by
Robert Wallace, aka The Drum Guy
TotalRhythm.com
Why Drum? A good question. Why do
ANYTHING if it doesn’t provide some benefit to you? There are
three primary reasons to tap into the power of rhythm:
1) Rhythm and Drumming helps you
to SLOW DOWN and re-connect with YOU.
Everyone has heard the phrase “Don’t
just sit there, do something!” but I’d like to offer something
different: “Don’t just do something, sit there.” And play
your drum! Let me explain: In our modern world, speed is king.
Faster
is considered better. More is superior to less. Action trumps
inaction. We want a lot of things, now.
But this world of hyper-stimulation has
it’s drawbacks: shorter attention spans, heightened desire to
consume, over-valuation of commodities. Ultimately, it places
attention and focus on the outside: what external items do I need to
stimulate me and make me feel whole and complete? This is a real
problem!
Drumming and Rhythm help bring us back
inside. The Power of Rhythm is the Power of Repetition. When we
lock into a beat, our mind SLOWS DOWN (and, ultimately, turns off)
and we re-connect with our physical rhythm: heartbeat, breath, muscle
movement. We stop looking outside of ourselves for stimulation and
approval; we begin to listen to the still, calm voice from inside.
Some call this intuition, guidance, Love, even God. I call it my
soul, or my positive lifeforce, or “axe” (“ah-shay”)*
as they say in Brazil. This energy resides in everyone and is
constantly attempting to share it’s wisdom and guidance.
Unfortunately, most of the time we are too busy, too much into “More,
Faster, Now” that we never stop to listen. That’s too bad,
because this message from our spirit is exactly what we NEED and WANT
to hear in order to live our lives in complete accord with our dreams
and desires.
You’ll start hearing it and feeling
it when you tap into the Power of Rhythm.
(*Axe (“Ah-shay”) is a term
I learned while studying music and dance in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.
It means, roughly, “positive life force”; the energy inside all
of us that drives our dreams and desires.)
2) Drumming and Rhythm Helps Us
Connect with Others.
At the heart of being human is a desire
to connect. Most of the time this desire is to connect with other
people, but not always (it could be a desire to connect with nature,
creative ideas, spiritual matters, etc.) No matter, we want and
deeply need to feel a part of something bigger than
ourselves. The truth of our natural connection with all living
things has been lost through generations of isolation, separation,
loneliness. As we embrace a culture of materialism and consumerism,
and a spirituality that separates us from our highest power, we drift
further away.
But there is a practical and joyful (if
not new) way to reconnect: Rhythm! People have gathered for
thousands of years, in virtually every culture on the planet, to DRUM
TOGETHER. Human beings don’t do ANYTHING for a long time unless it
has a benefit, and rhythm provides a tremendous benefit.
Group drumming creates a supported
place where we not only connect with our own spirit (as mentioned
above), we THEN SHARE THIS EXPERIENCE WITH OTHERS. We are no longer
alone or isolated. Rather, we collectively feed our souls, our
higher selves, through the beat. And what a meal! Locking in
complimentary rhythms, and holding those beats tight like a muscle is
incredibly powerful, even thrilling. Many skills are needed to make
this happen:
1) We must be willing to go to a deeper
place first individually and then collectively,
2) We must listen to each other,
3) We must communicate with each other
in the context of a unifying beat,
4) Most importantly, we must support
each other in maintaining this common beat.
As we develop these skills and insights
through drumming, it’s easy to see the cross-over to other (all?)
aspects of our life. Close personal relationships require a
willingness to be go deep both individually and jointly; all
successful work endeavors require outstanding listening and
communication skills. Keeping focus on the common goal (the unifying
beat) is the function of our socio-political system. Our everyday
life requires immense trust and cooperation (e.g. driving on the
proper side of the street, depositing money in the bank, flying in an
airplane). Being “in rhythm” teaches and nurtures these skills.
Despite our mistaken,
culturally-created belief that we are independent individuals, we
are, in fact, completely INTER-dependent. For example: think of
turning on a light in your home. Do you realize how many thousands
of people made that possible?**
Drumming and rhythm will help you
develop the practical skills needed to establish deeper and more
meaningful relationships in all aspects of your life.
(**The inventors who discovered the
power of electricity and shared their findings, the donors who
supported their research, the business people who invested their
funds to make this new idea financially viable, the workmen who
erected the electricity lines, the customer service representatives
who receive new orders, the technicians who hook up each home in a
safe and reliable manner, the homebuilders who construct the walls in
your home and run the electricity lines to your switch, the employees
who send out your bill, the service-people who fix your line when it
goes out, the technicians, hundreds of them, who continually (every
minute of every day) monitor the electricity grid to ensure that it
works properly, etc....)
3) Drumming and Rhythm is our
Entree into the Wide World of Music.
Music is fantastic! I’ve had a
chance to travel around the world studying music, rhythm, and dance.
The more I learn, the deeper the well becomes. The beauty, the joy,
the exuberance, the soul of music...what a joy! I feel totally
blessed every single time I’m near music; to hear it, to dance to
it, to play it, to teach it.
By learning world rhythms, you will be
learning about the PEOPLE who make the music. Music, like any other
art form, is a creative expression - it reflects the soul of it’s
creator(s). By studying drumming, in particular, we learn about a
culture from the ground up. Rhythm is like a tree, “from the root
to the fruit” (one of my favorite sayings). Drums are hollowed-out
trees with animal skins on top. Rhythm flows through our bodies,
starting from the feet and legs into the hips and lower torso (the
root), up the spine down our arms and to our hands (the fruit). When
we learn rhythms from a particular region, we are connecting with the
culture from a very base-level, grass-roots place. We start to
understand the soul of the people as we learn the rhythms that drive
their music and, to a very real extent, their lives. This is very
exciting!
I remember the first trip I took to
Trinidad. For a few years prior, I was playing djembe*** for dynamic
dance classes taught by Mr. Wilfred Mark, a world-class teacher and
performer from Trinidad. As we became friends, he invited me to
join him for a cultural trip to his island, and I accepted. Far from
a “sit on the beach and drink a mai-tai” vacation, this was a
musical and cultural odyssey to the back country of Trinidad. The
modest country house we stayed was next to a home with over 100
chickens! We (there was a group of about 8 of us) woke to the
rooster calls at the crack of dawn each morning, just like everyone
else in the village. We learned traditional rhythms like Calypso,
Jab Molassi, Shango from the local drummers in an open-air, tin-roof
“dance studio.” But more importantly, we learned the soul of the
music. We learned the tempo of the island. We learned not only what
Trinidadians listened to, but WHY. My desire to learn the message
behind the music gave me entree into this world. And rhythm was my
ticket.
It’s been the same everywhere I have
travelled: Brazil, Ghana, Cuba, Togo, Jamaica, Benin, Mexico,
Nigeria... by connecting with the rhythm of the people, I have
gained an exciting and powerful insight into their lives, and, by
extension, have gained invaluable perspective on my own.
Drumming, rhythm, percussion and dance
can do the same for you. The world is waiting, extending it’s
hand. Let’s take the step, explore your world through rhythm.
(*** African hour-glass shaped hand
drum.)
So, don’t just do something, sit
there. And drum!
Robert Wallace is a musician and teacher living in Northern California. He teaches percussion and fitness to students of all ages and abilities and is releasing a set of instructional DVDs this year. For more information, contact Robert at:
Total Rhythm or Robert@TotalRhythm.com
510-482-8005
All photos courtesy of Total Rhythm
