Any Drop in Drum Circle Suggestions ?

[Galit G.]

Hi,

Any engaging ideas for a drop in drum circle for adults? I’ve never facilitated a drop in one

It’s and outdoor fundraiser and people will be heading  between in and out of all sorts art activities. The event will be held for 3 hours. I’m also thinking having a drum circle for whole 3 hours might b too long for me so I’d like to purpose a 40min session twice during this 3 hours. 

All suggestions are greatly appreciated

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Galit Shezifi
MSW, Expressive Arts Therapist
HealthRHYTHMS drum circle facilitator 
760 215 3386
galits...@gmail.com
www.galitgigi.com

[Arthur Hull]

Hello Galit,

What you are talking about is what I call “Transient Drum Circles". You will be dancing on the edge of chaos for most of your facilitation time in the circle.

With all the distracting elements and other choices that surround your event, people will be coming and going constantly.

One of the many challenges of doing a transient drum circle is the need to integrate the newcomers into the circle while accommodating the other players whom are fully engaged in the group groove, (And are possibly doing interactive music making with other integrated players).

In Village Music Circles terminology, as people come and go, you would be doing what we call the basic “Drum Call” over and over again.

Drum Call is the beginning of most successful adult or family friendly rhythm events.

1, Teach the facilitators body language through experiential activities. Call to groove - Volume down - Stop cut etc. (We call it teaching without teaching) 

2, Then you use your facilitators body language to direct the players attention to the basic elements that make the music. Such as, but not limited too: Showcasing low drums, percussion timber etc, and drawing their attention to the other side of the circle with half group sculpts.

3, And finally, once they start collaborating with each other, (rather than just following you), and begin to make their own interactive music together, {Facilitating Self Facilitation}, rather than just playing joyful noise, you can begin to facilitate their playing towards hight levels of musicality.

That is the basic platform to get a successfully solid one hour drum circle started.

The only problum is that during the 10 to 15 minutes that you have taken to help the players move from Individual Consensus to Group Consensus to Ensemble Consciousness, - some people have already left the circle and have been replaced by new participants whom have entered with Individual Consciousness, while other players have achieved Group Consensus, and the people who have been playing the longest in the circle are at Ensemble Consciousness.

Which means that you have to start Drum Call all over again to accommodate the newbie, and over again and over again - add infinitum.

And that’s the beauty and horror of facilitating a Transient Drum Circle.

Although it will get easier as more of people that you attract into the drum circle stay and play, it will always be a challenge on many levels.

Facilitating a transient drum circle is both a never ending nightmare and one of your greatest teachers. You know the level of the magic is that you could guide them too, IF they would just sit down long enough and play with each other.

And then when the rhythmical magic magically appears on its own, it will most likely dissipate quickly as one of the key players in that particular "Drum Song” gets up and leaves, being replaced by a newbie player who is just settling in.

Transient Drum Circles are the reason that I no longer have any hair, and yet in their un-predictable-ness you will find moments of rhythmical bliss.

Although I love to hate transient drum circles and hate to love them, they have been my greatest experiential teacher in my long career as a DCFacilitator and one the foundational elements that has mede me the, (Sometimes), masterfull facilitator that I am today. 

The biggest learning that I have received from facilitating many a festival transient drum circle is, ‘Embrace The Chaos”.

On a more technical note;

Parameter!

Setting up a simple Parameter with stakes and rope to make a circle barrier with a single entrance into your circle will give you some crowd and equipment control. 

Having a container/box at your entrance/exit for players to pick up hand percussion as they enter, - or leave hand percussion as they depart, will help facilitate you not having to look under chairs and walkways for equipment left on the ground. The drums usually stay where you put them.

Shills!

It would help you if you had at least two “Shills” or volunteers.

- One person would be your base player in the center row holding the foundation rhythm together through all the never ending changes in the music.

- The second volunteer would be you “Greeter” at you entrance handing out and retrieving loose instruments left by you trenchant players.

