Drums Circle in the Desert: I See the Full Moon Arousing
Posted: Thursday, October 13, 2011
by Jack H. Schick
I was reading the Yucca Valley, California newspaper this afternoon. I have a vacation house up in the foothills of the high desert near there. The paper comes out a couple of times a week and they mail it to me. I like to keep up on the activities and news out there. I especially enjoy the police reports. Like a lot of things out there in La La Land, sometimes they’re a real hoot (except to the victims, of course). My interest was perked by one activity being held this week; well, I guess it really was last week and is over now, since the paper gets her a week late. The article hook was “Celebrate Full Moon with Drum Circle.”
I suspected that a Drum Circle either had something to do with American Indians, since Yucca Valley is in the Morongo (a tribe) Basin; or with African heritage. Both cultures were always beating on drums, if you can believe the Tarzan and old John Wayne movies, anyway. I knew that drum beating sessions had contemporized, some. Our Quaker youth group occasionally gets together for a drum night. Even pacifists have to vent frustration by pounding on something once in a while.
According to 'somebody' on the Internet (which I guess is as suspect, as far as reliability goes, as a Tarzan movie is), the "Drum Circle” originated in the United States during the late 1960’s and early 1970’s. It is any group of people who informally get together to play music. “Drum jam” and “jam session” are synonyms. Usually a Drum Circle was a “counter-culture” group that gathered in a public area to play music. In an ‘official’ Drum Circle the music is improvised and all the participants contribute and co-create the “tune.” The “music” is a group expression that is not directed by a sub-group or person.
Micky Hart, drummer for the musical group The Grateful Dead, explained it to a Senate Committee on Aging back in 1991 (I imagine some nursing homes have drum circle night). He said:
“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.”
Believe it or not, in Western countries Drum Circles have evolve into two main types. The Community Drum Circle is open to the public and is basically a free-for-all. You can hammer on anything. It doesn’t have to be a drum. You can bring a piece of pipe and a monkey wrench and join in. You can even blow on a kazoo, a flute or anything else. The Facilitated or Conducted Drum Circle is much more formal. It is directed by a facilitator who sets up the chairs, provides some instruments and sort of conducts or guides the musical “show.” That’s more like the kind we have at the Meetinghouse. Quakers usually don’t often go in for the free-for-all stuff.
Drum Circles, or perhaps more properly, drumming sessions (since they aren’t always in a circle), are sometimes used for spiritual ceremonies. It is becoming more common throughout the world for Summer and Winter Solstice celebrations. In the winter the ‘noise’ begins before dawn and is called “Drumming up the Sun.” At Neo-pagan festivals, people gather around a bonfire. Drummers pound away while dancers circle the fire. They play throughout the night and on until dawn. It’s seen as a spiritual, magical event. There is also chanting, singing and poetry reading. These ‘sessions’ are generally non-facilitated. (That’s the type I’d expect to see in a Tarzan movie)
Shamanic drumming circles and the Medicine Wheel drumming and prayer ceremonies are derived from the Native American culture. Drums, rattles and frequently, chanting are involved. The ceremonies focus on spiritual rather than musical aspects of the culture. They are Facilitated “circles” since the leader is ‘facilitating’ a shamanic journey rather than a music event. The drumming in these ceremonies is usually simple and repetitive. It is considered a form of prayer or an attempt to produce a trance. In the Medicine Wheel ceremony the four compass directions are seen as specific spheres of spiritual powers that can help balance and heal. (That’s the type of ceremony I suppose they were having as they prepared to roast John Wayne over the campfire—before he miraculously escaped).
After doing the research on it, I suppose if I would have been out at my place in Yucca Valley, I might have gone down there to check out the full moon celebrating Drum Circle activities. It was held at the Joshua Tree Retreat Center’s Sanctuary, which even sounds like a typical California spiritual hang-out. It was only from 7pm to 9pm, though. At my age I get distracted easily and I don’t drink anymore, so that’s hardly enough time for me to get zoned in on the ethereal world. They asked you to bring your own drum. I don't have one and would have had to show up with a piece of pipe and a hammer. Besides, they wanted five bucks to get into the place, so maybe I'd have just stayed home.
I’ll be sure to check the police reports in the next edition of the newspaper. I’d almost be willing to bet there was an up-tick in goofy crimes the night of the full moon.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Ah, yes, zoning in on the ethereal world. So many make a business out of it. I like your style Mr. Schick. Great article.Thanks, for always reading and commenting
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