Six Drummers
November 22, 2010 4:56 AM Subscribe
Six Drummers. (YouTube) Courtesy of our local dumming guru. If you haven't been to a drum circle, you're missing out. Especially good on Mondays.
I saw this video three or four years ago, and couldn't help but show it to everyone I cared about. Thank you for linking this.
And on the topic of drum circles:
When I lived in California a few summers ago, I had the privilege to go to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The park is absolutely stuffed full of intoxicated homeless people, but in one part of the park there is always a massive jam circle (I use the word "jam" instead of "drum" because there were other instruments--like guitars and trumpets--present at the session). In a way, being part of this jam circle gave a participant a high or euphoria greater than any drug being used nearby could offer. The music really engulfs, transforms, and effects you. By the second half of this paragraph, I've stopped making sense to anyone who hasn't been a part of a jam circle, but let me say this: don't pass up witnessing or participating in any kind of anonymous jam or drum circle with strangers--it is a ton of fun.
posted by MHPlost at 5:14 AM on November 22, 2010
And on the topic of drum circles:
When I lived in California a few summers ago, I had the privilege to go to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The park is absolutely stuffed full of intoxicated homeless people, but in one part of the park there is always a massive jam circle (I use the word "jam" instead of "drum" because there were other instruments--like guitars and trumpets--present at the session). In a way, being part of this jam circle gave a participant a high or euphoria greater than any drug being used nearby could offer. The music really engulfs, transforms, and effects you. By the second half of this paragraph, I've stopped making sense to anyone who hasn't been a part of a jam circle, but let me say this: don't pass up witnessing or participating in any kind of anonymous jam or drum circle with strangers--it is a ton of fun.
posted by MHPlost at 5:14 AM on November 22, 2010
With reference solely to the Youtube video, it's pretty disappointing that they're not actually making that noise. Maybe it's just me, but when we're talking about percussion / drumming, seeing some people mime to a pre-recorded soundtrack - goofy break-in plot or no - is about as rewarding as seeing a singer mime. Eg: not.
Drum circles on the other hand, Up With That Sort of Thing.
posted by Hartham's Hugging Robots at 5:16 AM on November 22, 2010
Drum circles on the other hand, Up With That Sort of Thing.
posted by Hartham's Hugging Robots at 5:16 AM on November 22, 2010
Been a part of drum/jam circles, and it is precisely what has caused me to be the hateful, bitter person I am today.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 5:57 AM on November 22, 2010
posted by Joseph Gurl at 5:57 AM on November 22, 2010
First drum circle I went to was on the deck at a lake with about 30 people I'd never met. It was a Wednesday night, clear skies, summertime & surprisingly primal - what MHPlost said.
Heh.
posted by yoga at 6:11 AM on November 22, 2010
Heh.
posted by yoga at 6:11 AM on November 22, 2010
Neat. The Sambanistas are one of our local circles. Vids.
posted by Ahab at 6:11 AM on November 22, 2010
posted by Ahab at 6:11 AM on November 22, 2010
Been a part of drum/jam circles, and it is precisely what has caused me to be the hateful, bitter person I am today.
I had to stop going to Hillside Festival in Guelph after 10 years of volunteering when the non-stop drum circle finally got to me. It left me with a deep-seated hatred for drum circles. Unless there is a stronger word than hate. Loathe? Despise?
There are definitely drum circles in the deepest depths of hell, that is all I know.
posted by fimbulvetr at 6:24 AM on November 22, 2010
I had to stop going to Hillside Festival in Guelph after 10 years of volunteering when the non-stop drum circle finally got to me. It left me with a deep-seated hatred for drum circles. Unless there is a stronger word than hate. Loathe? Despise?
There are definitely drum circles in the deepest depths of hell, that is all I know.
posted by fimbulvetr at 6:24 AM on November 22, 2010
The comments in this thread so far demonstrate that drum circles are perhaps the epitome of an activity that it's insanely fun to participate in and insanely irritating to have to hear when you're not participating.
I would urge everyone to take part in a drum circle, if only so they don't have to be the guy trying to do anything else at all within a one-mile radius while the drum circle is happening.
posted by game warden to the events rhino at 7:19 AM on November 22, 2010
I would urge everyone to take part in a drum circle, if only so they don't have to be the guy trying to do anything else at all within a one-mile radius while the drum circle is happening.
posted by game warden to the events rhino at 7:19 AM on November 22, 2010
One of the best examples of this sort of thing I ever saw was during a walkabout lunch hour on Ottawa's Sparks Street Mall one summer's day several years ago. The Mall is a several-blocks-long outdoor pedestrian run from which motor traffic has been banned and, during the summer, its lunch-hour population soars as government office tower workers pour onto it to grab every sittable surface available while enjoying their brown bags. The thousands of accompanying wallets are magnets for buskers and many of them tend to be highly talented.
