Rhythm of Life Has a Powerful Beat – why drumming together is good for YOU!
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Drums are the earth’s oldest musical instruments. Every culture is steeped in drumming, the oldest documented drum dates back to 6,000 B.C. For thousands of years, group drumming has been a present around the globe, marking important rites, from marriages, harvest celebrations and solstice rituals, to signalling war and welcoming peace. Today, this ancient ritual is coming alive in western cultures as drumming and drum circles gain in popularity.
Shamans in many cultures used the drum to prepare the healer. In Africa, drums were used as a form of communication carrying complex messages between tribes. In Native American legend, one story tells how the drum was brought to the Indian people by a woman. The spirit that lives in the drum demands that the drum is treated with great respect.
This description of a drumming circle was made by Mickey Hart, the drummer for the Grateful Dead, in an address he made to the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging in 1991:
“Typically, people gather to drum in drum ‘circles’ with others from the surrounding community. The drum circle offers equality because there is no head or tail. It includes people of all ages. The main objective is to share rhythm and get in tune with each other and themselves. To entrain and resonate. By entrainment, I mean that a new voice, a collective voice, emerges from the group as they drum together.”
People who play drums in a group setting, often describe their experience as “joyful”, “exhilarating” “energising”.
The Remo HealthRHYTHMS website, shows how drumming is good for:
• Stress-Reduction
• Accessible Exercise
• Laughter and Self-Expression
• Camaraderie/Support
• Spirituality
• “Music making offers extensive exercise for brain cells and their synapses (connections). It would be difficult to find another activity that engages so many of the brain’s systems.”(Weinberger, N., 1998)
Feedback doodles from drum circle in Brecon:
There is a tremendous range of drums, from the thundering, barrel-shaped Miya Daiko drums from Japanese Taiko, to the sonorous Surdos of Brasilian Samba; the melodious Doumbek of the Middle East and the Bodhran of Celtic cultures – a rich diversity.
Musicologist Kenne Thomas notes that “Drumming has always brought out the often raw emotions of the community, giving voice to the meek or heartiness to the timid. What drums and drumming can do is conjure up within us a simpler time from history where people could bond, express themselves artistically and share true community together.”
In drum circles, rhythms are played with a sense of group. Each person plays a part to make the whole. It’s good fun. And, as we know, the rhythm of life has a powerful beat…
Call Heather for more info: 07811 628247
Music and the Muse 