We're moving...

Hi folks,

For any of you who follow the blog through the blogspot address, just wanted to let you know that we are moving!

I've got a proper website up and running now. www.rhythmseekers.org.

I will be closing this blog within the next couple of weeks...

Happy drumming!

Best Sunday Circle yet!

My first week back after a mad trip to Scotland to take my facilitation skills to the next level...

Monday saw me at the Anne Sullivan Centre. It felt like every client I saw was not pleased to be there. I figured it had to do with a shift in my energy that they could sense. I plodded on, but wasn't feeling too successful.

On Wednesday I was at NCBI. We worked more on our listening skills and focusing on listening to the spaces in between the beats. We worked on layering in rhythms and evolving the music by changing the instruments we played. I changed my strategy, setting up the circle in advance and providing each person with a woodblock, shaker and bell in addition to having a few drums out. I invited the participants to change instruments at will and find their way back into the music with each new sound.

Thursday started with a trip to the Central Remedial Clinic. Again, I worked to get the group playing together. After having such tight grooves the week before in Scotland, the chaos was a bit overwhelming. Again, I set up the circle in advance to see what impact it would have. It did serve to get a few people playing something new, which was good. I also got the group to initiate a call & response; each person giving a call and the group responding to the call.

I next headed to Rehab Care where I changed the set up of the room all together. We had been working in one large circle, I switched to two concentric circles and again, put out the instruments in advance...or at least started to. This group really likes their drumming and were filtering in the room before I'd finished. The music didn't flow as easily this time, and the inner circle was a bit too tight to facilitate from. I did offer time for a switch up twice, allowing new people to try the bigger drums. While the music was a pretty constant train wreck, the group was having fun. Giggles were erupting from one side of the circle and everyone was keen to get into the groove.

Today we ventured to the park inspite of the damp ground and chilly wind. I am so so glad we did. The crowd was considerable, lots of parents with small children for the first hour and a half. A few adults turned up in the second half and we really started rocking! I couldn't believe how many people were drawn into our sound. I think it was the biggest crowd yet. Thank you to everyone who helped to make it happen!

Away to Scotland I go...

Thursday's sessions went really well. I discovered at the CRC that I had the perfect drum for C. C was born without arms and has been playing a djembe with a soft mallet since we started. I've been concerned over the potential strain on her back from having to lean over to reach her drum.

I was showing the group some of the new gear that I had ordered when I got a bit of inspiration. One of the new drums I bought is a Talking Drum. It's usually played under the arm. The drum is shaped like an hour-glass and has strings running between two heads. When pressure is applied to the strings, the pitch of the drum is drastically changed. It occurred to me that while C wouldn't be able to use the drum in the usual way, she could achieve the same result by using her legs. She was skeptical at first, but as soon as she tried it, it was love at first squeeze ;)


Just goes to show that there is a drum for everyone!

On Friday I found myself at St. Tiernan's Community School for our introductory session. I was expecting about 60 students and arrived to discover 70! I had a great group of young people help me set up the room in 3 concentric circles and spread out the instruments. I had students from ages 12 to 18. There was one deaf girl in the mix as well as some students with known behavioural difficulties.

I'll admit it, I had a plan and it became obvious very early on that it was not going to work. The staff were anxious to get the students seated and I figured it was probably best to do that.
I was booked for a 2 hour slot and I forgot my earplugs...this I will not do again.
I worked a lot of call & response, did a 1 beat domino around the room, played with rumbles and volume dynamics.

We stopped for a 10 minute break after an hour and I brought everyone back with a simulated rainstorm, all 70 students in a big circle around our chairs.

In the last half an hour I finally got the group into something resembling a groove. That was very satisfying.

What did I learn?

70 students is way to many. Ear plugs ARE ESSENTIAL for gymnasium gigs, embrace the chaos, and 2 hours is far too long for an intro to drum circles, 4-3-2-1 SWITCH is a life saver, most people will have no idea what percussion bits go with what, figures of authority can really kill the spontaneous creativity of a group of students and just because students aren't really following instructions, doesn't mean they aren't enjoying themselves.

I got some very positive feedback from staff, most expressing astonishment at my level of energy. The plan is for the music teachers to check in with students after mid-term break to see who is still interested. From here we're looking to get a group of a maximum of 20 to do a regular circle at the school. If funding can be secured it will take place weekly, if not, bi-weekly.

On Monday I head for Scotland and the 6 Day Intensive Facilitator Training by Arthur Hull...so excited!

