What is a Community Drum Circle?
By Arthur Hull

The Community Drum Circle is the use of a rhythm-based event as a tool for unity. It is NOT a drum class. It's NOT using culturally-specific rhythms. A community drum circle in the United States is a fun, family friendly event, where people empower each other in the act of celebrating community and life through rhythm and music. People of all levels of musical expertise come together and share their rhythmical spirit with what ever drums and percussion they bring to the event. They don't have to be a drummer to participate. Everyone has something to offer the circle, and any one is welcome.

The spirit and magic of rhythm expressed on drums and percussion instruments cuts through all ages, sexes, religions, races and cultures. "Rhythm", as Gabriel Roth says, "is the mother tongue." Rhythm is a universal language known to every one, even the youngest child, if we can just "remember." So in a very objective, yet beautiful way, an interactive rhythm event puts us all on an equal footing with each other and brings us closer together. The facilitator serves this process by guiding the participants to their highest musical potential.

A community drum circle is created, "in the moment" by all the people who participate. Co-operation and collaboration is the basic glue. When we drum together, sharing our spirit in the form of rhythm, it changes our relationships. As we play together, we give ourselves a rhythmical massage and an emotional release. The experience is unique to each person in the circle, and it happens whether we are entraining ourselves into the circle by drumming, or standing outside the circle and listening while tapping our feet and clapping along with the music.

There are many places where drum circles are being used for many purposes, like....

• Teambuilding for corporations
• Empowerment building for men's and women's groups
• Spirit building for spiritual growth and personal growth groups
• Synergizing and rhythm training for school/kids groups
• Stress and anger relief for kids- at-risk groups
• Orientation for college campuses and on-going circles for multi-cultural awareness.
• Family bonding for family night drum circles.
• Community building and market building for music stores.

To make beautiful music together, all we have to do is bring to the circle whatever rhythmical expertise we have to offer, along with the excitement of sharing it with other people. 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
VillageMC@aol.com
http://www.drumcircle.com/

http://www.remo.com/drumcircles/
http://www.ubdrumcircles.com/
http://drumcircle.com

Sites of Interest

Village Music Circles
http://www.drumcircle.com/vmc/index.html
A Village Music Circle™ is a group of people having fun creating simple parts on a chorus of tuned drums, percussion and musical instruments. The simple act of playing music together profoundly teaches the skills inherent in becoming a strong and thriving community.

The Sir Charles Blues Lab
www.blueslab.org
The Sir Charles Blues Lab creates access for young people in after school programs. It's a non-profit organization dedicated to providing people of all ages and backgrounds with opportunities to learn, master and pass on the American Blues tradition as a life and community enriching activity. In an era when more and more children do not have access to a music education in schools, these programs can provide an after-school haven.

The Weekend Warriors
Weekend Warriors is a program organized by AMC's affiliate, NAMM, that puts non-active musicians back on stage to relive their love of playing in a band, just for the fun of it. Local music retailers who participate in the Weekend Warriors program help "wanna-be" or "used-to-be" amateur musicians to have an opportunity to rock again, by matching up people with compatible interests, providing a space to practice and perform, and even helping with instruments.

Click here to read more on The Weekend Warriors

New Horizons Band
www.newhorizonsband.com
Founded by Dr. Roy Ernst and supported by AMC affiliates NAMM and NABIM, the New Horizons Band program involves more than 90 bands and 5000 people in the United States and Canada.

The New Horizons concept applies to seniors typically (but not necessarily) over the age of 50 in large band programs as well as smaller ensembles such as stage bands, Dixie bands, orchestras and chamber music groups.

It's a band program for adult beginners-even if you can't read music-and people who may have played in school but put it aside for many years. By joining or starting a New Horizons Band or Orchestra, you can fill your life with music, new friends, fun and accomplishment.

Click here to read more on the New Horizons Band

Music Making and Wellness
Even the ancients understood that music is beautiful and an integral part of society. But in only the last several years, some compelling hard science has linked active music making with what's going on inside your body as well - in areas like strengthening the immune system, maintaining hormonal balance, even combating the effects of Alzheimer's Disease.

Click here to read more on Music Making and Wellness

The Mind-Body Wellness Center
www.mind-body.org
The Mind-Body Wellness Center is the home ofECaP - Exceptional Cancer Patients,an organization founded by Bernie Siegel, MDin 1978 and dedicated to providing tools,information and resourcesfor individuals challenged by chronic illnesses.

Lowry's Magic Organ Course
www.lowrey.com/classes.asp
Lowry's Magic Organ course is a Recreational Music-Making program, where enjoyment and wellness are the focus. The comprehensive protocol features 12 modules of 10-week courses, and six more advanced 12-week classes. Magic Organ is ideal for people who want to take on a fun, new hobby in a relaxed social setting. Lowry's protocol is designed to help participants succeed from start to finish as they learn a new easy-play song each week. The company makes things simple for dealers as well, with everything from lesson plans to prints ads and direct mail pieces provided for easy implementation. Best of all, the program is receiving rave reviews from students and facilitators alike.

Remo has always believed in marching to the beat of a different drummer. Instead of simply relying on aspiring musicians to buy its products, Remo sought to bring out the musician in everyone. The company's drum circles are legendary for encouraging each participant to find his or her own unique rhythm. While people suspected such recreational drumming was a great stress reliever, three years ago the company sponsored scientific research putting this theory to the test under the direction of Dr. Barry Bittman (now Remo's medical advisor), ultimately demonstrating the exciting immune system benefits of its HealthRHYTHMS® drumming protocol. "Your average non-musical person may not think of music as a recreational option, let alone something that could enhance their lives," says Remo's Director of Music Therapy and Wellness, Christine Stevens. "However, we are showing people on a weekly basis that drumming is something they can easily do and incorporate into their usual recreational routine. Like rhythmic yoga, it's a creative workout for mind, body and spirit."

To learn more about HealthRHYTHMS go to www.remo.com/health

Welcome to Club Roland
No, it's not a trendy nightspot, but it is a place where people go to have a good time. In fact, socializing and forming friendships is at the very heart of what this Recreational Music Making program is all about. "Club Roland is a weekly senior wellness activity composed of a lesson-based curriculum that includes group singing and movement activities," explains Roland's Contemporary Keyboard General Manager, Lynda Smith. "The 'seventh-inning stretch' encourages them to breathe and to stretch and move their fingers in the same way they would to play the keyboard. Participants also play a music theory game and 'Rock around the Organ' as the facilitator plays music and asks them questions about the instrument." When NAMM first began to sponsor research on the benefits of music making for seniors, Roland was one of the manufacturers in on its test phase of the Music Making and Wellness initiative. Having created its own successful protocol, the company now offers two or three training sessions a year for new Club Roland facilitators.

Yamaha's new test program, The Clavinova Connection, has customers lighting up with excitement. Sure, a big part of it is the way Yamaha's group music classes utilize the innovative SmartLIGHTSTM technology, which enables the player to find the next notes of a song on a digital piano by illuminating the keys. But it's also Yamaha's fun, new curriculum—encouraging participants to dabble in music making while focusing on fun and making friends—that's really struck a chord. The program includes multiple components, including wellness exercises, the song of the day, the opportunity to improvise and a drum circle. "What we've already seen happen in our test market is that people who aren't in the market for a digital piano and don't think they're musical join The Clavinova Connection and realize—through the use of the programs and the technology—that they are in fact musical," says Craig Knudsen, Clavinova Connection Executive Administrator. "They can take what's in their heart and have it come through their fingers. Like many people realizing its potential, Knudsen is excited about Recreational Music Making.