Sent to: Yahoo! Groups: DrumCircles: Message 3542
Date: Tue Jun 25, 2K2 1:03 PM
Drumming Peace One Oh One By Reverend R Clark
Greetings Folks!Recently a fine fellow in Austria named Alexander asked me for some tips on his getting started drumming as he is the proud new player of a Djembe drum. In the process of replying to his query, I re-examined what it is I do vibrationally speaking.
I hope these few musings are useful and helpful and at worst stir the pot of discussion on such a thread of reasoning. That could be lovely. Like what Do you say from your heart to a newbie drummer brief enough to be truly heard?
Here is an updated version of what I sent Alexander:
Well-come and Conga-rats on your journey with the drum!
Most of Time and the keeping of it through rhythm is silence, punctuated by the beat. If you can sense Time some way, be it hearing the sounds dividing the silence in your mind, or reciting syllables to yourself that represent the sounds you are to play on the drum spaced out appropriately, keeping time will perhaps become easier for you. You might also feel the rhythm in your body, any sensory based modality or combination of them will do. A metronome can help visually and auditorily. My favorite was an older freeware application for the PC Metronome v. 1.6 because it has drum sounds, although the idea is to play along so that the metronome sound is not heard.
Once you have this inner game underway, and have gained a sense of time, body mechanics comes next. If you will, use good posture, stand or sit comfortably erect as if to make a proud spectacle of yourself. Intentional Drumming is a sacred office so isn't it fitting that one assume an attitude of confidence, splendor and "Irie up in oneself-ed-ness?" <grin> Then please Relax into Playing. Being relaxed and especially with relaxed hands (even when using a stick) is of prime importance. If the hand (and/or body) is tense it can get hurt and grow tired when striking the drum repeatedly, plus the sound produced won't sound full either. Drumming does not need to hurt, and most certainly can if done improperly. Striking the drum sharply in a relaxed manner and getting off the drumhead quickly allows it to sing. If you experiment you will find the sweet sounds waiting to be called forth from your drum, I'm certain.
I drum Peace. To drum with inner peace channels that energy to Earth and clearly spreads it to all who hear and feel the vibe. Awe full responsibility, ay? Truly this is no longer a belief for me, it is something that I know to be true and give honest testimony on.
When I say I “Drum Peace,” I do not "Drum for Peace." That wouldn't work. I channel, become one with, embody and have sensory experiences of Peace and Relaxation manifesting it on Earth. This involves the "Leap o' Faith" you hear about, "leaping" to the goal and immersing oneself in the desired outcome, living it and knowing it to exist somewhere in Space and Time, totally giving Thanks that we are being drawn towards this actuality.
In my first encounters with the drum, I played the heartbeat, this is nearly all I played for six years or more. It might be a good place for you to start as well. We all have That rhythm, for sure. "Lub-dub-rest" is how it sounds to me and I favor the resting heart-rate tempo of sixty to seventy-two beats per minute called largo in classical music, I think. It is very peaceful and has a profound effect. It is a good tempo setting for your metronome at least for a beginning.
Another great drum chant is the "Mother" rhythm that involves starting off the phrase "Bass, Tone, Tone" with alternating hands. Bass (d), Tone (oh),Tone (d), Bass (oh), Tone (d), Tone (oh)... This sequence of hand positions with (d) being the dominant hand and (oh) being the other hand can really stretch the connective tissue of the hemispheres of the brain!
Once the basic rhythm is mastered, you might have fun changing one or more of the beats, to say, a rest or substitute slaps for one or more of the tones. Changing or exchanging beats on the fly is Improvisation.
In my world-view random doesn't exist. Computers for instance will only do what they are programmed to do. Improv as I practice it certainly isn't random. Improv is being overprepared, if anything. You ever see Robin Williams or other commedians do Improv? Where they talk to folks in the the crowd and play off of them and their lives, telling jokes on them? Does the commedian make all these phrases up on the spot, I don't think so, it is the product of many hours of study and craft assembled in the moment.
Here is how I improvise:
Note: One can develop modular sets of "mistakes" to use interchangeably. A strong sense of an overarching time frame is important when composing and fitting in these modules to the piece to express oneself in Peace and contentment. I hope this Helps!
- Practice the piece.
- Make "mistakes" (deviations from the piece).
- Decide which mistakes to keep by repeating them three times.
- Practice the "mistakes" switching them in and out or by adding them into the piece expanding it.
Related:
The Lost Mode of Prayer by Greg Braden (mirror)
Drumming As A Form of Prayer by Jim PathFinder Ewing (Nvnehi Awatisgi)
Drum Reiki
Drums: How they beat stress by By Ann Trieger Kurland
Finding Healing Music in the Heart by Corey Kilgannon
Healing, Drumming & Praying by Jim PathFinder Ewing (Nvnehi Awatisgi)
Melodic Instruments at Drum Circles
Sound
Prayer
Drumming 'n Drugs
Shamanism: Drumming and/or Drugs
Tree -- Drum -- River
Voices at Drumcircles: Testimony and Theories
“When you are proclaiming peace with your lips,
be careful to have it even more fully in your heart.”
