Huffington – Unplugging from the daily rigors of life and recharging with music may be one of the most beneficial things to do for your body. Recent studies have shown that music may have a beneficial effect on your body’s immunity and overall health. This then gives your body a better chance to fight off disease and protect itself against the attacks of many illnesses. Below are some of the ways in which unplugging from stress and recharging with music may improve your life. But the ways in which music impacts your health may surprise you.
Full article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/srinivasan-pillay/music-health-7-ways-in-wh_b_570038.html
BBC – Moving in time to a steady beat is closely linked to better language skills, a study suggests. People who performed better on rhythmic tests also showed enhanced neural responses to speech sounds. The researchers suggest that practising music could improve other skills, particularly reading.
Full article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24124158
From BBC
Moving in time to a steady beat is closely linked to better language skills, a study suggests.
People who performed better on rhythmic tests also showed enhanced neural responses to speech sounds.
The researchers suggest that practising music could improve other skills, particularly reading.
In the Journal of Neuroscience, the authors argue that rhythm is an integral part of language.
“We know that moving to a steady beat is a fundamental skill not only for music performance but one that has been linked to language skills,” said Nina Kraus, of the Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory at Northwestern University in Illinois.
More than 100 teenagers were asked to tap their fingers along to a beat. Their accuracy was measured by how closely their responses matched the timing of a metronome.
Next, in order to understand the biological basis of rhythmic ability, the team also measured the brainwaves of their participants with electrodes, a technique called electroencephalography. This was to observe the electrical activity in the brain in response to sound.
Those with musical training had enhanced brain responses to speech soundsUsing this biological approach, the researchers found that those who had better musical training also had enhanced neural responses to speech sounds. In poorer readers this response was diminished.
‘Neural jitter’
“It turns out that kids who are poor readers have a lot of difficulty doing this motor task and following the beat. In both speech and music, rhythm provides a temporal map with signposts to the most likely locations of meaningful input,” Prof Kraus told BBC News.
The brainwaves recorded matched the soundwaves, she said. “You can even take the recorded brainwave and play it back through your speaker and it will sound like the soundwave.
“It seems that the same ingredients that are important for reading are strengthened with musical experience. Musicians have highly consistent auditory-neural responses.
“It may be that musical training – with its emphasis on rhythmic skills – can exercise the auditory-system, leading to less neural jitter and stronger sound-to-meaning associations that are so essential for learning to read,” added Prof Kraus
John Iversen of the University of California in San Diego studies how the brain processes music. He was not involved with the research but agreed that musical training could have important impacts on the brain.
“This study adds another piece to the puzzle in the emerging story suggesting that musical-rhythmic abilities are correlated with improved performance in non-music areas, particularly language,” he said.
From Easier Teamwork
PATTERN: The Foundation of Creative Freedom
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
– Aristotle
Imagine something you’d like to do more consistently in your life — something that doesn’t take long, but uplifts your mood or energy, and makes a positive difference to the rest of your day. Perhaps it’s beginning each day with a little movement or meditation. Or maybe you want to escape from computer/chair-lock to move more often during the day. Perhaps it’s taking a head-clearing walk at lunchtime to get fresh energy and perspectives for a better afternoon.
These things are all simple, right? Our rational mind’s “cost-benefit analysis” say that these kinds of actions pay off for our health, happiness, and productivity. Yet if they were easy, a lot more of us would be flexible, fit meditators — or at least be seen upright and moving more often during the day! What can help us DO what we know is good for us?
Help from Everyday Rhythm: PATTERN
The Rhythm element of Pattern helps develop practices that anchor me in the groove of my desired life.
Pattern emerges from Pulse (rhythm’s steady foundation) and Cycle (groups of pulses moving forward in time). Pattern is made up of the notes that you actually play.
In other words, Pulse and Cycle form the structural framework of a rhythm, and Pattern is its audible manifestation.
Let’s take a basic 4-count cycle ◉ ◉ ◉ ◉
and create a pattern with words: “WA-ter-mel-on-GRAPES ● ● PEA ● ches-ba-NA ● na ●” Hear how it sounds in this 8-second clip.
