Drumming

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Drum Circle Dynamics part 4

Posted by Amulets by Merlin on November 13, 2012
Posted in: Drum Circles, Drum Jewelry. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Many Drum Circles are simply a circle of drums
and other percussion,
maybe a fire.
If you are lucky,
there are also
Dancers.

The Fire Step Dancing Amulet
The Fire Step Amulet

It is as if the rhythm flowers into something new.
As the music is played,
a dancer moves in the ebb and flow of rhythm.
The Drummers watch and respond with their playing
and so too the dancers
weave their movements.
Over the years I have had the blessing
of knowing a hand full of dancers
who knew how to work a drum.

I am not a dancer
(as many would testify)
but as a drummer I would like to suggest a few ideas
to help keep the communication between
drummer and dancer clear.

Once you get a good handle of your drum:
learn basic rhythms,
develop a technique which will produce tone
without damaging your hands
and develop a level of endurance
for at least 20 to 30 minutes per session;
I would recommend finding
a cooperative dancer
and practice.

Play together for long enough periods
so as you may anticipate what the other is doing.
Continually try new rhythms and movements,
do not narrow your options with “classic beats”
or get comfortable with the same patterns.

The Down Beat
(yes, that again)
is the foundation of the pattern.
For the dancers,
this is where they place their feet.
Without it,
most dancers will “sit this one out”.
Make sure it is constant,
steady and easily found.
make sure you provide
a place for them to put their feet.

In most drum circles you will hear a repeating rhythm or theme.
More often than not,
it is a borrowed pattern from a classic African piece,
but at times it could be lifted
from an old Pink Floyd song
(One of these days…).
I call this The Floor.
With the down beat as the foundation,
you can “move” from floor to floor
and so long as the foundation is constant,
the Dancers will have no issue.
I have heard some dancers tell me
they often move their hips to the floor.

With the higher sound of the smaller drums,
voice at a tenor or alto,
secondary rhythms are introduced and stacked,
sometimes played upside down or backwards.
All of this is fine
so long as the down beat is constant.
Some dancers use these rhythms for torso and shoulders.

Over the top of all of this
is what is more commonly known as
the “lead” drum.
These are the melodies:
they come and go;
phrased like conversations
as the beat moves on.
If you have a full circle and have the luxury to have “lead drummers” play,
they can go back and forth for hours at a time.
The Dancers have told me they respond to the lead drum with their hands,
but I have seen dancers riding the tides of movement
with little concern of which moves what.

If you are in a position where you have fewer drums,
most drummers swap positions
From Down beat to Lead
without even thinking about it,
but it can be a real workout.
Holding the down beat,
floor and lead is a challenge
and requires a level of multitasking
which can be both exhilarating and exhausting.

If you are lucky
and are blessed with dancers at your drum circle,
please be aware that as a drummer
you are providing them places to put their feet.
Many of them dance with their eyes closed
and are trusting the ground will be there
when they put a foot down,
make sure it is there.
If you are tired and must stop
(for what ever reason)
make sure there are other drummers
which will continue as you withdraw.
Decrease your volume before stopping all together.
In this way the ground will still be there for the dancer.

If you are the primary drummer
or Facilitator for the circle,
a good way to come to a conclusion
is to gradually slow the rhythm down.
This allows the dancer to be aware
you will be “turning off the juice”.

Either way,
never simply stop:
many dancers have fallen
because they were relying on the drumming.
So,
for a person who is not a big lover of rules,
I will offer this one:

Never Drop the Dancer

They will love you for it.

Drum Circle Dynamics Part 3

Posted by Amulets by Merlin on November 12, 2012
Posted in: Drum Circles, Drum Jewelry, Music Jewelry. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

More often than not,
once One attends a Drum Circle and discovered how easy it is,
One wants to drum a lot more often!
If you are lucky and live in a household
which loves drumming at all hours of the night
and neighbors cannot be disturbed,
little circles flair up at a moments notice.
Unfortunately it is not like this for most of us.
To have a drum circle,
you have to consider the amount of sound coming out of your place.
For years,
my circle of friends and I would pop out the drums
and we would have at it
only to have the cops at our door within minutes.
There was a often quoted line amongst us:
“It isn’t a party unless the cops show up”.

