Syncing hearts, aligning emotions, building communities, healing, bonding, and affecting emotion. Music–and especially music played in a group–is powerful magic. Drums are used for healing and prayer all over the world. Drums are used to drive away demons and to drive people to the madness of war. Drums can take us into different states of consciousness, and like our mother’s heartbeat, lull us to sleep. Executives are taught drumming for team building and Pagans drum and dance around bonfires at festivals and in magic rites.
Drum Circles in the 17th century.
Congo Square in New Orleans is considered to be the birthplace of the contemporary drum circle. In the mid 17th century, it was designated as a place for people of color to legally gather on Sundays. Here enslaved people were able to sell their wares to try and buy their freedom. The area also became known for dance and music.
In Congo Square drummers from different countries, cultures and languages would play with each other. By blending their traditional rhythms to create improvisational music, changing depending on the drummers present, they created new styles and rhythms specific to New Orleans.
At this time traditional Voodoo rituals also used powerful drum rhythms to alter consciousness and connect practitioners to the ancestors, spirits and Orisha adding another dimension to the magic of drum circles.
All are Welcome in the Circle!
From Congo Square to the alternative and counterculture drum circle gatherings of the 60’s and 70’s and into today’s Drum Circles we still improvise with each other and many people play African rhythms.
“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. To entrain and resonate. By entrainment, I mean that a new voice, a collective voice, emerges from the group as they drum together”. – Mickey Heart, Grateful Dead drummer
The original style of Drum Circle and what people sometimes call an informal drum circle is not much different from the original gatherings. People of different skill levels gather in a public space to play diverse instruments and experiment with rhythm. Socializing and learning are open and the vibe is accepting.
There are also facilitated and/or professional drum circles with more structure and lead by a facilitator or experienced drummer. This is sometimes for educational, team building or therapeutic purposes.
My first experience of a drum circle was in ’85 at the Piedmont Park Arts Festival. The parking lot of the Shriners building was set up as an African Market with African and Caribbean drummers and dancing after dark.
When I began learning Middle Eastern rhythms, it was good to have drum circle improvisational practice to break out and do some more experimental drumming to feel how the rhythm flowed from many different regions of Africa. After that I began drumming at SCA (Society for Creative Anachronism) events, Sci-Fi conventions, and neighborhood community circles in Atlanta, and then at Pagan gatherings.
Many people are very nervous coming to a drum circle, they want to join but feel they don’t know enough. It’s OK to not know rhythms, technique, or how to play a specific way, when you come to a circle. That’s not what it’s about, beginners can contribute their unique energy to a circle.
Here are a few pointers for first time drum circle attendees:
- Find the down beat of the drummers. Lay your palm gently on the head of the drum and feel the vibration. You can usually feel the down beat because the drumhead will vibrate the strongest.
- In your head listen for it, feel it, allow it in.
- When you feel like you can find the rhythm of the downbeat, rock with it or tap your foot, still feeling the drumhead. You can speak the beat (my favorite) – doom, doom, doom, doom…
- Don’t be in a hurry, let the rhythm carry your into playing it
- Next hit the drumhead on the down beat. You can keep rocking, tapping your foot or saying doom to keep the rhythm in your body with the new sound you’re making
- When you feel comfortable, again don’t hurry – feel it, add other higher beats on the side of the drum. Like – doom tek, doom tek, doom tek, doom tek…keep the rocking, tapping or speaking
- If you feel you have lost the rhythm, smile, laugh, (make rooster noises if you want) take a deep breath and start over, feel the drumhead for the downbeat.
Even though we call it drum circle, there are many other instruments that can contribute to a drum circle. Rattles, tambourines, finger cymbals and other percussion instruments are also great instruments at a drum circle. It is important these instruments be consistent as the sound can carry over the drums and change, or confuse, the rhythm unintentionally. Clapping, vocalizations, chanting, and singing are also great ways to participate and connect with the group consciousness.
Spiral Rhythm created a Drum Circle CD with different rhythms and instruments designed to drum along with. It can be helpful when you are just learning, if you want to practice, or get the feeling of playing with a drum circle.
Another song from the Drum Circle CD, Talking to Ancestors, was used for the Central Park scene in the movie Isn’t It Romantic.
Science is catching up with what many cultures have understood for centuries: Music is therapeutic.
There have been many studies done on music creating brainwave synchronization for social connectivity. Studies on the brain repairing pathways while learning to play an instrument. Studies show how drumming can calm anxiety and help with impulse control.
Studies are great, but we know, singing a lullaby or serenading your lover builds an intimate connection. A limerick or sea chanty can help a group find a merry mood. A circle of drummers can lull someone into a trance or build energy for a powerful ritual. All of this is Magic!
-this article was written by Kira Lang, member of Spiral Rhythm
For more information about Spiral Rhythm, including their collected articles here on Pagan Song, their bio, and links to Spiral Rhythm’s site on the web, check out the Spiral Rhythm page on Pagan Song
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I always appreciate your balanced and nuanced approach to topics.