Say that phrase out loud, and then play it on your lap or desk several times, like this. Let yourself get into it!
You’ve just created a rhythmic pattern that would fit into just about any drum circle song.
When the Mind Takes a Back Seat: From Challenge to Flow
The process of learning a new pattern on the drum offers a window into the formation of patterns in our lives. At first, our minds are involved, trying to “figure it out,” telling our hands what to do. This is the uncomfortable phase of trial and learning that often activates our inner critic. The antidote: Breathe and listen. Relax and try again.
As we start to get it, our hands and body take over, repeating the pattern without needing the mind to direct them. Not that the mind retires easily. It will suddenly realize it’s not in control and think, “Wait! Am I doing it right?” That’s when we usually fall out of rhythm!
Eventually, your mind learns that it can trust the hands and body to carry on with the pattern. This frees it to relaaaaaaaax, and simply notice the full experience of the moment. You sense your hands hitting the drum, the sounds you make, and the vibrations coming from others in the room.
At that point, your inner Observer can notice: What am I thinking, feeling, and wanting right now? Drumming becomes an active journey of mindfulness with that magic feeling of Flow.
Repetition Gets Results
In life, too, we adopt patterns that can perpetuate with little involvement from the mind. We call them Habits, and they are a powerful force for both accomplishment and misery in our lives.
On the positive side, thank goodness we don’t have to “figure out” each action or choice we make in daily life! How exhausted would we be if we had to consciously decide each step to get ready in the morning, drive to work, or perform the same task every day?
On the other hand, as we all know, habits can be just as strong when they’re not helpful, taking us further from our goals. Consciously shaping and cultivating habits is essential to successfully living to one’s chosen drumbeat.
Better Patterns = Better Life
Here is what Pattern and Rhythm have taught me about how to create positive habits in life:
Feel It In Your Why. Declare your commitment to the new habit by stating WHY you want to create it. Include both the result and the feeling you expect. For example, Why statements about creating a lunchtime walk habit might be:
“I’ll feel energized, and open up to new ideas and insights by getting away from my desk.” “I’ll feel better physically, and be proud I did something good for my body.”
“I’ll feel more connected to my co-workers and what goes on around here by getting out and walking around.”- Imagine It, Beginning at the End. Give your new habit a head start with imagined practice. First, envision yourself enjoying the results and feelings after completing the actions of your new habit. Next, play your mental movie from the beginning, and imagine what triggers the routine. Then watch yourself take that first action, go through the steps, and enjoy the feelings at the end!
- Set Your Cue. Create a trigger to help yourself launch the new pattern. Set a reminder alarm, for example — preferably one you have to stand up and move to turn off. This is a critical moment in forming a new habit, where the voices of inertia serve up their excuses. (“Just let me send one more quick email.”) Don’t give in! Let your cue trigger your resolve as well as your action.
- Start Small. In drumming, we often learn new patterns by starting with just the first few notes. Then we add the others, one at a time, until the cycle is complete. Starting small works in creating new habits, too — with five minutes, for instance. Beginning a new habit like stretching, meditation, or a lunchtime walk with as little as five minutes makes a HUGE difference, compared to doing none at all.
- Tend the Transitions. There is usually a “tricky spot” in a drum pattern. That’s the place you’re most likely to “lose it,” to miss a note and fall out of the pattern. The same is true in establishing a new habit in life. The tricky spots are usually in the transitions — at the start, and when you’re bridging from one stage to the next. In our lunchtime walk example, the challenge might be walking past tempting conversations on your way to the door outside. Anticipate such transitions with relaxed focus. Don’t let a stumble pull you completely off track; simply take a breath, remember your Whys, and return to your pattern.
Pattern Brings Creative Confidence
Finally, enjoy being in the process of creating your positive habit! It’s not about “getting there” or doing it perfectly. It’s about being engaged in taking consistent, small steps in your desired direction — and appreciating yourself for it!
Developing healthy, productive patterns boosts our confidence, and builds a foundation of freedom for creativity, exploration, and improvisation into new areas in life.
