The Conversation...

For the better part of a year, I've been meeting with a drum group each Thursday night. It's a long haul to get there. The space we drum in is about an hour south of where I live and it requires crossing a major bridge and navigating a couple of freeways during rush hour (reverse commute fortunately though). The travails of the journey are, however, completely worth it.


The group consists of probably a dozen different drummers although, on any given night, six or seven will show up. There are a couple of anchors, folks that are always there, and a core group. The rotation of the other drummers is purely random - well, as random as magic is - and seems only to add to the flavour of the night rather than subtracting from it.


We chat as people are arriving and getting settled, shaking of their journeys here, arranging their drums near the fire to warm the head. The socializing sounds like an orchestra warming up before a performance, discordant notes, snippets of phrases, and a synchronizing of instruments. As the conversations and preparations begin to settle down a remembrance of why we gather permeates the room and we move towards the circle of chairs.

Our... I'm struggling here for the right word, mentor, teacher, facilitator all around drum guru,...leads us through warm up exercises that loosen minds and spirits as much as our hands and wrists. The very air around us changes palpably. And this is when the real conversation begins.There's a shared expectation that we'll talk with our drums. That we'll listen intently and actively to our peers around the circle. That we'll hear the phrases and the mood and the intention of what is said with our hands and create a shared dialogue that is pregnant with mystery.  Sometimes what we say in the circle is raucous, uplifting, full of thunderous laughter. Sometimes is subtle, phrases hinging on an odd choice of syncopation or new sound introduced mid-way through. Occasionally, what is said reflects the frustrations we're feeling outside of this circle and voices seem at odds with the greater rhythm we are trying to create, but we still converse.


"I can hear that we are having a conversation with our drums. That we know when to speak, when to listen, when to add a new thought. This is drumming in a circle", our instructor said.


And this is why I drum...


Gwion