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