That’s what happens in a good jazz band, jam band, or drum circle. The players sink (and sync) into their patterns, which form a solid platform for something new and different to emerge on top — a burst of solo play, a new melody, a deliciously interweaving duet. Sweet!
Positive Patterns set the stage where Creativity can dance.
From Easier Teamwork
CYCLE: The Turning Wheel of Time
We began this blog series with Pulse, the foundation of Rhythm — and Life. But Pulse by itself — a repeating beat ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ● without any variation — gets boring pretty quick.
Pulse alone implies a steady state, a constancy. That makes it is important as our grounding anchor, the thing we can return to when we need to release the swirl of life’s details, and rediscover our center.
But Life moves forward. And so does Rhythm, with the introduction of Cycle.
Here is a representation of a 4-beat cycle:
◉ ● ● ● ◉ ● ● ● ◉ ● ● ● ◉ ● ● ●
Try playing it with alternating hands, on your lap or desk. ONE-two-three-four, ONE-two-three-four. Simply placing an emphasis on every 4th beat creates a repeating cycle. This should feel very familiar — think of your favorite rock song as you play.
Now try playing this — a 3-count cycle — also with alternating hands:
◉ ● ● ◉ ● ● ◉ ● ● ◉ ● ●
ONE-two-three, ONE-two-three, RIGHT-left-right, LEFT-right-left. It feels very different, doesn’t it? A 3-beat cycle has a “rolling” sense, compared with the back-and-forth of the 4-count. Even at their simplest, different rhythmic cycles create different feelings and moods.
Life Moves Forward in Cycles
In Life, as in Rhythm, time moves forward in cycles, with each initiation carrying forward from a new point in time. From the time our ancestral DNA began, we are profoundly rooted in Nature’s cycles, in our days and nights, our seasons and our years.
Yet the constant press of modern life, especially in the workplace, can often undermine or even trample, our sense of cycle. Push, push, push. Always striving for more, better, faster.
This is a recipe for burnout. Instead, if we tune into our cycles and work with them (rather than try to ignore them), we will more easily move into richer, more productive territory.
The Easy Way To Fall Back In
When drumming in a group, we sometimes lose our place, or “fall out” of the group’s rhythm. But, like falling off of a playground merry-go-round, the rhythm continues, and “your place” comes around again with every cycle.
When this happens, simply pause, and take a breath. Listen to the complete cycle of the music, and hear where you want to come back in. Then, when you’re ready, listen as the rhythm cycle repeats, and “jump back on” when your recognized entry point comes back around.
In Life, it is also common to “fall off” of our natural rhythmic cycles from time to time throughout our day. “I feel out of sync,” we say, or, “I just can’t get into a rhythm with this task.”
We can react with frustration, and “try harder” to “catch up” to where we thought we “should be.” But this is like falling off of the merry-go-round, and chasing your empty spot around the circle to try to jump back on. It’s exhausting, and usually futile.
Instead, use the natural power of Cycle. Pause, take a breath, notice and let go of the “gotta – gotta – gotta” chatter in your head. Allow your own energy and attention to realign within yourself.
Then imagine watching your task as that merry-go-round, with your “empty spot” coming around every revolution. When you’re ready, “jump on” at your entry point with refocused attention on the task. Perhaps even enjoy the ride!
Let Cycle Bring You More Daily Ease
You can use the Rhythm Tool of Cycle to bring more ease and flow into your daily life. Here are a couple powerful ways:
Notice and ride your daily energy cycle. What time(s) of the day do you feel most alert? Most creative? Most physically energized? Where can you adjust your activities and work to align with your natural energy cycle? For example, if your most creative or high-focus time is late morning, protect it by minimizing meetings and interruptions during that time.
Create short work cycles within your day to “pump” your productivity. Here’s how:
- Choose the task you want to work on.
- Get clear and specific about exactly what the very next action step is.
- Set a timer for a finite amount of time of concentrated focus. Fifty minutes is a good maximum, especially if you’re sitting. If you’ve been fighting procrastination with this task, start with twenty minutes, or even ten. You can work on anything for just 10 minutes, right? That will feel MUCH better than putting it off, and you’ll often find it easy to keep going once you start.
