WHY...
"Rhythm is the soul of life. The whole universe revolves in rhythm
Every thing and every human action revolves in rhythm."
Babatunde Olatunji
Every thing and every human action revolves in rhythm."
Babatunde Olatunji
This page is a series of commentary from poets, facilitators and drummers reflecting on the power that draws us into these circles. Probably nothing here will fully answer the title question, but reading these words may provide some of us with a language for the profound connection we so often feel at a drumcircle but haven't found the words to express.
A Sacred Drum
A sacred drum stands. It is big and deep. The sacred sound surrounds.
It is the mantra of the earth speaking richness, masculine and feminine
energy as one deep tone.
We are one in this beauty.
Each touch of the drum takes us deeper into the center.
And the center is the curvature of space into the infinite dimension of the divine.
The drum is the curve and the center.
The many doors are one door. And the one door is the many.
The sound is the flood of the infinite.
The drum vibrates, resonates, sustains the deep tone.
An elk races in the wind, his heart song leaping from the great drum that he
has given himself for and we acknowledge his spirit.
And we acknowledge the spirit of the cottonwood whose second life carries the
heartbeat of the earth again. Who stood tall and strong, connected to the
mother's heart that sustains us all, now pulses again with the sacred life.
And we flow in appreciation, entering the great circle the drum now fills.
The stories flow from us into each other becoming the one story.
There is one sound, one consciousness.
Many voices, one consciousness.
By John MacEnulty
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The idea that there are harps in Heaven is a common misconception.
When we get to Heaven there will be DRUMS!!!
Tony Vacca
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We live in an age and culture where our sex, race, age, and class separate us. Our lifestyles separate us. Our neighborhoods separate us. Our livelihoods separate us. Our politics separate us. Even our religions separate us. So much in our culture serves to keep us disconnected from one another. Much has been documented regarding how drum circles can heal individuals, but another kind of healing takes place: Group drumming builds bridges between people. We feel connected, find commonality and build Community.
Rick Cormier
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" ...These are to the taste of such as cause much unrest to pious old people of the earth, to the sick and weakly, the devout in the cloisters, those who have read, studied and prayed, and I verily believe that the devil must have had the devising and making of them, for there is no pleasure or anything good about them. If hammering and raising the din be music, then coopers and those who make barrels must be musicians"
Sebastian Virdung, 1511
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Seemed to me that drumming was the best way to get close to God
Lionel Hampton
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THE DRUM
The drum will call those who hold the spirit.
It will draw near, those who do not yet know.
The elk and tree will speak to the hearts of the believers.
They will seek to make others hear their stories.
But those who are not drawn to it, will not hear.
Those who are, will never forget.
David C. Smith
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The Sound of the drum
Beats in my soul
As the sound of my heart
Beats in my chest
Two sounds, one beat
The heart beat of my life
The drum beat of my soul
Two sounds, one beat
Make me whole
Guide the path
That is my life
Jake George
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Play your own drum
No one else
Can play it for you
It’s your drum
And you chose it your self.
No one else should
Only you
Know the tune
Let people Enjoy the tunes
By playing it yourself
Have the hands for it
Take courage
Play your own drum
Wake early in the morning
Prepare yourself
In morning sun
Put your drum
Have the stick ready
For the best tunes
Play your own drum
No one else
Can play it for you
It’s your own drum
Prepare it yourself
For you alone
Know the tune of the drum
OSORO P. J. NYAWANGAH
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Just listening to the drums, even from long distances, lifts your spirit and it makes you feel good . . . your whole being listens to the drums.
Elizabeth Mackenzie
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The quality of the music produced in an event like this is not based on the rhythmical expertise of the players, but on the quality of their relationship with the other people in the circle. The result is those magical musical moments where one powerful voice is created out of the many. In those moments, the players stop worrying about keeping time because time, as they know it, has stopped. In its place is a living breathing entity, expressing timeless joy, passion and release through the power of rhythm. That is the beauty of a community drum circle.
Arthur Hull
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"The Creator wants us to drum. He wants us to corrupt the world with drum, dance and chants. After all, we have already corrupted the world with power and greed- which hasn't gotten us anywhere - now's the time to corrupt the world with drum, dance and chants."
Babatunde Olatunji
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Drumming gets us out of the house and away from the television, makes us listen, allows us to create, and opens doors to new people and cultures. That's a powerful thing for a hollow log with a goat skin stretched over it!
Dale Wambaugh
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"You never see a group of keyboardists jamming together, and even three guitar players in a room often can't get along, but you can have a group of 20, 30 or even 50 drummers playing together and they'll ask for more to join."
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"Rhythm is the mother tongue."
Gabrielle Roth.
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"Sound is power and the first sound we hear is the pulse of our mother's blood. No sound has a more powerful effect on our consciousness. Drumming is the musical expression of this primal power. Rhythm is a means of organizing sound into specific energy formulas to harmonize the mind and body. Chanting, rhythmic breathing and drumming form an ancient technology for directly synchronizing the mind/body complex, creating conditions for psychological and physical healing."
Layne Redmond
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Following the way of rhythm
Just to play with others
everyone being here .....
celebrate ..... like a family ..... us .....
putting letting go into action
being real!
all blossoms coming into blossom
explore the chaos, welcome the unexpected
listen to the sound beyond the sound
that moment of connection
when everyone plays together
every moment is precious
John Bowker
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Group communion invokes the light of the soul. A mystical union can then occur that brings insight and power to realize heart felt aspirations. The drums and the dance naturally raise, harmonize and transmute primal energy. This energy then becomes available to power individual and group intentions that quietly go on the air. There is no need to speak them aloud. The drum music provides a carrier wave for all prayers and wishes that accord with the spirit of the One.
Steve Nelson
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Music is a more powerful instrument than any other because rhythm and harmony find their way into the inward place of the soul.
Plato
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The drum calls up the deep, the primal, the erotic impulse to life. It reminds us of the wildness that many of us gave up very early to our mothers, fathers, religions, and educations.
It returns us to a time before mechanistic, rationalistic rhythm overpowered nature's groove--to a time of thinking in cycles, before Industrial Age thinking straightened us out.
It returns us to the heart, with all its longings, fears, passions, and mystery.
It returns us into resonant community with each other, with creation.
It is the voice of that deep soulful part within us that wishes to find expression in language more faithful to the invisible in life than words can ever be.
Joseph Jastrab
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"If thine enemy wrong thee, buy each of his children a drum."
Unknown
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The spirit of the drum is something that you feel but cannot put your hands on it. You feel when people come together to play. It does something to you from the inside out, but you can’t really put your hands on it. You feel it while you’re playing and after you play for a while, sometimes for 24 hours, sometimes for two or three days. It hits people in so many different ways, that to try to define it would just be a matter of semantics, the use of words. But the feeling is one that is satisfying and joyful. It is a feeling that makes you say to yourself, “Yes, I’m glad to be alive today. I’m glad I’m here. I’m glad I’m a part of this world.” It stays with you until other things come and take your attention away from it, but you will always remember it.
Babatunde Olatunji
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