Caledonia — In the fall of 1997, aspiring music teacher Don Raaymakers was attending Central Michigan University and commuting to Caledonia to teach private percussion lessons and direct the high school’s drumline.
Six of Raaymakers’ private students performed their first concert as an unnamed ensemble later that school year, using borrowed instruments and their teacher’s personal steel drums set.
Raaymakers said parents and families loved the show, and with some donations, the group acquired more steel drums — one of his favorite percussion instruments.
Under Raaymakers’ leadership, the plucky ensemble — now called Strike — became a non-profit in 2000 and drew new students from Kentwood and Thornapple Kellogg high schools. Raaymakers said the group got its name from a suggestion by former music teacher and mentor, Robert Hohner.
“(Hohner) was like a second father to me and he is the reason I am the way I am,” Raaymakers said. “I run this group the way I do because of him. He always said, ‘Music makes friends out of strangers.’”
Raaymakers decided to switch his major to education, completed his student teaching in Kentwood and was hired as the band director at Duncan Lake Middle School in 2004.
Now in 2025, Strike has grown to almost 40 members and has access to over $300,000 worth of percussion instruments thanks to student fundraising efforts and donations to the non-profit organization.
“It’s been an amazing ride and it’s not over yet, oh no,” Raaymakers said.
Striking Up the Band
Strike performs concerts throughout the school year and has played at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention; Michigan Day of Percussion; Grand Rapids Symphony’s “Percussion Explosion”; Michigan Youth Arts; and at local festivals, fundraisers and charity events. Students involved in Travel Strike can also get hired for local gigs and perform outside of school.
Students do not need to audition, but are required to be in the band or orchestra programs to participate.
“Rather than do chairs in Strike, we have levels one through six,” Raaymakers said. “Students can choose their own adventure and as they complete new levels, they get their own mallets and have the opportunity to play more solo music and advance in the level of music.”
Strike is made up of three subgroups: Strike, Mini-Strike and Lil’ Strikers. Strike, for high schoolers, and Lil’ Strikers, for sixth-graders, meet after school to practice and learn new music. Mini-Strike was added as a class at Duncan Lake to prepare seventh- and eighth-graders for Strike.
Each level performs classical and contemporary percussion pieces, steel band and jazz music, as well as some Stomp-like selections and music arranged by Raaymakers and others.
Seventh-grade Mini-Strikers Leah Marshall and Serena Banks said they both signed up for the class because they loved being a part of Lil’ Strikers.
“We get to play a lot of music, like ‘Tainted Love’,” Leah said. “It was hard at first, but then it was easy. Mr. Raaymakers is a really good teacher. You can ask him anything and he explains it well.”
Serena added: “Mr. Raaymakers goes through stuff not too fast, but not too slow, and makes sure we don’t get bored.”
Drumming Up a Lasting Legacy
CHS class of 2025 graduate Emily Vu participated in Strike ensembles since she was in sixth grade. She said she initially took interest in the group because the idea of playing steel drums was “really cool.”
“My favorite part of Strike is when we play steel tunes and get to a point where we’re all really good at (the song) and we can just jam out,” she said.
Emily also praised Raaymakers for being a “really great and energetic teacher.”
“He’s not in it for himself. He’s in it for the students and finds genuine joy in music,” she said. “That’s what makes him so good; it’s his passion.”
Rising junior Benji Rewa has also been a part of Strike since sixth grade and said he enjoys playing with musicians “who are here because they want to be and are taking the time to get really good.”
He said learning from Raaymakers helps him be able to do his best in practice and performance.
Many Strike alumni carry their passion for playing music into their lives and careers post-graduation from CHS. Raaymakers said several of his former students have become music teachers.
Grammy-nominated drummer Evan Hyde, East Kentwood High School class of 2007, said in a previous interview with SNN that playing with Strike was a big part of his high school experience.
“Don (Raaymakers) had a profound impact on my percussion ability and my whole musical trajectory,” Hyde said in the interview. “He was a fantastic teacher.”
Looking forward to the next 28 years of Strike, Raaymakers declared he will “never retire.”
“I have my dream job right now and my (teaching) schedule is a dream come true,” he said. “These kids can play all these rock tunes and jazz music and if I leave, my marimbas are coming with me.”
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