Drum Circles-Amy Jackson

"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 Hart, drummer for the Grateful Dead

The drum circle we did in class got me thinking about music. It is such a beautiful art form. Van der Leeuw says, "the drum is the original, the basic instrument, and among the primitives, especially in Africa, by far the most popular. It is the repository of the divine power which is poured out over life in war and in love, with dance and sacrifice" (213). Drums are used for different occasions; for love and for war. It creates beats, much like our hearts. The art of music does not sit within the boundaries of ethnicity and language. Sound reaches every person. It resonates within us. "Primitive man knows that beautiful sound conveys all his feeling and thoughts more powerfully, more fully, and more exactly than does the individual word" (Van der Leeuw 215). In the drum circle, we were able to communicate our feeling through the different beats. We were in unity without saying anything. After a while the social boundaries of awkwardness started to fall and we became comfortable with each other. I did not necessarily know everyone very well but we all participated in something memorable. I like what Mickey Hart says about how the purpose is to share rhythm and get in tune with each other. Drum circles include everyone because it is an instrument that you don't have to be an expert at in order to join in.