Watching the movie "The Visitor," I wondered if writer-director Tom McCarthy had stolen a scene from my life.
"The Visitor" tells the story of college professor Walter Vale (played by Richard Jenkins). A lonely, middle-aged widower, Walter has given up learning to play piano. But Tarek, a gregarious Syrian immigrant, introduces Walter to a djembe<cm cq RdeY> -- a type of African hand drum.
When my fiancee gifted me a djembe six years ago, my reaction was much like Walter's -- I approached the beast timidly, as if the animal skin that covered the hollowed-out tree trunk might bite my hand off.
Since then, I've attended dozens and dozens of drum circles, with 40 to 60 fellow drummers pounding away in a joyous, ritualistic frenzy.
"The Visitor" tells the story of college professor Walter Vale (played by Richard Jenkins). A lonely, middle-aged widower, Walter has given up learning to play piano. But Tarek, a gregarious Syrian immigrant, introduces Walter to a djembe<cm cq RdeY> -- a type of African hand drum.
When my fiancee gifted me a djembe six years ago, my reaction was much like Walter's -- I approached the beast timidly, as if the animal skin that covered the hollowed-out tree trunk might bite my hand off.
Since then, I've attended dozens and dozens of drum circles, with 40 to 60 fellow drummers pounding away in a joyous, ritualistic frenzy.
I still love playing my red pawnshop guitar -- the one I've been
strumming for 32 years. But I swear the ol' gal gets a little jealous
each time I pick up my djembe. If the gods got cruel and made me choose
between guitar or drum ....
Play the Beatles' "Get Back" on guitar, and you're conjuring the spirit of those contemporary shamans Lennon and McCartney.
Thump an animal skin covering a hollowed log, and you're using archaic technology that hasn't changed much in 10 millennia. You're channeling Og and Mog and all those ancient caveman shamans who first crafted and banged skin-covered drums between 8000 B.C. and 7000 B.C., around the time our ancestors figured out the farming thing.
"One of the few fundamental things we know about our universe is that everything in it is vibrating, is in motion, has a rhythm," Mickey Hart writes in his book "Planet Drum."
"Drums are ... tools for exploring rhythm, one of the deepest mysteries of the universe."
Hart's explorations of rhythm took him from drumming with the Grateful Dead to traversing the planet to collect -- and play -- hundreds of drums from dozens of cultures. Hart's drumming albums from the 1990s, such as "Supralingua" and the companion to the "Planet Drum" book, were reissued on CD last year.
"Science has taught us that we live in a rhythmscape," Hart writes. "Every atom, every planet, every star is vibrating in a complex dance. We live on Planet Drum. And human beings, as multidimensional rhythm machines, are embedded in this universe of rhythm. As a species we love to play with rhythm because it seems to connect us to something fundamental in the nature of reality."
You don't have to be a Mickey Hart to connect to the spirit of the drum. Just ask area resident Karl Miranda, founder of Drum4wellness. Part of Miranda's mission, as a facilitator of monthly local drum circles, is to introduce newbies to drumming. Learn more at drum4wellness.org.
Three8six.com and Drum4wellness are hosting a drum circle from 7 to 10:30 p.m. today April 3 at North Beach Community Park, New Smyrna Beach. Take Peninsula Avenue north then right on Sapphire Road. The beachfront park is at the end of the road. The circle will be on the beach.
It's free, for adults only, and Miranda will have some drums for participants to borrow.
The spirit of Og and Mog will be there, smiling as they realize we humans still live on Planet Drum.
Play the Beatles' "Get Back" on guitar, and you're conjuring the spirit of those contemporary shamans Lennon and McCartney.
Thump an animal skin covering a hollowed log, and you're using archaic technology that hasn't changed much in 10 millennia. You're channeling Og and Mog and all those ancient caveman shamans who first crafted and banged skin-covered drums between 8000 B.C. and 7000 B.C., around the time our ancestors figured out the farming thing.
"One of the few fundamental things we know about our universe is that everything in it is vibrating, is in motion, has a rhythm," Mickey Hart writes in his book "Planet Drum."
"Drums are ... tools for exploring rhythm, one of the deepest mysteries of the universe."
Hart's explorations of rhythm took him from drumming with the Grateful Dead to traversing the planet to collect -- and play -- hundreds of drums from dozens of cultures. Hart's drumming albums from the 1990s, such as "Supralingua" and the companion to the "Planet Drum" book, were reissued on CD last year.
"Science has taught us that we live in a rhythmscape," Hart writes. "Every atom, every planet, every star is vibrating in a complex dance. We live on Planet Drum. And human beings, as multidimensional rhythm machines, are embedded in this universe of rhythm. As a species we love to play with rhythm because it seems to connect us to something fundamental in the nature of reality."
You don't have to be a Mickey Hart to connect to the spirit of the drum. Just ask area resident Karl Miranda, founder of Drum4wellness. Part of Miranda's mission, as a facilitator of monthly local drum circles, is to introduce newbies to drumming. Learn more at drum4wellness.org.
Three8six.com and Drum4wellness are hosting a drum circle from 7 to 10:30 p.m. today April 3 at North Beach Community Park, New Smyrna Beach. Take Peninsula Avenue north then right on Sapphire Road. The beachfront park is at the end of the road. The circle will be on the beach.
It's free, for adults only, and Miranda will have some drums for participants to borrow.
The spirit of Og and Mog will be there, smiling as they realize we humans still live on Planet Drum.
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