I have heard rumor that drum circles could kill the revolution. Wow! We are so powerful! As a drummer who drums in a circle with other drummers, I almost resent that. But I understand. I studied very specific, very traditional drum rhythms from West Africa. It is very precise and beautiful, if you know what you’re doing. Drum circles are often a large group of people, sitting side by side, playing alone. It has groove, but no structure. I like the structure of music. I live like jazz is a verb. How do these two sides get along?
For the Occupy Boise Bazaar, we did a facilitated circle with these guidelines:
1. Everyone is welcome. This is 100% inclusive! It is not about your drumming skills, it’s about your unity skills.
2. You Got The Beat – you were born with it. Begin with a pulse. Join in. The song is the most cherished presence in the room. This is about building a strong, cohesive beat. Make it sound like one drum.
3a. Speak UP! Without the constriction of you head, play your drum. Speak with your hands what’s filling you up. Be honest. Terribly honest. Don’t put words on it in your head, just play it like you mean it. Say what you have to say and be done. We will know you are done when you re-join the pulse.
3b. LISTEN. We honor each other by listening to what they have to say. Your responsibility here is to maintain a solid beat. if you cannot hear the lead drummer, you are playing too loud.
4. Drumming is a Metaphor
The group built a solid vibrating foundation, and everyone took a turn playing louder than everyone else. After the last person played, it sort of burst into a really great song. It was joyful and musical. We built a circle of trust where no one was greater or less than any other. We started out on common ground; that being the ultimate foundation. After we were unified, each person was given the opportunity to speak and be heard, with the entire body supporting them in saying it.
The jam that followed was as spontaneous as a drum circle, but with intention, direction and trust. We were all in it together. If we listen to each other, we can build a song. If we listen, we can build a community, and if we can build a community, we can build a nation.
So we build a song….
Oh I have so many things to say… here’s the picture story first.
I am half outta my mind trying to sort out what I need to bring, who I need to invite, how I need to set up; and as a bike rider, how I’m gonna schlepp so many instruments – and that huge Grandmother Drum – across town. After work. When will I have time to set the booth up, visit the new studio, print flyers for classes…. and who is going to organize this? There are probably 100 people I know who are spinning this stuff around their heads.
I think everyone I know in Boise is somehow involved in creating, building, protecting, performing, healing, sharing, showing, dancing or promoting Hyde Park Street Fair. And we are doing all that with all our hearts – as well as working our day jobs and tending our families. Holy hell! How do we do it?
Together….
I hold, in the highest regard and deepest respect, everyone who helps. There is no separating the dancers from the dance!
There will be all sorts of playing times at the Hyde Park Street Fair this weekend.
Saturday September 18th
10:00 AM to 11:00 AM – Building a Community Song – In community, every voice needs to be heard, every person plays an important role. In building a song, it is the same. We will provide drums, rattles, shakers, bells and who knows what else, to give your hands and heart a voice.
Noon – World Stage. Community performance.
2:30 PM to 3:30 PM – Rhythm Kids – This is a time for musical exploration and play time for people who are officially kids, but parents are most welcome. Your children will do as you DO. Come let them encourage you to play! Let the wild rumpus begin!
Sunday September 19th
11:30 AM to 12:30 PM – Drumming for Kids ages 8 and up! Come make a splendid noise in our drum dome! Drums and noise makers provided.
The Hyde Park Street Fair is an annual fundraising/ informational effort ini in a festival format. It is is one of the largest neighborhood events of its kind anywhere. It attracts local artisans and vendors as well as a few from out of town. Attendance tops 30,000 people over the weekend! Billed as a “neighborhood picnic”, with something for the whole family to do.
A new feature on the NENA website is the “(Un)official Survival Guide” for the Hyde Park Street Fair written by Holli High Woodings (twitter: @hollihigh). It is a truthful and humerous guide to survival and how to really enjoy the Hyde Park Street Fair.
2010 Performance Schedule – go to www.northend.org
Come as you are. Listen. Play what fits. Play with others as often as it fits in to your life. Improve with practice. Play to your ability. Be what you want to be in a group of people playing music. Of COURSE you’re good enough! Learn some common patterns to provide structure and improvise you ass off!
We did that very thing for a drum buddy’s company barbeque Thursday morning. This is what Baba’s Warm-up looked like played within that flexible framework:
This is a band of students. All of us. We have jobs and kids and grandkids and lives that do not revolve around intense study. We are playing. P L A Y I N G. We are not a performance troupe. We’re pretty much a bunch of ordinary citizens that get together each week, learn, share and play. None of us have the irrational sense of humor [or time or money] to quit our lives to become Rich And Famous Drummers [hahahaha!] So we just play comfortably and casually together. Sometimes we play in class. Sometimes we play with a few scattered observers. Sometimes we play in front of 300 people.
I used to get so nervous when I was going to perform. It was early in my drumming when I studied and studied and worked to get it right. I played with very talented drummers and we played ‘traditional’ Guinea music rather well. When I took a leave from study and moved myself into application, it eased up for me. I prepare myself and my crew for a performance. We work it. We make arrangements of songs we’ve practiced and many of those songs are from the Guinea tradition with which those of us in the room are most familiar. But when it comes time to ‘go out there’, we remind each other of how much pleasure we get playing music together. We enjoy each other’s company. We trust each other enough to be able to express our own voice in our own time. The drum was the common introduction, but the friendships developed have a deeper resonance….
I really want to thank the people who came and played with the most zest I have ever heard! I’d be proud to take you guys anywhere! Our ensemble today was Pam Lane, Erik & Cheryl Carruth, Don ‘the Don’ Silva, Candace Garmon and Luis Cubero. And the guests were blown away [yeah, yeah] by our remarkable didgeridoo playing friend Barry Sherman. Thank you URS for inviting us back to play.
Celebrating Boise’s Newest Residents – Welcome Home!
I really love where I live! We played with the Global Lounge Group first, then all my groovy drum buddies showed up to engage the Grove crowd. We don’t separate the performers from the audience, and we all became a marvelous world band!
Thanks to Erik, Cheryl, Don, Woolf, Pam, Candace, Mary, John, Susan, Mhari, Page, and Luis for everything that makes my life musical!
