This weekend I attended the “Cherish the Children” pow-wow in St. Paul, an annual benefit for a local family center for the St. Paul American Indian community. I enjoyed watching the dancers and the drumming groups (about ten of them; unfortunately I didn't have time to talk with anyone from the drum groups); the drummers seemed to draw a group of onlookers. There were several really good groups of drummer/singers—referred to as “the drum” meaning both the instrument and the players surrounding it---each with their own style and percussive rhythm, as well as range of ages of their members. The look on the drummers’ faces was usually intense concentration. I’ve read that the drum is considered the heartbeat of the people, or of the earth--the drums were obviously very important in keeping the dancers moving, around and around the circle of the Central High School gymnasium.
Going to the pow-wow (my second in the past six months) demystified some of the images I had of pow-wows and Native Americans in general. I came away with the impression that pow-wows are not only about tradition and ritual, but a great deal about socializing and the coming together of families and friends.
These were obviously modern people living in the modern world, and actively keeping their "old ways" alive. The pow-wow was really focused on drumming, singing, and enjoyment of togetherness. A book that was sent my way from a colleague at work said it best: “Indians acknowledge today that the old way has indeed changed forever, and that to survive they must now combine aspects of their older customs with realities of the world in which they live...the new way of life does not replace the old; the old survives by adapting and intensifying. (p. 68, Brown and Toelken. “American Indian Pow-wow”. Folklife Annual 1987, The American Folklife Center of the Library of Congress) Going to the Cherish the Children pow-wow showed me vividly, in all its colors and rhythms, how the really important aspects of American Indian culture—singing, dancing, the reciprocal giving of gifts—is being kept alive today.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Friday, February 6, 2009
Next Steps
I'm really looking forward to more tidbits of drum lore in "Planet Drum", the coffee-table companion book to the drumming CD Mickey Hart put out.
As far as the next steps of my project goes, I am still waiting to hear from my contacts in the Lakota community, to see if I could visit or talk with some drummers there. But in the meantime, I am planning to go to the "Cherish the Children" pow-wow in St. Paul, as well as to hopefully attend a session on "African Drumming for Everyone" at an Minnesota State U this month. (I was very excited to see this being offerred!)
In the next few weeks, my plan is to transition from the research phase, to the experiential phase--attending events, and talking with experts in the field.
As far as the next steps of my project goes, I am still waiting to hear from my contacts in the Lakota community, to see if I could visit or talk with some drummers there. But in the meantime, I am planning to go to the "Cherish the Children" pow-wow in St. Paul, as well as to hopefully attend a session on "African Drumming for Everyone" at an Minnesota State U this month. (I was very excited to see this being offerred!)
In the next few weeks, my plan is to transition from the research phase, to the experiential phase--attending events, and talking with experts in the field.
Drumming at the Edge of Magic: Mickey Hart's Drum Journey
Reading "Drumming at the Edge of Magic" by Mickey Hart, the long-time drummer for the Grateful Dead, and an ethnomusicology researcher (the branch of music dealing with the various forms music takes among world cultures) in his own right, has been an eye and ear opening experience. Once I stared reading it, I couldn't put it down.
Hart, whose own life-story is reflected in these pages, focuses on his quest to understand the roots of drumming and rhythm. He really makes the case that drumming is an important cultural expression that should be cherished into the future, and even brought into more prominence in our relatively "non-drumming" Western culture.
Why isn't drumming as prevalent in our Western culture, as it is in, say, Africa or South America? Hart's answer, after several decades of research (with ethnomusicologist colleagues and Joseph Campbell as friends helping him out!), is that, for the most part, drumming was relegated to the military in Western culture (with the exception of orchestral drumming) . It was basically divorced or de-coupled from the sacred aspects of singing and dancing, a very long time ago (somewhere between three and four thousand years ago).
Hart has a very interesting thesis (which he backs up with scholarly research)--that drumming was a key part of the earth goddess (or Great Mother) worship of pre-classical Western culture. Unfortunately for us, the traditional and sacred uses of drumming were, for the most part, lost with the overpowering of this matriarchal culture with the patriarchal culture of classical European and West Asian civilization. (Some notable exceptions were the ancient Greek cults of Dionysis and Cebele).
There are many gems of drumming lore in the book, interspersed with personal stories of Mickey Hart's personal journey in life (as well as some neat stories ranging from ancient myths to the tales from his drumming friends). Here are a few to share (all from "Drumming at the Edge of Magic, Mickey Hart, 1991):
"In much of Africa, music is as large a part of everyday life as conversation or cooking or the birdsong. It enhances the significance of all the important way stations of life, from birth through initiations to death...there are special songs sung when a child's first teeth erupt and songs sung to cure the same child of bed-wetting....You could almost say that African peoples have a song or a dance for every occasion. 'A village without music is a dead place, ' says an African proverb." This quote reminded me of what Severt Young Bear said in "Standing in the Light", about how closely connected singing, dancing, and drumming are in Lakota culture.
