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Contest WINNER and New Name: Rhythm for Good

By on June 28, 2010 in Community

Ladies and Gentleman,

I ran a contest for new blog title submissions. Everybody voted. Thanks for voting!

Now, it is with great honor that I present the prize winnings to Katherine Allen King for her submission “Drumming Up Wellness.” The contest came down to two choices: Drumming Up Wellness and Rhythm for Good. Drumming Up Wellness was eventually eliminated because so many programs exist with the same name already… BUT, it was a GREAT name idea! I’ve sent her Oliver Sack’s Musicophilia and Dave Holland’s Drumagination for the prize. Congratulations, Katherine!

Here are some honorable mentions:

Mind, Body, Drum by Steve Durbin
Sound Body, Sound Heart, Sound Mind by Nat Mullis
Different Notes for Like-Minded Folks by Sabina Barton

I was amazed reading over all of the creative suggestions! Thanks for participating, whether by voting or submitting a suggestion.

There is quite an awesome community of music therapists, drum circle facilitators, and music-making enthusiasts out there!

Thanks to Salvatore Vuono for the image above.

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New Name, New Look Coming

By on June 3, 2010 in Community

Win Dave Holland’s Drumagination and Oliver Sacks’ Musicophilia! If you enter a blog title that I actually use, then I will send you these prize items for FREE.

I need your help. This blog is getting a new look and a new name! In choosing a new name, we’ve got to consider the topics, the types of resources, the style, the readers. Therefore, I’ve written up a list of what this blog is all about.

After checking out the list, please SEE THE POLL ON THE RIGHT TO VOTE FOR A NEW NAME! The poll will close in 11 days on June 14 at midnight. If you have additional name ideas, please leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you, and I truly need your help.

This blog serves to…

1. Offer new ideas and creative strategies for making music available to anyone and everyone.
2. Inspire and motivate people to make music.
3. Advocate for the music therapy profession.
4. Provide resources to music therapists, drum circle facilitators, healthcare professionals, educators, and therapists.
5. Create a community of like-minded professionals who use music therapy, drumming, and supportive music to serve people from birth to end of life, with special focus on the following populations: premature infants, typical babies and toddlers, school-aged kids, children who have special needs, adolescents, corporations, organizations, non-profits, medical patients, older adults, cancer patients, self-care, and just plain old regular people who experience burnout.

Thanks to Salvatore Vuono for the image above.

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Bhangra Rhythm and Drumming with Indian Professionals

By on May 25, 2010 in Community, Drumming

On Saturday, I facilitated a drum circle for the San Diego Network of Indian Professionals in supporting Child Rights and You, an organization dedicated to restoring the rights of underprivileged children.

Here’s the play-by-play:

I arrive with the drums. We set up chairs in a tight circle.

I teach a couple of simple techniques in basic drumming.

Three of us start playing, passing the beat, calling and responding.

15 More participants join in. I teach the group a couple of simple world beats.

We sing a couple of songs to tighten up the rhythm. Passers-by pause, and some children join in shaking shakers and playing drums.

One of the NetIP participants starts playing the Bhangra and Garba rhythms from India.

We all start playing Bhangra with him and improvising over it. Keep in mind that only a few participants knew each other before we started playing, and no one was a formally trained musician. But everyone was from India, so these rhythms unified the group. Eventually, I exit the circle to take pictures while everyone sings Bollywood song hits of the 1990s in Hindi. They sing about 30 song hits! No facilitator necessary – Laughing, dancing, smiling… Beautiful community! I think they could have gone on singing all day. It was amazing to see how music connected and transformed the group in such a short amount of time.

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We Got the Beat! Drum Class in Solana Beach

By on April 8, 2010 in Community, Drumming

Announcing a new We Got the Beat! class this spring. This class is open to the public, so gather all your friends and come drum with us!

Read the class description and register on the San Dieguito Adult School website here.

Tuesdays, 6:30PM – 7:30PM in Solana Beach
4 sessions starting April 20, 2010, ending May 11, 2010
Tuition: $30.00

Photo courtesy of Max Vuong.

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Community and Collaboration for Haiti

By on February 16, 2010 in Community, Drumming

Drumming Up HOPE for Haiti in San Diego was a huge success in bringing the community together, raising energy and money for the American Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund. Together we raised $850. Special thanks to Christine Stevens, Frank Lazarro, and Sundiata Kata for serving as the event team of facilitators. Also, thanks to the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad for lending extra drums and of course, the World Beat Cultural Center in San Diego for providing the perfect venue for the event.

Without any prior knowledge of the event, two Haitian women just happened to stop by, learn of the drum circle last minute, and eventually stand up on stage to share some very powerful stories. They told personal stories of life in Haiti and how they had come to the United States. One woman actually experienced the earthquake. She recalled sleeping on the ground that night with hundreds of other survivors, feeling the aftershocks and tremors all through the night. Out of the group of hundreds sleeping outside on the ground, one man had an iPhone that picked up CNN. The woman served as a translator for the crowded group of homeless survivors so that they could learn of the devastation that the earthquake left behind in their country. Please donate to the American Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development Fund.

Thanks to Roshann Chahidi, we have some great video clips of the drumming energy from our Drumming Up HOPE event on February 11, 2010. If you attended the event, please leave a comment and let us know what the experience was like for YOU.

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