Drumming with Friends

One of the things that I love to do when I’m home is to get together with my friends, breakout the drums and make some noise!Sometimes I play at home, and sometimes like the picture to your left I am involved in  events here in Park City  where I get the opportunity to be the drum circle, drum for local belly-dancing  group, or sometimes just hang with friends and drum for fun. I have included a video on this posting of my good friend David Waterfall. On the night this video was shot I was with my friend David Waterfall At my home here in Park City. every once in a while it will give me a call wondering if I’m in town. When I am I always invite him over, we break out the drums, and they usually encourage David to show me the new rhythms that he’s been playing.

From Fear to Confidence

The funny thing is three years ago, David could not play a rhythm to save his life! And now he has become a very proficient drummer. Starting with the 5- Element rhythms David began to train his hands and his mind. He worked on technique following the exercises shown on my 5-Element DVD, which teaches hand positions and the rhythms of each of the 5 Elements from the West African tradition I work from. Soon David increased his dexterity and his ability to feel the rhythm, which allowed him to begin to improvise and build beats based on the 5- element training. Now he can solo with the best of them!

First the Student, Then the Teacher

It is been my profound pleasure to watch David become a good drummer and the leader of the Park City drum circle.  At one point I think David was so frustrated with his inability to feel the rhythm that he wanted to stop playing. But as he continued to play with other drummers he found inspiration, and motivation to continue. Sometimes in the midst of our learning we run into obstacles, or bumps in the road, but one thing I learned many years ago is that, the more frustrated you become about mastering a particular process indicates your closeness to success. We never get frustrated when a particular process or practice is far beyond our abilities. But when we know that we are so close! That’s what we get frustrated when we can’t seem to hit the tipping point. So let your frustration or your anxiety be the meter that inspires you to take the next step in to great success with your drumming. I hope you enjoy this video.

More to Come

Also keep an eye out for new videos that are coming in titled “intentional drumming” these videos will help you connect to different rhythms in a very intentional way utilizing the power of the drum as a mechanism to produce transformation in your life.