Processing the Experience: Drum Away Your Stress Session (2/24/11)

I can't believe that I've facilitated three drum circles at BSU in the last two weeks!

Only 4 people attended the most recent "percussion-based experiential exercise" that was sponsored by the BSU campus wellness group, but even then it was energizing and fun; the drum song was a good one. Because of the low turnout, I decided to do things a bit differently, and only asked a couple of brief "How did that feel?" questions (the What Happened? funneling question). During an informal conversation with a couple of people at the end of the experience, one person told me how it reminded him of his background in dance, and how he would like to get back into dance; so I would say that the circle might have helped them recall that, learn something about himself (the so what?), and apply the learning to his life (the now what?).

I am beginning to learn that the debriefing methods (such as funneling) may be best used in specific circumstances with specific audiences. In the end, it really depends on the purpose of the drum circle you are facilitating. Judging the three most recent experiences, I would say that the more oriented toward fun and stress relief the circle is, the less useful are the debriefing questions. The BSU Women's Hockey team seemed to have a mixed view of the debriefing questions--some said that the experience was too short to really go that deep in questioning, but some said that the questions were useful to think about and discuss. On the other hand, if the exercise were part of a larger experience, perhaps over a few hours or a one-day workshop, I could see the funneling questions having more of an impact on the learning.

At this point in the project, I would say that I've learned a bit about the funneling technique, through applying it in real situations; however, I do want to try out a different debriefing method (such as "Rounds",where participants in a circle each answer a simple question with a word/phrase, number, or by playing on their drum ) in a future circle--perhaps at a conference presentation such as ALA REFORMA, or an Association for Experiential Education conference.