Drum Circles
This is my second post in the 2010 WordCount Blogathon, or #Blog2010 on Twitter – a challenge to blog every day for a month. If you found me through the Blogathon and this is your first time at Tastee Pudding: welcome!
I live across the street from Tompkins Square Park in New York City’s East Village. My daily soundtrack includes the rumble of buses on Avenue B, a hound dog bellowing from the famous Tompkins Square dog run, and, if it’s the weekend, a nonstop flow of drumming – a rolling sound punctuated with hollow pops. (I can hear the drumming right now, as I type this.)
Sometimes I see the drummers when I’m walking my dog. Today was one of those days, and I decided to capture the moment on video:
I started wondering about the origins of drum circles. Some quick research brought me to Wikipedia, where I learned there are different kinds of drum circles – some facilitated, some not, and some associated with spiritual traditions. I came across this quote:
“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 form a group consciousness.”
- Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart
Talk of “group consciousness” reminds me, of course, of improv; when you’re in a troupe, your goal is to get to the point where you achieve “group mind,” a kind of spidey sense for what the other performers are about to do or say. I love the idea of random members of a geographic community coming together and connecting through art, whether it’s drumming or improv comedy or anything else.
Since the East Village still has a reputation as being a bit of a hippie outpost (albeit a gentrified one, old-timers would surely argue), it’s hardly a surprise to find a drum circle here. But when I started searching the USA Drum Circle Finder, I discovered that there are well-established drum circles in nearly all of the 50 states – from Wichita, Kansas to Houston, Texas; Tampa, Florida to Lincoln, Nebraska. Vicki Morgan, who leads the San Diego Women’s Drum Circle, says:
“When I started this 12 years ago, my friends thought I was kooky…What was I doing? Now I have 80 women who come regularly. There are doctors, psychologists, rabbis. It’s a form of meditation and prayer. It’s about weaving communities together.”
- “Drum circle offers camaraderie, sense of well being,” SignOn SanDiego, 2010
A 2006 NPR story supports the idea that drum circles have become more mainstream:
“The term ‘drum circle’ might evoke images of long-haired men beating drums in a primal sort of way, but drum circles have become more expansive in the past decade.”
- “Why Urban Joes and CEOs Bang the Drum,” NPR, 2006
The same story features Mike DeMenno, manager of the Remo Recreational Music Center in North Hollywood, California, which offers what amounts to drum therapy. DeMenno says drumming helps people with everything from cancer to arthritis, autism and Down syndrome. In fact, it seems that in many cultures, drum circles have a long history of being used for healing, and a quick Google search brings up research (such as this NIH abstract) documenting drum circles’ value in easing depression, especially. Not surprisingly, some have figured out how to use drum therapy as a corporate training exercise.
To find a drum circle near you, use this drum circle finder.
Image above is by lalunablanca on Flickr
What a cool post – I feel like you identified a creative outlet in your neighborhood. and took it more seriously than you might have for the sake of making your daily blogathon post. And it is a really rich post! Well done.
There’s a weekly drumming circle in Meridian Hill Park on Sundays – whenever I stroll through, I love to watch/listen for a while. A few drummers have started gathering in the weird little fountain/circle on 14th in Columbia Heights too, giving it a nice vibe on summer evenings.
We have a drum circle in town from time to time led by the same non-violent folks who seek peace in the Mideast by standing on the street and demonstrating. I have not participated, but I did notice. Would not hear the drum beat where I live though, in the woods. Here the soundtrack is birdsong.
This post reminded me of the use of drums by shaman(s). Saw drums used in two movies: The Coo-coo, and more recently, The Horse Boy. Have you seen either one?
Hi there and thankyou for the post – I have certainly picked up something new on here. I did however have some technical issues with this website, because I had to refresh the page quite a few times before I could get it to display properly. I was wondering if your hosting is adequate for your needs? Not that I’m one to complain, but sluggish loading times can quite often affect your ranking in the search engines and can damage your quality score if advertising with Adwords. Anyway I’m going to add this RSS to my email and will look out for more of your informative content. Please post again sometime soon…
Remarkable stuff, it’s nice to find a number of drummer blogs on the internet. There aren’t all that many websites round about drummers that I have found anyway. I am going to subscribe to your feed then see what you come out with in future!