Half way through a very busy week!

This week has been the busiest yet, with 8 sessions booked...yahoo!

It started with my regular slot at the Anne Sullivan Centre. One of the children came back for another session and I now realise why so many teachers say that they learn as much from their students as their students do form then! If you had no sight and no hearing, how would you explore the world? This boy uses his tongue...makes perfect sense to me!

I had a good chat with Jack, the education coordinator there and we talked about how Sound Perception sessions are under-utilized by the staff. Jack is planning to hold a seminar with staff to help train them in how to use the equipment and to educate them on the benefits.

Tuesday was my "day off", which meant I spent it working to get the new website up and running then putting together a funding proposal for the Dun Laoghaire Youth Service. If all goes well, I'll be telling you about an exciting project in the new year...but for now, you'll have to wait ;)

Yesterday afternoon I was back at NCBI where we continued work on our listening skills by having the group split into 3 rhythms, then split. Some people were "Pie", some were "bis-cuit" and some were "tir-a-ma-su". It worked so well that after awhile I invited them to switch deserts. I was really impressed at how they stuck together. One participant wanted to explore a Reggae rhythm and I was grateful for Josh, a staff member who has been sitting in. Josh started us up and we had a great session going. I could feel the music was ready for a transition, so I encouraged the group to find the heartbeat and to start changing it up. The group was able to transition smoothly and keep the groove going. We'll be doing more work on transitioning next session.

In the evening, I headed for the city centre where I did a 2 hour session with ECO Unesco. I had a group of about twenty 15-16 year old. Aside from the near constant chatter, they were a really great group to work with. Their music came together nicely and a few of them really took to the drumming. So much so I was amazed when they said they'd never done it before. I had a realisation that I really need to relax more when I'm in the circle. I discovered that while I feel I have to "teach" I'm tense, but when we had a jam session during the break, I was able to just relax into it and relate to the people there like people...not people who needed to learn something. I'm going to run a bit of an experiment to see if I can speak less during my facilitations and have a very powerful, yet simple analogy at the end of the session that leaves the participants something to think about.



Right! Off I go! We're not through this week yet!

Time flies when you're having fun

So it's occurred to me that I need to actually book in time to update the old blog. Lots of stuff happening and I keep forgetting to share it! Alright, so most recent to least...

I'm just about to head to Rehab Care for our intro / taster session...really looking forward to working with this group. It's a 5 minute drive down the road and if all goes well, could lead to more work.

This morning I was at the CRC where I am happy to report we had a great circle :) Two new participants today, one of them seems to be new to the centre...both really seemed to enjoy the session. We started off by jamming, then by show casing different instruments. I then moved to getting everyone in the group to have a go at facilitating and we finished off with a Rumble Roar. Good stuff!

Last night I got an email from one of the lovely people who come to the Sunday Circle. He explained that he and his wife really enjoy drumming and that they have some friends who are also interested. He was asking if I would be interested & available to set up a Wednesday circle. My answer naturally was OF COURSE! Hopefully we'll meet to discuss soon.

We've been invited back to the Funky Seomra. I was a bit silly and made travel plans that conflict with the night, but luckily Conor & Zsé have offered to save the day. They will be running the circle on the night...which reminds me, I should probably remind them it's a fancy dress theme in celebration of Semhaine!

NCBI went great again this week as I continued to build on the groups listening skills and understanding of how music fits together. We wound up with a funny analogy of how many beats fit in a bar...which turned into how many pints can you fit on the bar before you fall off your chair...it worked surprisingly well! I explained whole notes/ half notes/ quarter notes and we did a really fun exercise where the group split into sections some playing whole, some playing half and some playing quarter notes, then switching it up. They did really well. At the end of the session I introduced a Samba rhythm we've been working on in Sonna Samba, and they took to it quite well.

The Anne Sullivan Centre continues to teach me new things every week. This week I had 2 children come in for the first time. It was a whole different ball game. I had no idea what I was doing, but worked with what they gave me. Aparently, this was their first exposure to Sound Perception...wow! More insights from this experience to come at a later time.

The Sunday circle went well again. Thank goodness for Zsé, who offered to come and help me run the session. A big thank you as well to Michelle, who also pitched in. The crowd came fast and furious this time, and tapered off toward 3:30, so we wrapped up early.

I finally ordered some more equipment last week and expect it in by Monday. Hurah!