That way, instrument retrieval will be one of the “Radars” that you can turn off, thus giving more power to your facilitator radar.. and in a transient drum circle, the more power the better. 

- Also, for a 3 hour drum circle, they can switch jobs one or twice.

Facilitainment!

Although Im not big on making the event more about you than the players, there is an element of entertainment that you would use in any drum circle as a way of establishing a trusting relationship and rapport with you DCPlayers.

In an distractive out door party/festival like atmosphere, a little extra character enhancement in your interactions with you players helps project you spirit into the space.

Critique Technique! 

There are a thousand more learnings that you will receive while doing your first “Drop In” circle. To catch most of them, I would suggest that you bring a camera to the event that can record. Put it on a tripod and am it with wide angle focus on the whole circle. Turn it on and forget it while you do your magic.

Remember to take it home and review it three different times for each intervention;

1, Objective Witness - What Happened? - No Judgment.  You will learn Much Much more by being a witness than by being a judge.

2, Circle Witness - What Needs Work? The players will tell you by their reactions) (Dont ask “What Didn’t Work? - wrong learning filter)

3, Personal Witness - Self improvement - What did I learn - What would I do differently next time to be mor successful.

Use this Critique Technique learning method and you will save yourself a year or two of trial and errors.

Good luck and make all the mistakes that you can.. They are our best teachers.. Uncle Arthur {]]’;-)

 

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Share your Spirit   Arthur

arth...@drumcircle.com

[Galit G.]

Thanks so much for taking the time to write down and share all these wonderful ideas. 

[Mary Tolena]

Hi Galit,

In addition to everything Arthur said, your instinct to designate specific shorter drum circle segments is a good one.  

A long, continuous transitory drum circle is exhausting to the point of impossible, imo.  

When people know there is a start and end time, they will be more likely to show up at the beginning, and stay to the end (or at least longer).  Create a sign that lists the times.  

If you designate specific 40 or 50 minute circles, you can (more or less) run each session according to Arthur’s Anatomy of a Drum Circle with a beginning, middle, and end.  Arthur described that process in his reply.  It will be sloppier than a non-transitory circle because some people will come and go, but the overall group and musical development will hold together much better than if the time is undefined. 

We ran circles all day for 3 days at the Seattle Folklife Festival Rhythm Tent: 50 minutes starting on the hour, then a 10 minute break.  That let us reset the circle, change facilitators and/or program theme, and gave the nearby vendors and fair-goers — and us! — a sonic break.  

Good luck! 

— Mary 

On Oct 21, 2021, at 9:24 AM, Galit G. <galits...@gmail.com> wrote:

[Jim Greiner]

Great thread, Galit, Arthur, Mary & Everyone!

In addition to all of the wonderful comments, insights and suggestions already expressed, I have one more:  Have a very visible sign stating the starting and ending times of each small session. This gives clarity of intention and helps people know exactly what is happening... and when. I have a large clock-type sign that shows the "Our Next Rhythm Session", as well as a list of each session and their starting and ending times.

Here's a three-minute video of this type of rhythm activity I did at a college in 2008:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=BR-10Gj2rB0

Best to you all,

Jim

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On Fri, Oct 22, 2021 at 11:18 AM Arthur Hull <arth...@drumcircle.com> wrote:

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[Fern Filner]

thanks to all of you for your expert advice to Galit; and all of us who care, and got to review all you said as well.

While the door to many of my circles have been open, I have been drumming mostly with drummers who stayed from start to end; and often know many international rhythms; lucky me; for those who wander in, It is best if they get settled, then listen up, and perhaps, even wait for the next groove.. I must say, I have found people who are attracted to drum circles to be very polite generally.

Happy Hallows day to you all, and if you are near San Mateo Ca, on Wed. Nov 3, at 6pm, Stop by Central Park, , in the sheltered area near the gardens; and DRUM with me.

yours in rhythm, Ferndrummingbird

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/drumcircle-facilitators/CABqypuwq9iO4yPBsRrcH9xyknZU%3D7Q7CC2ycT0GPktwXzBHTuQ%40mail.gmail.com.