- Breathe! As you start the timer, take a deep, refreshing breath, and wiggle your toes to reconnect your mind and body. Reaffirm your commitment to focus on ONLY THIS TASK for this next time period.
- Move. When the timer ends, say “Yay!” for your progress, and envision your specific next action steps. Then stand up and move around a little. If you are in a good flow, return to your work and keep going. Or, treat yourself to a short walk to get a drink of water, or spend a few minutes outside.
By creating these kinds of intentional work cycles through the day, you are harnessing your own natural momentum to work for you. It’s like giving the merry-go-round a push from one spot every revolution, versus pushing by running along side of it all the way around. Which makes more sense?
Cycles are powerful influences in our lives — forces to tune into and appreciate. They give us a sense of renewal, of starting fresh, of having another chance to change, or reach higher this time around.
Life’s Rhythmic Cycles Nourish Hope!
From Easier Teamwork
PULSE: The Foundation
What was the first sound you ever heard? If you guessed your mother’s heartbeat, you’re right.
We came into this world on a lifeline of Pulse, and it has been there for us ever since.
Yet in our complicated daily lives, juggling work demands, family needs, and personal aspirations, we can easily disconnect from the comforting, grounding expression of Life represented by PULSE.
It all starts with Pulse
Pulse is the most basic unit of Rhythm — the steady beat. Pulse is the oscillation of opposites: a note and a space, a sound and a rest, the yin and the yang.
Beyond Rhythm, Pulse is essential to Life itself, which depends on beating flow, moving in and out. The squeezing and releasing of our heart. The expanding and relaxing of our breath.
Pulse and Breath are our grounding, our biological rhythm track. Together, Pulse and Breath declare, “I Am Here,” as a living, breathing, ALIVE creature.
We need the rhythm of in-out, up-down, push-relax for our lives to be in balance. Yet when our work, family needs, and general busy-ness push us to be “ON” most of the time, we can easily get disconnected from our basic sense of inner rhythm — and the energy support that it can give us.
As wise people have said for centuries, you find It by simply noticing. Go ahead, do it now: Feel your pulsing breath and heartbeat. Come back to the moment, This Moment, This Now.
Most importantly, feel the shift in the quality of your attention, and your inner physical experience as you focus on the pulsing sensations. With each “relax” side of the cycle, allow the mosquito-whine of your “Constant On” energy to slowly drain away.
When your mind is quieted, and grounded with a slow-tempo pulse, space opens up for new thoughts, insights, and possibilities. Keep noticing: your thoughts, feelings, sensations, and wants.
None of this is new, of course. It’s the ancient wisdom of meditation practice, whose benefits are confirmed by science every day. Spending even a few minutes a day in this kind of centered, aware state make a big difference in our lives, compared to never experiencing it. Let your breath and heartbeat take you there!
Everyday Pulse
Pulse supports us outside of meditation, too. Let’s look at some ways to call on Pulse to help at work and in life.
Choose Your Tempo
Do you choose the tempo of your inner rhythm, or do your circumstances drive it?
Our tempo varies throughout the day depending on what we’re doing, reflected both physically in our breath and heartbeat, and energetically in the quality of our attention. We are easily revved up by external circumstances, and we like the stimulation and challenge of upping our tempo to play a bigger game.
But it’s important to maintain our awareness about how we’re doing at such a fast pace, and keep our sense of choice about when to throttle back.
In a drum circle, when the tempo picks up, you may find a point where playing faster becomes too difficult without your playing turning to mush. No problem! You CAN play at the higher tempo, just with fewer notes. If you simplify your pattern by dropping a few notes, you can get right back into the fast-rocking groove.
What are some “extra notes” in your life that could be dropped? What activities, dramas, and distractions steal your time and attention, but leave you feeling drained and with no sense of gain? Regularly pruning of what is sapping your energy will let you reach a deeper groove with what’s most important in your life.
Pulse and Tempo at Work
When a group plays music together, everyone’s first duty is to unify around a common pulse — to hear it, feel it, and play in time with it as the heartbeat of the music.
