Dance Circle cool down on Flickr.
After a day of drum class with Mamady and Dance with Sire Diallo Konaté, Sire leads a few of the remaining dancers in a cool down with Mendiani. The kids are always a hit with us!
www.drumconnection.com
Drumming at our Drum Circles
The Boston Drum Circle has hit 500 members with the later member Alan Pugh! We are giving him a DrumConnection T-shirt and we want to take this moment to remember ALL of you and THANK YOU so much for supporting what DrumConnection is all about.
And what is that? What ARE we about?
DrumConnection takes drumming seriously and with respect. We love Guinean and her people and the money from drum circles helps to support many people without in Guinea.
DrumConnection cares about you! When you come to a DrumConnection event, whether you are a hot shot player or have never touched a drum or somewhere in-between, we want to reach out to you to make sure everyone is treated equally. Egos can be left at the door (when there IS a door:) We love beginners as in a way we are ALL beginners. We are all on a path of rhythm and we are here to connect with each other not to exclude anyone. When you drum with DrumConnection, be sure your heart is in the right place. Take care of your needs but more importantly, share your positive energy with others in ways that may become clear. It takes time to rise to this place but we expect it. I expect it.
In the sense of the phrase drum circle, it can be anything a circle of drummers can do. In a DrumConnection drum circle, you should experience joy, closeness, equality and total regard of the other. We come together as a group to achieve a feeling and a space that we cannot get to alone. To experience this you certainly do not want to cut yourself off from the possibility of growing both as a drummer, a friend and a human being.
Live to love. Love to drum. Drum with love.
In rhythm’s spirit,
Alan
PS Hope to see you this Saturday at 4PM on The Banks of the River Charles. Please try to bring your drums, a chair, your hat, a little jacket, and all the love you have to share.
Big FUN drum circle this Saturday on the Banks of the River Charles in Boston - 4pm - 6pm More info at link. Hope to see you there!
Humility - #1 Criterion for Djembe Master
A true djembe master is humble. I have never met a master drummer who was not humble. I have met good drummers who were arrogant but never a master. To get to the level of being a djembe master you have to be humble, kind and respectful to everyone. A master has to open his heart to all people and life.
This is a very important piece of information for anyone on the spiritual path of djembe drumming. You cannot play the djembe well without opening your heart. All of the masters will acknowledge this fact. Some people may feel this is a nice idea but in reality it all comes down to raw talent and how many hours you put into the practice of the drum. I beg to differ here. I have never met a djembe player with a bad attitude who I can consider to be a master drummer. I truly believe this to be an impossibility.
The djembe is a clean drum. The spirit of the djembe is clean. One cannot play djembe well without the spirit. The spirit will never come into a dirty vessel. If you are truly a good person and you are kind with everyone you have a chance to be a master djembe player. All that is left is that you dig for the truth, study and practice a lot.
It doesn’t matter what color your skin is. God made different colors because variety is beautiful look at the rainbow. The djembe is a drum of unity not separation. It brings people together in friendship, happiness and healing. This is the power of the djembe that truly attracts people.
Masters are humble. People should all recognize this fact. It is not just a nice quality of a djembe player, it is a requirement. Negativity and bad feelings have no place inside the djembe.
If you have some sadness or anger about something, you must always drop that when you sit down to drum or stand up to dance. After you are done drumming you can go back again to your problems. Don’t disrespect the djembe by bringing your negativity inside a drum which is by nature clean and peaceful.
