Introduction to the Drum Circle community

BY BRITON ALONSO

For just about as long as there have been humans, there have been drums. While there are about 50 different types of drums in the modern world, the basic form of a pliable sheet-like material pulled taut over a circular opening has not changed.

The full, reverberating sound that is made when an object hits a drumhead is so powerful that it seems to get under our skin and affect our blood flow.

In a May 2007 article in The New York Times, The New York State Music Fund’s coordinator, Melissa Elkins-Tyte, described the power of drumming with her hand over her heart.

“Rhythm is intrinsic in the human being. You wake up and go to sleep with it,” Elkins said.

 

from Miami411.com

 

This intrinsic rhythm has the power to bring strangers together in a way that no other instrument can, and these get-togethers are called drum circles.

A drum circle occurs anytime two or more drummers get together and simply play. There is no sheet music, no notes, no setlist. There is no conductor, no leader.

In the case of drum circles, the term “drummer” is used loosely. Just as there is no specific plan to the performance, there is no specific mold of drummer, either. Participants in drum circles are not always professionals, far from it.

They are lovers of the drum and the drum circle is their form of worship.

“[Drum circles] include people of all ages,” said Mickey Hart, the drummer from Grateful Dead, one of the iconic bands of the last 60 years and author of several books on the history of drumming.

Hart led the world’s largest drum circle, according to the Guinness Book of World Records.

The circle took place in Laytonville, CA, during EarthDance 2004, a festival that spans many countries all on the same day in an effort to promote world peace, and had 4,374 participants.

A full-fledged drumming advocate, Hart also gave testimony in 1991 before the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging, professing the allure of drums and drum circles.

“The drum circle offers equality because there is no head or tail. The main objective is to share rhythm and get in tune with each other and themselves,” Hart said.  “To form a group consciousness. To entrain and resonate. By entrainment, I mean that a new voice, a collective voice, emerges from the group as they drum together.”

Entrain is defined as “to sweep along in its flow,” which is exactly what happens in drum circles.

One drummer will begin with a semi-basic beat and continually repeat it. Then it is up to the other drummers to set their hands free to be “swept up in the flow” of the given rhythm and expand on it. Before long, each drummer has a specific role in the circle and no two are alike.

Oscar Mederos, 27, has been an attending the drum circle that occurs on the full moon and full moon eve in Miami Beach, Fla. for three years.

“Sometimes beats that begin don’t really last long,” said Mederos about the varying lengths of drum circle “songs.” “Someone will accidentally mess it up, but usually it’s just a base rhythm that isn’t strong enough. But then you get those good starting rhythms that are easy to hold onto, and the music will go for sometimes half an hour.”

from flickr.com

 

Drumsontheweb.com reports that 42 states currently have drum circles open to the public. These circles vary immensely in size,location, feeling and crowd, yet deep down, they are all the same.

The Miami Beach Full Moon Drum Circle has been occurring at least once per month since the early 1990’s, though nobody is sure of an exact date.

What began on first street has migrated to somewhere between 85^th and 79^th street due to complaints from neighbors and business owners, however, the attendees never falter.

“The drum circle on Miami Beach is a completely random event. There is no coordination at all. Somehow people just know to show up,” said 28-year-old Danny Hearn, an attendee for the last four years, who also created a facebook group in order to help anyone interested in the circle find information.

Hearn looked all over the internet for a website about Miami’s drum circle but found nothing.

“So I created a group on facebook and invited a few friends. All I did was post the full moon listings from the Farmer’s Almanac and put a few pictures up,” Hearn said. “I had no idea that it would explode to 1,400+ people.”