What is the pulse of your work place? Is it deep and steady, or scattered and erratic? Are people tuned in and aligned with it, or marching to their own beat?
What helps your team’s pulse get steady and grounded? What throws it off?
Tune into Pulse for Easier Teamwork
Here are some ways to use the qualities of Pulse to foster a more pleasant and productive atmosphere at work:
- Tune in to your own Pulse and Breath. It’s way too easy to spend hours in our heads, or immersed in an on-screen world. Our bodies hate that. So build the habit of regularly returning your noticing your breathing, and feel the grounding sensation of your own steady pulse. Set a reminder timer — it works! Pay attention to your cycles of energy, and take deep conscious breaths through the day.
- Breathe — visibly — especially in meetings, so that others are reminded to breathe, too. Notice that “holding our breath” quality that is so common in meetings. It’s true — that’s what’s happening! Bring some fresh air to the conversation with your own deliberate deep breaths.
- Help Team Tempo adjust to the situation at hand with your own actions and demeanor. Sometimes, you need to speed up for an action response. Sometimes, you need to take a collective breath and think for a bit. Sometimes, you need to get back to a satisfying, sustainable pace. Calibrate your own tempo help the team gear up, relax, or hold steady.
- Take a walk! First, tune into your walking rhythm, and the sensation of movement. Then walk and daydream. Walk and think. Walk and talk — with colleagues, or with yourself! Feeling the physical weight-shift motion as you walk — right-left-right-left — brings your body into rhythm, and helps your mind relax into more creative brain wave frequencies. Often, what seemed stuck under intense mental effort cracks open with the help of simple movement and rhythmic flow.
From your private meditations to your most high-stakes public moments, PULSE — the most basic element of both Rhythm and Life — is there to support and affirm you. Tune into Pulse to claim:
“I am Here, I am Alive, I am Ready — Now!”
Shifting from sitting to standing can be a little daunting, but once you get comfortable with playing standing up you’ll discover a huge range of benefits.
Firstly, standing gives you the opportunity to rove and dance whilst you drum – steeping up your performance groove and interaction with the audience and your ensemble too. You can swing to the music and get out into the action with the crowd.
Secondly, it fast tracks your playing. Standing requires activation of more muscle groups through the back, arms, shoulders and legs – it’s basically a full body workout! Using all these muscle groups tones and focuses the body for playing and develops a precision in your technique faster than when sitting.
At the start it can feel a little awkward and a bit like like hard work, but with each experience it becomes easier and eventually second nature. I actually prefer the feeling and freedom of standing to play now and always enjoy the benefits from it. So, get strapping on every week and you’ll find a new strength and precision in your playing.
– Simon
Having just finished another round of dexterity classes, it feels like a good time to summarise. Learning to play from both sides of the body is liberation to the hands of a djembe player. Our hands and our technique allow us to express what we hear in our mind. But the clear conduit for our creativity is only possible when we have loads of independence in our hands and no “rhythmic gristle.”
Practising smart is the way forward and the path to freedom in our playing. Learn to flam consistently from both sides, focus on your weaknesses and break down your playing into the rudiments you find most challenging, then work on them. Massage out the gristle slowly and incrementally. There is no easy road, but smart practice is the fastest way to great technique and dexterity. Once it comes you’ll find that you can translate what you hear in your head to what you play; far fewer break down’s half way through a solo and a relaxed, uninhibited approach to your playing… Rhythmic nirvana!