There, I think we're all caught up :)

This Week's Adventures...

So two of my drum circles were canceled this week, leaving me with The CRC, Kilbarrack CDP and a taster session for the Dun Laoghaire Youth Service.

On Tuesday evening I headed to Shankhill to do an intro to drum circles with a group of young people aged 13-20. I had 15 people turn up, three of whom were staff. The group was really great to work with. Arriving late, I quickly invited people to take an instrument of their choice and we went over the basics.

I had planned a few ice breaking activities with egg shakers and boom wackers, but soon realised that I didn't have enough...prompting another reminder to myself that it's time to put in another order at Thomann.

We moved on to do some call and response, and then I split the djembes into two groups, one doing a simple 4-beat rhythm, the other playing a nice counter-rhythm. From here I worked on show-casing some of the smaller percussion instruments and the group really got into it.

They seemed to be having such a great time that I invited them to come have a go at facilitating, and a few took me up on the offer. It was fascinating to watch how each one had a different style.

We continued working on listening skills at the CRC, again trying to bring the music to a more cohesive place. We did a game that I've been working on, where individuals choose a partner on the opposite side of the circle, and they do a call and response. This is then built upon by the next pair and so on until everyone is playing. I learned that for this activity, it is best to assign each person the same rhythm to play. Otherwise, the group gets confused on how to fit their rhythm in. Good learning!

I next went to the Kilbarrack CDP. I'm sad to say that a phone call earlier that day informed me that the project had chosen to pull the drumming due to current political issues...primarily that all community development projects in Dublin are fighting to maintain the funding they need to do their work. oh well, better luck next time.

This week at the park was busy, while we lucked out yet again with the weather.
Gaz & I had the intention of a slow start, taking our time and maybe even having a cup of tea...not a chance! We no sooner got the drums out of the bags then people were coming over. The most exciting part about this week's circle was that one family even brought their own instruments to share! (Thank you to Tracy's dad for the park photo!)

The Latest & Greatest

Well folks, last week went by a lot quicker than expected!

Monday saw me back at the Anne Sullivan centre. I'm continually amazed by my sessions there and by what my students teach me. Working with deaf-blind people is totally different than with my other groups. The Motto is "keep in touch"- touch is incredibly important for someone who otherwise would not know you were there. It's taken me awhile to get comfortable with this idea as it goes completely counter to the way society has been heading for the last few years. Everyone has become exceptionally conscious of touch: From teaching to coaching touch has been made nearly taboo. It's taken some time to get used to, but I am already seeing positive feedback.

On Wednesday I was back at NCBI for our second session. We had a staff member come and sit in for the first half of the class and he really seemed to enjoy it. I seemed to be missing a few people this week, and I had to round up a few of the smokers as they were lingering outside, but we got started more or less on time.

This week we worked on listening. I got the djun djun players to keep a steady beat and invited people to join in. We worked on a few simple rhythms and I did a little bit of work on playing on the beat then playing off-beats. Overall, a good session.


Thursday found me at the CRC with a small group. Many had gone away on a group trip, which made it difficult to build on our composition that we started last week. We worked more on playing together and one participant had a go at trying to facilitate the group in the process. We had one new participant this week and one long absent returnee, which was really nice to see. We went around the circle taking turns facilitating and overall it was a good session.

From the CRC I headed to Kilbarrack CDP. I was hoping after our first session, (where 3 people turned up), that word would have gotten around and we would have a few more. That was optimistic. This week there was no one!
I learned that the sessions were booked during lunch hour and were completely voluntary. With 5 sessions to go, I'm not sure where we will be going from here...

I received a phone call from Mary at St. Tiernan's Community School. She was looking to hold 2 intro sessions with a view to establishing a weekly circle for the students at the school. We'll be having a meeting soon with the music teachers to discuss details.

Finally, the Sunday Circle!
The Sunday circle wasn't as busy this week as last, but that is not to say that we didn't have fun! There was definitely still a good crowd of folks there and it was great to see more adults getting involved. We even had a junior facilitator come play :)
Had a chat with Adam, the man in charge of the market. He had some concerns over the gratitude bucket, but we talked it through and came to an arrangement. I explained to him that I would like to develop a more formal relationship with the county council. He shared that he and the other people responsible for the market have really enjoyed having us there. I'm hoping that we'll be able to open a dialogue and come to an arrangement that works for everyone...especially since I'm hoping to get permission to put up a tent for when the weather becomes less cooperative.