D'jembay of Fire Amulet
Djembe of Fire Amulet

If you are lucky and have a local drum circle in your area,
much of this is solved.
Practicing your drum at home may be a challenge:
once One gets the hang of drumming,
One discovers it is actually better at lower volumes,
if you are but one drum there is little or no real issue.
In practicing the important thing to work on
is learning the rhythms and taping out beats.
When you hit the drum head harder,
you will sacrifice your speed for volume.
A loud drum means tension in your arms.
A good “rule of thumb” is to first slow down,
hit the head more gently
then gradually increase your speed
without increasing the volume.

When it comes time to play in the Drum Circle
use the same rule of thumb:
start with the basic beats and slowly warm up,
then gradually increase volume;
careful not to over power the other drummers.
Again: if you cannot hear the drum next to you,
you may be playing too loud.

I have been often asked about Drum Circle Facilitation.
It is an interesting choice of worlds.
Notice is it not the Drum Circle Leader,
Conductor, High Priest or Grand Poo-Bah.
A Drum Circle Facilitator’s duties are basically thus:

To keep the beat of the Circle
The Down beat is the primary pulse of the circle
and every one must agree where that is.
Should someone spontaneously start a new rhythm pattern
which does not fit what everyone else is playing,
it is important to encourage them to shift their rhythm to match the rest of the Circle.
One option is for the Facilitator to shift the circle’s rhythm
to match the rogue drummer
or to step through the circle to gently speak to him or her about it.
This may be done gently and without being forceful.
As previously stated,
attitude is extremely important in producing a creative environment.
If all else fails and nothing else can be done,
the rouge drummer may be asked to step out of the circle
but this must be done gently without disrupting anyone else
and only as a last resort.
Enforcing such things is harmful to everyone and should be handled carefully.

To mold the rhythms so it the pattern is constantly changing
This is a challenge.
Some Facilitators use a very large bass drum and stick to Enforce a rhythm.
Although a favorite to some,
I personally find this both irritating and insulting.
This places the Facilitator into the position of conductor
and the life of the circle is cut.
Sure you can be heard,
but it lacks the finesse Music requires to live and grow.
My solution is to play a drum of the same kind as everyone else
(see Part One)
and gently move the rhythm by adding a beats here and there.
If all else fails
start verbally counting out the beat
so the drummers around you can find where the down beat is.

By beating the circle into submission
the Facilitator over rides the creativity of the other drummers
and places them in a more subordinate position,
which is counter productive.
For my part,
I have played in circles which uses the Bass Drum as a goad,
the sensation was akin to being whipped;
to compete with the volume encouraged me to play louder
which in turn damaged my hands.

A Drum Circle Facilitator is not a policeman.
Most Circles have Guardians
to make sure activities outside the circle are moving smoothly.
If there is a disruption the Facilitator cannot handle,
He/she should “catch the eye” of a Guardian
and point out the problem then return to facilitation of the circle.
Guardians are folks appointed by the Coordinators of the Circle
and should be trained to handle problems without conflict
or attracting attention.
This is an art in of itself,
a duty not taken lightly
If not handled properly a “well intended Hall Monitor”
can destroy the circle with a single incident,
chasing out drummers and dancers alike.

If you were to akin the Drum Circle to a Church Service
everyone participating should be handled with respect in Sacred Space,
you should not have any problems.

Without a Facilitator
you will have problems with cooperation between drummers
as to where the down beat is,
over enthusiastic drumming which would be out of synch with the circle,
stagnate rhythms
and conflicts between drummers.
Without a Facilitator there is no progress
between each Drum Circle
as the Circle with fall into the same habits every week.

To become a Drum Circle Facilitator,
I would recommend the following:

First
Practice your drum regularly,
learn as many new beats as you can,
memorizing them as you progress.

Second
Attend different drum circles.
Everyone one is different and you can learn much from everyone of them,
including “how not to do it”;
which is as important at leaning the right way.

Third
Drum with your friends on a regular basis.
By doing this you learn how to
signal each other through your drumming,
encouraging them to shift the rhythms gradually from fast to slow,
from one pattern to another.

Fourth
Teach what you have learned.
By becoming a Student Teacher,
you are both helping yourself and others
to learn Drum Circle Dynamics.

Fifth
Spend time with other Facilitators and learn to their techniques.
Just because you may not agree on a point or two,
do not let that become a game changer for you.
Everyone has their won approach to the various problems in a circle,
some work better than others.

Sixth
Find, teach, encourage and rely on a few selected friends
who will attend Circles with you.
Being a Facilitator is hard work.
You will expel a lot of energy
(it is akin to running miles on your hands!)
by have a good Second to assist in Facilitation
helps you to monitor and encourage other participating drummers in the Circle.
Try not to think of them
(and yourself)
as a performance group for Star Search.
Keep in mind Drum Circles are not a performance,
they are a way for communities
to get together and work on a common goal
where everyone benefits:
like a constellation of Stars.