This day, the busker in question set up with a couple pretty rudimentary drums -- one a large conga, another a classic bongo set and the third another African style but played with drumsticks instead of the hand. He opened by building up some fairly simple rhythms, crossing from one instrument to the other, then building in both speed and complexity until he was generating what was to the drum what a full-blown symphony is to any piece of orchestral brass. Then he launched himself onto the wider street and out among his swiftly growing audience, and began pounding and playing on anything within a ten-yard radius that could produce a tone -- metal streetlamp posts, the glass globes topping them, garbage bins, even bundles of paper or the plastic bags being carried by some of his awed listeners. You'd be amazed what a briefcase sounds like when played by a really good drummer on the loose. It was a one-man Stomp! show and -- especially given the likelihood he probably wouldn't declare that income -- I suspect he took home more $$$ that day then even the most senior bureaucrats in the crowd.
posted by Mike D at 7:22 AM on November 22, 2010
This day, the busker in question set up with a couple pretty rudimentary drums -- one a large conga, another a classic bongo set and the third another African style but played with drumsticks instead of the hand. He opened by building up some fairly simple rhythms, crossing from one instrument to the other, then building in both speed and complexity until he was generating what was to the drum what a full-blown symphony is to any piece of orchestral brass. Then he launched himself onto the wider street and out among his swiftly growing audience, and began pounding and playing on anything within a ten-yard radius that could produce a tone -- metal streetlamp posts, the glass globes topping them, garbage bins, even bundles of paper or the plastic bags being carried by some of his awed listeners. You'd be amazed what a briefcase sounds like when played by a really good drummer on the loose. It was a one-man Stomp! show and -- especially given the likelihood he probably wouldn't declare that income -- I suspect he took home more $$$ that day then even the most senior bureaucrats in the crowd.
posted by Mike D at 7:22 AM on November 22, 2010
I wouldn't exactly call it missing...
posted by Catblack at 7:40 AM on November 22, 2010 [4 favorites]
posted by Catblack at 7:40 AM on November 22, 2010 [4 favorites]
I've never participated in a drum circle, but I expect the primal/trance high that participants find so compelling is the same one that you get at a good old-time open session, when where the entire group suddenly clicks and finds itself in a perfect, transcendent zone. Everyone's in sync, and the music you're making becomes somehow greater than the sum of its parts. In that zone you can wind up playing the same simple 32-bar tune for 10 minutes straight, which can mystify the casual listener who started to get tired of it after 2, hence the saying "Old-time music: it's better than it sounds!"
posted by usonian at 8:08 AM on November 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by usonian at 8:08 AM on November 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
Yeah, drum circles are fun as heck, but for those of us not participating or forced to listen from afar less so. Without someone to teach the basics of the pulse, polyrhythm and syncopation so everyone can find the one, it ends up sounding like popcorn being made.
Such is the case for the drum circle I am forced to listen to on summer evenings emanating from the co-op housing up the street.
posted by clvrmnky at 8:22 AM on November 22, 2010
Such is the case for the drum circle I am forced to listen to on summer evenings emanating from the co-op housing up the street.
posted by clvrmnky at 8:22 AM on November 22, 2010
During aay pride week, I wandered into Tompkins Square Park where a drag queen drum circle was going on. This incredibly stoned guy wandered into the middle of it and started getting down. I bet he was thinking "Man, these chicks dig me, yo..."
posted by jonmc at 8:35 AM on November 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by jonmc at 8:35 AM on November 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
During aay pride week,
During Gay pride week. Aay pride week is when all the Fonzies parade through town.
posted by jonmc at 8:39 AM on November 22, 2010 [11 favorites]
During Gay pride week. Aay pride week is when all the Fonzies parade through town.
posted by jonmc at 8:39 AM on November 22, 2010 [11 favorites]
I went to a drum circle once. It took days for the smell of patchouli to wear off.
I still had fun though.
posted by chillmost at 10:02 AM on November 22, 2010
I still had fun though.
posted by chillmost at 10:02 AM on November 22, 2010
In that zone you can wind up playing the same simple 32-bar tune for 10 minutes straight, which can mystify the casual listener who started to get tired of it after 2, hence the saying "Old-time music: it's better than it sounds!"
And Sacred Harp singing is better than it sounds too, and contra and square dancing are better than they look, and on the other hand the same goes for anything that happens at Burning Man.
Hell, Phish sound better than they sound most of the time: they seem to have mastered the trick of letting their audience get into that participatory groove without actually setting their hands on an instrument. (And fine, I know what you're gonna say, but it's not just the drugs. Some people when they trip, they want to be part of the show, a tiny flamboyant cell in the seething mass of noodleheads, and other people just want a nice quiet corner where they can sit back watch the walls breathe. Participation versus audience. And sure enough, the stargazers like to hate on the noodleheads and vice versa.)