"It takes years to become a master drummer..the reason for this is that you have to know not only the rhythms but the dances as well...you have to know all the songs and all the dances that go with them....Many of these rhythms are only played at specific times, during the festival for a house raising, for example. Or when a drought occurs....but, the most important rhythms in Yoruba (West African cultural group) land are those that communicate with the Orisha (powerful deities or spirits)." This quote comes from an excerpted telling of his life by Babatunde Olatunji. It points out, again, how the powerful trio of drumming, singing, and dancing, played in a central role in West African life.
"The best way to keep time in a polyrhythm is to create a rhythm of your own and merge it with the group's. Apparently most Africans, both listeners and players, learn this truth at their parent's knee." African culture's rhythmic sensibility is polyrhythmic (multiple rhythms going at the same time). What I find interesting here is that the HealthRhythms protocol includes joining of one's personal rhythm to the rhythm of the group as a whole. HealthRhythms' synergy of African drumming and Western science makes it interesting as a cultural phenomenon. It's as if we're trying to recreate the meaning of the drum, borrowing from another culture's expression to fit our own.
And about the master drummer in the African drumming ensemble:
"His position depends as much on mastery of drum lore as on technical skill...knowing the right rhythm to play on an occasion is as important as being able to execute that rhythm. A good master drummer at a social dance can keep up a regular monologue on his drum, telling jokes and proverb, rapping out rhythms that might say 'hi'..or call others up to dance." This shows another confluence of the drum with cultural communication. This aspect of drumming seems to cross the globe, found in Native American drumming, for example.
It also expresses an awesome part of African drumming, what's known as the "talking drum". African cultures have developed this drum, one which allows the modulation of pitch as well as a beat, to such an extent that actual "drum languages" were created and used to communicate across long distances--a sort of Morse code using drums.
Hart, whose own life-story is reflected in these pages, focuses on his quest to understand the roots of drumming and rhythm. He really makes the case that drumming is an important cultural expression that should be cherished into the future, and even brought into more prominence in our relatively "non-drumming" Western culture.
Why isn't drumming as prevalent in our Western culture, as it is in, say, Africa or South America? Hart's answer, after several decades of research (with ethnomusicologist colleagues and Joseph Campbell as friends helping him out!), is that, for the most part, drumming was relegated to the military in Western culture (with the exception of orchestral drumming) . It was basically divorced or de-coupled from the sacred aspects of singing and dancing, a very long time ago (somewhere between three and four thousand years ago).
Hart has a very interesting thesis (which he backs up with scholarly research)--that drumming was a key part of the earth goddess (or Great Mother) worship of pre-classical Western culture. Unfortunately for us, the traditional and sacred uses of drumming were, for the most part, lost with the overpowering of this matriarchal culture with the patriarchal culture of classical European and West Asian civilization. (Some notable exceptions were the ancient Greek cults of Dionysis and Cebele).
There are many gems of drumming lore in the book, interspersed with personal stories of Mickey Hart's personal journey in life (as well as some neat stories ranging from ancient myths to the tales from his drumming friends). Here are a few to share (all from "Drumming at the Edge of Magic, Mickey Hart, 1991):
"In much of Africa, music is as large a part of everyday life as conversation or cooking or the birdsong. It enhances the significance of all the important way stations of life, from birth through initiations to death...there are special songs sung when a child's first teeth erupt and songs sung to cure the same child of bed-wetting....You could almost say that African peoples have a song or a dance for every occasion. 'A village without music is a dead place, ' says an African proverb." This quote reminded me of what Severt Young Bear said in "Standing in the Light", about how closely connected singing, dancing, and drumming are in Lakota culture.
"It takes years to become a master drummer..the reason for this is that you have to know not only the rhythms but the dances as well...you have to know all the songs and all the dances that go with them....Many of these rhythms are only played at specific times, during the festival for a house raising, for example. Or when a drought occurs....but, the most important rhythms in Yoruba (West African cultural group) land are those that communicate with the Orisha (powerful deities or spirits)." This quote comes from an excerpted telling of his life by Babatunde Olatunji. It points out, again, how the powerful trio of drumming, singing, and dancing, played in a central role in West African life.
"The best way to keep time in a polyrhythm is to create a rhythm of your own and merge it with the group's. Apparently most Africans, both listeners and players, learn this truth at their parent's knee." African culture's rhythmic sensibility is polyrhythmic (multiple rhythms going at the same time). What I find interesting here is that the HealthRhythms protocol includes joining of one's personal rhythm to the rhythm of the group as a whole. HealthRhythms' synergy of African drumming and Western science makes it interesting as a cultural phenomenon. It's as if we're trying to recreate the meaning of the drum, borrowing from another culture's expression to fit our own.
And about the master drummer in the African drumming ensemble:
"His position depends as much on mastery of drum lore as on technical skill...knowing the right rhythm to play on an occasion is as important as being able to execute that rhythm. A good master drummer at a social dance can keep up a regular monologue on his drum, telling jokes and proverb, rapping out rhythms that might say 'hi'..or call others up to dance." This shows another confluence of the drum with cultural communication. This aspect of drumming seems to cross the globe, found in Native American drumming, for example.
It also expresses an awesome part of African drumming, what's known as the "talking drum". African cultures have developed this drum, one which allows the modulation of pitch as well as a beat, to such an extent that actual "drum languages" were created and used to communicate across long distances--a sort of Morse code using drums.
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