I am celebrating my second weekly blog of 2008 - so far so good.
Last night found me going for the first time to what will likely be my regular Friday night gig - African drumming. A local man hosts the drumming circle every Friday, and a couple of people I know have gone and liked it - so what the heck, last night I gave it a try. We meet in the Temperance hall - the one that Jean and Carla wrote about as the pink building, "a gathering place for meetings and plays and watching tourists pass by." You enter the building to find a circle of folding chairs set up (last night for about twenty drums) each with a drum in front of it.
The drums are about 2.5" tall with a drum head of about 12"-14". The travel across town from their owner's apartment (whose name I have to catch on my next visit) in these fairly elaborate bags that keep their heads warm on cold nights and give the carrier a strap to hang on to. Many of the participants carry them back on our way to the pub when we finish the 2 and a half hour session.
A little web research this morning told me that the drums we use are Dejemba:
Djembe has a vast sound range and is very responsive. Although on the surface it appears to be played with just three conventional strokes, by slight changes in positioning, pressure and accentuation of each stroke, slightly different sound can be created. Add touch notes(or grace notes, These are the non existing notes which can be represented by gentle touch on the drum, useful for keeping the timing) and you can create a colorful vibrant tapestry of sound.
my experience is that base notes are played with the flat of your hand in the middle of the drum and higher notes are played at the edges. Both require some pressure on the hand (rings removed to save the drum head). Very quickly fingers tingle if not ache, but this sensation too is lost as the head warms up, the drumming becomes intensified with many of us playing two or three different rhythms that weave and dance over the course of a session. Not that I could follow the complex rhythms very well, but I know this will come with time and experience.At the pub afterward, I valued the diversity of people that come to Kinsale - many of the most interesting are drawn here by the Future Education College. Several in the drumming circle are in that group - many learning permaculture - or the art and science of sustainable living. The most distressing potential (as we talked about climate change) is that if the polar ice completely collapses, so does the gulf stream. This would create a climate in Ireland much like Norway (BRRRRRRR). Not that this is likely to happen in my lifetime, but something to research more in the future.
Other than this, it has been a great week back at work. Unexpectedly an old work acquaintance looked me up to help mentor one of his students in action research. It has spurred my interest in finding part time work with helping teachers and organizational development folks in these projects.
Got to go now - Shadow doesn't seem to be very perky this am and we are giving her lots of attention.
All the best,
Alana
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