Articles

And the Beat Goes On by Zoë Kessler

A low, steady, BOOM…BOOM…BOOM begins the rhythm. Are you in an African Village? At a Pow Wow? Working on Second Avenue East beside the construction zone in downtown Owen Sound (like me)? No, you're in someone's living room, where a bunch of Owen Sounders are banging away on hand drums and loving it.

In today's stressed-out world, sometimes you just gotta hit something. Whether it's road rage, the Jack Russell Terrier that just ate your new couch, or the latest telephone survey, drumming presents a healthy alternative to whacking someone else.

Ever since the days when we were sitting around in caves, tapping sticks on hollow logs to make music, humans have been drumming.

Drumming was the original e-mail - a form of long-distance communication, and the original form of team-building, drawing people together in unity of purpose while each expresses their own individual part. For corporate types, the trance-induced state that sometimes accompanies drumming may be hauntingly reminiscent of zoning out in the boardroom ("bored-room") while your CEO drones on, except when this happens at drum circles, it feels good, and nobody will interrupt you to ask questions.

Drumming is a subtle way to build group consensus. Bob Moreton, administrator of Gateway Haven Home for the Aged in Wiarton and a member of the Owen Sound Drum Circle, says of his experiences, "I was thrilled from the beginning with the fact that it's a very democratic process. You work as a group, you play as a group, you play off each other [not literally - you hit the drum, not the guy sitting beside you]...it builds and ebbs and comes to a natural conclusion." The newly-formed Owen Sound Drum Circle meets every last Friday of the month. Most of the members have never played percussion before, but dove in anyway.

You might be thinking, "Ya, but I have about as much rhythm as a corpse." Don't worry, if you have a heartbeat, you have a rhythm. Drumming is as natural as the tides; all we need do is open ourselves up and dive in like the members of the OS Drum Circle did.

Drumming is more than just music. It's anger management, stress relief and - something women drummers really appreciate - a thigh master. For those of you looking for an alternative way to exercise - try holding a 15-pound Djembe (African Drum) between your legs for an hour. Sometimes the vibrating of your thighs is a more steady rhythm than the one coming from the hide of the drum. Ok, the vibrating probably makes it harder to hit the drum at the right time, but what a great way to get in shape.

No matter how tired, stressed or even angry you might feel - beating a drum for an hour is a sure-fire route to relief, and more fun and cheaper than therapy. "It's very therapeutic," says Bob of his drum circle experiences. "It's a chance to work things out" (before deploying the precision bombs).

Drumming is not only a substitute for excessive brawn; it's also a nice brain-break. Bob says, "The drumming is good for me too in that I'm very much a head guy and I need to express the emotional side of myself." Ok, maybe it's nothing that a good bottle of whisky couldn't do, but at least with drumming you won't get a hangover (but your neighbours might, which is why most outdoor drum circles are in the country).

In Mount Forest, a group of women get together to drum on a regular basis. Made up of stay-at-home mothers, artists, veterinarians and teachers, the group discovered that they shared more than the love of drumming; they all had dogs. Thus, the name Raw Bone Rhythms was adopted. They've even got a rhythm named after the pet name of one of their dogs, "Pookie Lamb." Pookie Lamb is a spin-off of an African song entitled "Kakilambe."

"I couldn't remember exactly how Kakilambe went, so I adapted it," says their leader (ok, me). As rhythms are passed around the world by oral tradition, from race to race, teacher to teacher, country to country, they're bound to shift and change. So, in rural Ontario, RBR happily plays Djembes, Ashikos, A-go-go bells, and Shekeres, serenading their dogs and celebrating life. Raw Bone Rhythms plays at local benefits, concerts and just for the heck of it any time they can. The group had a breakthrough moment a couple of years ago at an Amy Sky concert. Sitting in the front row, RBR clapped out an elaborate rhythm to accompany one of Amy's songs. Mid-song, Amy invited them onstage to back her up. And the beat goes on.