I don't know — some people get into that participatory groove, and some people like a clear line between the audience and the show. I can't say that either approach is better, but I think it's interesting that the animosity back and forth between Audience People and Participation People is far greater than the animosity between Audience People from totally different scenes.
Meanwhile I gather that in some cities (Portland and Minneapolis come to mind) the hippies and pagans and Burners have started to take up contra and shape note, and that makes perfect sense to me, because there's something fundamentally similar there, despite the surface differences.
posted by nebulawindphone at 10:33 AM on November 22, 2010
And Sacred Harp singing is better than it sounds too, and contra and square dancing are better than they look, and on the other hand the same goes for anything that happens at Burning Man.
Hell, Phish sound better than they sound most of the time: they seem to have mastered the trick of letting their audience get into that participatory groove without actually setting their hands on an instrument. (And fine, I know what you're gonna say, but it's not just the drugs. Some people when they trip, they want to be part of the show, a tiny flamboyant cell in the seething mass of noodleheads, and other people just want a nice quiet corner where they can sit back watch the walls breathe. Participation versus audience. And sure enough, the stargazers like to hate on the noodleheads and vice versa.)
I don't know — some people get into that participatory groove, and some people like a clear line between the audience and the show. I can't say that either approach is better, but I think it's interesting that the animosity back and forth between Audience People and Participation People is far greater than the animosity between Audience People from totally different scenes.
Meanwhile I gather that in some cities (Portland and Minneapolis come to mind) the hippies and pagans and Burners have started to take up contra and shape note, and that makes perfect sense to me, because there's something fundamentally similar there, despite the surface differences.
posted by nebulawindphone at 10:33 AM on November 22, 2010
Burner shapenote sounds like something not to miss. Do you know of a sing in Portland, nebulawindphone?
posted by MisterMo at 10:51 AM on November 22, 2010
posted by MisterMo at 10:51 AM on November 22, 2010
All this about drum circles and no one's mentioned men's groups yet. Oh, where did the decades go? And contra dancing pagans? Shape note singing Burners? What the hell? I guess I'm glad I don't get out enough.
posted by kozad at 10:52 AM on November 22, 2010
posted by kozad at 10:52 AM on November 22, 2010
I know there is a sing in Portland; I've never been. There isn't AFAIK a Burner-organized one, but rather a growing contingent of hippie-ass kids showing up and singing with the folkies and the Baptists and such.
Here in Austin we have at least one serious Burner who's a semi-regular at the weekly sing (which is held in a Primitive Baptist church), and one dumpster-diving vegan bakery employee who would be right at home at Burning Man if she ever went. Occasionally they bring friends along, and a few out-of-town kids often show up during South By Southwest. So far it's all gone smoothly as far as I've seen.
posted by nebulawindphone at 11:14 AM on November 22, 2010
Here in Austin we have at least one serious Burner who's a semi-regular at the weekly sing (which is held in a Primitive Baptist church), and one dumpster-diving vegan bakery employee who would be right at home at Burning Man if she ever went. Occasionally they bring friends along, and a few out-of-town kids often show up during South By Southwest. So far it's all gone smoothly as far as I've seen.
posted by nebulawindphone at 11:14 AM on November 22, 2010
I'm no Baptist, but I've always been welcomed at a sing. I will definitely check out the action in Portland!
posted by MisterMo at 12:17 PM on November 22, 2010
posted by MisterMo at 12:17 PM on November 22, 2010
I went for the first time to a couple of drum circles last summer because an old friend from my hometown moved out here and is sort of into that scene now. It was a fun, positive vibe where everyone seemed to be having fun and smoking weed--kinda what you'd expect. What surprised me though was afterwards, hearing the drum circle politics. Who knew? It's all "so-and-so always plays that same rhythm over what everyone else is doing and it totally ruins the groove" and "that guy is good and everything, but does he have to drum so hard and fast all the time?" I'm glad I was just hanging out cuz I might have accidentally done some sort of drum circle faux-pas without knowing it, and like totally bogarted all the rhythm or something.
posted by Hoopo at 3:19 PM on November 22, 2010
posted by Hoopo at 3:19 PM on November 22, 2010
A friend told me about walking past a drum circle with a really skilled African drummer at his side. The drummer was just mystified and a little sickened. See, African and African-derived rhythms are very specific — they speak in singular ways, the way our melodies do. So you would no more find traditional African drummers just winging it and throwing random rhythms out there than you would find a bunch a Westerners assembling to sing random patterns that sounded vaguely okay together.
posted by argybarg at 10:16 PM on November 22, 2010
posted by argybarg at 10:16 PM on November 22, 2010
I want to cry.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 10:40 PM on November 22, 2010
posted by Joseph Gurl at 10:40 PM on November 22, 2010
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And if you haven't been to the drum circle outside the building where I work, bless you. But if you have been to that drum circle, well, then you already know what I think of you.
posted by .kobayashi. at 5:04 AM on November 22, 2010 [2 favorites]