Drum Circle Dynamics Part 2

Posted by Amulets by Merlin on November 5, 2012
Posted in: Drum Circles, Drum Jewelry. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

In most Festivals Gatherings and other Events, we can find a kind of Drum Circle which at first seems chaotic: no set theme, occasionally you can pick out a recognizable rhythm only for it to evolve into something else. This is not the Classical Form you would find in Africa nor the Caribbean. This is an Open Drum Circle.

So, one shows up at one of these Open Drum Circles and asks:
“How do I join in?”

The Drummer Girl Amulet
The Drummer Girl Amulet

In the previous article I suggested listening to what is being played before starting, then warm up with a down beat. I cannot say enough about “warming up” when entering a Drum Circle. This gets you in sync with the other drummers and allows you body to match the “swing” of the rhythm. But what then?

I would like to offer a few suggestions about rhythm and technique.

It is important to protect yourself from your own enthusiasm.
If the energy is high, we have the compulsion to start hitting the drum as hard as you can. Harder is not louder. Before you start to drum here are some options.

Before you show up at the circle, try out your drum’s voice. Start tapping (yes, tapping!) around the drum head and listen to the kind of sound it can produce. “Bounce” on the drum head with your fingers and listen to the change of tone as you move from the center of the drum head to the rim (or edge). As you do so, listen to the various tones produced. In addition, try using your finger tips rather than your whole hand and the various spots between the center and the rim.

At this point, to get the idea, I would recommend spending time with an instructor of the drum. If you do not have access to a teacher, YouTube is a great resource for instruction. The important thing here is to take your time. If you simply start pounding on your drum and knuckles hit the rim too hard, you can actually hurt yourself.

For my own part, I tried simply “jumping in” without pointers in technique and consequently knocked the knuckles of my thumbs on the rim of the drum and raised some painful lumps. I learned after the fact the importance of raising the thumbs when hitting the rim. This kind of hand position allowed me to heal over time and I now have a better tone because of it.

The question as to what to play also requires a little bit of planning. Before you start, listen to the rhythms of music. Again, check out YouTube for drum lessons. The African Rhythms are very popular in Drum Circles and in the Open Drum Circle harnesses the classical beats as a starting place. Once the rhythm is started, you can begin by adding or omitting beats to slowly alter the beat. For my own approach, I do not play the same pattern more than four times before slowly altering the rhythm. This gives the rhythm pattern life; it grows, alters, evolves into something different. From my point of view, a Drum Circle is at its best when evolving into new rhythms, altering the old ones into others and trading rhythms between drums.

Another resource for drum rhythms is in the music you already listen to, no matter what kind of music it is. All music uses rhythms: from classical music to rock and roll, every kind of music uses rhythm. I recall one drum circle which broke out in to some Scott Joplin!

When at the Drum Circle, be sure to remember the Circle is like an Orchestra: it has many different people playing different drums, each with its own set of tones. This makes a wide variety of sound available. That being said, no matter how good one drummer can be, it is important to provide spaces for everyone to be heard. Drum Solos are great for performance groups, but are not too important for the Circle. If one of the stronger drummers dominate the circle for too long, other drummers will abandon the circle because there is simply not enough room (sound wise) for other players.

Finally, attitude is one of the most important aspects of a healthy Drum Circle. The goal is to generate Good Will in the Circle. Many people attend the Drum Circle to raise their spirits. I recall recently after a very trying time I attended a local Drum Circle. Being with others at such a time is like a calming salve over a blister.

If you find your are too hurt, attend and simply listen and allow yourself to become raised by the sound itself. Once you are able to contribute in a healthy way, start to drum: ease in and play. However if for some reason you are angry, withdraw so as not to contaminate the circle with “bad vibes” (as they say). Conflict of this kind has no room in the circle and will sour a Drum Circle. Join in when you feel better. For those Drum Veterans who have been attending Drum Circles for years, many of us have watched Circles fall apart or turn into actual wars between factions because anger dominated the rhythms. People get hurt and walk away angry and depressed, the opposite of what we are working for.

When in doubt: don’t.
Always: Listen to the circle and pay attention to your own state of mind. Sometimes even the most experienced drummer will withdraw and simply listen or leave the circle entirely.

The Drum Circle (at it’s most healthy state) can heal, elevate the spirits and enlighten the participants and the observers alike; a goal we can all agree on.