring firsthand cultural learning into schools. Each visit draws on a traveling collection of 200+ rare instruments and cultural artifacts, along with the stories of the people, places and traditions behind them.

My work has brought workshops to educators and students in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Egypt, Ghana, Cuba, Peru and Ethiopia. Montessori training and years of teaching inform the way I invite students to observe, question, participate and make connections for themselves.

A program can be an interactive in-school field trip around the world, a full-day experience or a multi-day residency. Students explore geography, history, art, language, migration and music through real objects, firsthand stories, demonstrations and hands-on participation. When appropriate, each participant can have a djembe for a shared rhythm experience.

I tailor the experience to your students' ages, grades, group sizes, curriculum and school goals.