- Francis of Assisi“In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness.”
- (Mahatma) Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948 Hindu Indian nationalist leader)“Mostly, heartful practice is about keeping the heart open to the world
around us - to people, places, ourselves, and the divine. It means coming
from a place of empathic attunement. It's about seeing the connections, the
interlocking webs of energy among people and things, and residing as much
as possible in that place of no separation.”
- Belleruth Naparstek, "Your Sixth Sense"“The true work of a mystical teacher is not to teach but to tune, to tune the pupil so that he may become the instrument of God. For the mystical teacher is not the player of the instrument; he is the tuner. When he has tuned it, he gives it into the hands of the Player whose instrument it is to play.”
- Hazrat Inayat Khan (The Heart of Sufism edited by H. J. Witteveen)“Ultimately, your greatest teacher is to live with an open heart.”
- Emmanuel“Once, when I was particularly depressed, a friend and pacifist from Holland told me something very beautiful: "The people who worked to build the cathedrals in the Middle Ages never saw them completed. It took two hundred years and more to build them. Some stonecutter somewhere sculpted a beautiful rose; it was his life's work, and it was all he ever saw. But he never entered into the completed cathedral. But one day, the cathedral was really there. You must imagine peace the same way." ”
- Dorothee Soelle, "Against the Wind"“The human mind never framed an aphorism containing a more important truththan this one: "All seeming misfortunes are blessings in disguise." Thereis but one qualification necessary to render this an aphorism of universal validity; namely, one must have performed his whole duty on the premises.That is to say, if he does all that he can, honestly and honorably, to avert a threatened calamity, he will find that if he yields not to discouragement or despair when the catastrophe comes, it will invariably prove to have been a blessing. Seeming calamities are often the result of one's having mistaken his calling; and it frequently happens that the best part of one's lifetime is spent in a vain search for the work which the Lord gave him to do. But if courage is not lost, and his career is characterized by industry and integrity, he is sure to find it at last. He can then look back upon his past life and see cause to thank God for every seeming misfortune as fervently as for every season of prosperity; for he will then realize that each has constituted a step in the pathway leading to his true sphere of usefulness.”
- Thomson Jay Hudson, "The Evolution of the Soul"“The rhythm is below me,
the rhythm of the heat,
the rhythm is around me,
the rhythm has control,
the rhythm is inside me,
the rhythm has my soul.”
- Peter Gabriel“The relation of rhythm to pleasure is most clearly
seen in the... voluntary movements of the body. Any
motor activity that is performed rhythmically is
pleasurable. If it is performed mechanically, w/o a
feeling of rhythm, it has a painful quality. The best
example is walking. When one walks rhythmically, the
walking is enjoyable. When one walks to get to a
destination as quickly as possible, the physical
activity becomes a chore. Even such tedious jobs as
raking leaves or sweeping a floor can be pleasurable
activities when the movements are rhythmical....The person who lives pleasurably moves
rhythmically, effortlessly, and gracefully.
Whether a person feels pleasure because his
movements are rhythmical or whether his movements are
rhythmical because he is in a state of pleasure is
immaterial. Pleasure is rhythm and rhythm is
pleasure....Dancing is, of course the classic example of pleasure in
rhythmic movement. The music sets the beat going in our
bodies, and it is then translated into the rhythmic
pattern of the dance step. It is painful to find
oneself out of step with the music, and it is
disturbing to find that the music is out of harmony
with one's internal beat. Marching music does for
walking what dance music does for dancing. The music
by accentuating the beat andfocusing our attention
upon the rhythm increases our pleasure in moving.It is important to realize that music does not create
rhythm. The music is in fact, an expression of the
rhythm in the composer's body, which finds an echo
in the body of the listener. It would be correct to
say that music evokes the rhythms that are within us.
All bodily activity is inherently rhythmical; the
voluntary movements are no exception, although they are
under conscious control. But because they are under
the control of the ego, we can move un-rhythmically if
the ego ignores the body's feeling for pleasure and
imposes an overriding goal.Voluntary movements, in contrast to those that
involuntary require a high degree of coordination
before they become rhythmical....The machine gains its efficiency by being limited
to a single rhythmic pattern... In contrast, man has an
almost unlimited number of rhythmic patterns to correspond to
his different moods and desires. He is capable of
weavingcomplex rhythmic patterns to increasehis
pleasure and joy. He is in other words, biologically
structured for pleasure not efficiency. Man is a
creative being not a productive one. Yet out of his
pleasures have come great achievements. Unfortunately,
out of his achievements he has found little joy,
because productivity has become more important than
pleasure.
- Alexander Lowen, M.D. in Pleasure: A Creative Approach to Life ISBN 0-9743737-2-9“Let all movement and sound begin to speak the truth of your heart.”
- Hafiz“Be peace, don't just talk about it.”
- Thich Nhat Hanh, "Awakening to the Sacred," Lama Surya DasLiterary and Graphical Freeware: Not for Commercial Use.
Copyright (c) 1998-2011 R. Clark - clark@acceleration.net .
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