For many budding djembefola, soloing in public can be the most confronting part of the musical journey… but when we tap into our creativity, learn a few helpful tips and feel relaxed, it can also be the most rewarding & exhilarating
Here’s a quick tip to help you on your way. SPACE. Think of your djembe phrasing as a language. When we talk we need to breathe and let our sentences resonate with our audience. Let your solo breathe – less is more. One of the easiest options is to say too much, too fast and too soon with your drum language… build your story from a humble but interesting place and layer your phrases gradually. Let the rest of the rhythm rumble underneath your phrasing and listen to the cycle of the dunun as it repeats itself over and over
As an exercise try playing just a few notes in a cycle and then wait for the cycle to repeat itself before playing again. This will allow the music to breath and will help you listen to & feel the cycle of the rhythm. From here you can add more and more and gradually build up the energy…. Repeating your ideas is a great way to reinforce your musical message too, but that is another whole topic (See Djembe Siolo Tip No 2)
Hope this helps Djembefola
Welcome to the tone, or tonic as they say in Francophone Afrique. Quite often the first sound we all try to make and perhaps ironically the last sound we still try to perfect. The tone is warm and round and whilst it has a different frequency to the slap it should be no less prominent. Here are some tips on how to get it…
Get your thumb away from your fingers (by 45″ or more) so that you don’t hit it on the rim. Straighten your fingers and keep your wrist straight – relaxed but firm. The primary motion comes from the elbow as well as the shoulder (especially when playing slowly). When you play slowly your forearm and wrist almost move as one. As you speed up, your wrists do more work and your forearm and upper arm action become more efficient. When you lift your forearm, lift it vertically so that you make a clean connection with your hand flat (as opposed to a chopping action)… then your sounds will be phat!
The connection point is similar to the slap (top of the hand under the fingers) but the angle of the wrist is different. The forearm, wrist and fingers are relatively flat (straight) when we play a tone ( compared to a dipped wrist for slaps). Getting definition in your tones is the key, and looking for contrast between your tones and slaps is the goal. Take it slow, don’t rush and build up your drumming muscles as you practice. Base tone slap, base tone slap
Ever wondered why it is so hard to get? Here’s a couple of quick tips for you aspiring Djembefolas. Drop the wrist lower than the edge of the drum surface – you need that extra angle to get the whipping action which is key to a singing slap. Loosen the tips of the fingers and splay them slightly, but don’t curl them up (keep them straight but relaxed). Move your arms from the shoulders and elbows. The action starts up the body, not just at the wrists. With practice, you’ll find your “best” connection point where your hand meets the drum. For most it is just below the fingers at the top of the hand. Take your time, practice slowly, work on your non dominant side extra hard and you’ll be slapping in no time!
Check out this video of Sessi Sessi – one of our student bands jamming it out…
In the month before the Festival no one is allowed to play drums, bells or shakers in respect to the gods. As I’ve come to Ghana for a drumming intensive I meet this news with much apprehension! After consultation with the village elders it is agreed that drums covered with two thick towels and filled with a pillow should provide enough sound proofing to keep the watchful Gods at rest. Over the month, my hard earned calluses retreat, the neighbourhood seems strangely quiet and I wait impatiently for the Fetish people to signal the end of the musical hiatus with their ceremonial bells and song. Finally, draped in green vine and painted chalky white, they dance trance like to polyrhythmic bells. Libation is poured and the familiar sound of the rhythm Kpele signals a return to the rich musical feast that permeates society here.
– Simon
Following a deep immersion in Bambara rhythms c/o of a one month stint in the dusty sprawls of Bamako, it was time to say goodbye to my friends Abu Kora and Jean Michael from Canada and turn south to embrace the fire of Guinea’s Malinke music. Problem was, my car wasn’t up to the strains of the epic dirt track ahead… so in true African style I decided to “Pimp my ride” and install some XL shockers in the rear. 23hrs, 9 bribes and 374km later i made it to the township of Kankan: heart of Malinke music where mangos grow the size of pineapples. The hospitality was as warm as the weather and the dununs were asymmetric and scarred from years of playing on the humid streets
– Simon
This 3 month trip took me to Les Nez de Afrique or Africa’s most Western tip – Senegal I was privileged to stay with Bouly Sonko (Director of the National Ballet) and his family. Surrounded by musicians and dancers i soaked up the nuances of their music True to the local styles i took up study in Sabaa, Tama (talking drum) and Djembe with the lead drummers from the ballet – all generous & patient teachers A musically rich and diverse hotpot of music, Dakar remains a force for the international Diaspora
Bobo is a special place – it’s one of my favourite places in all of West Africa. I’d bet it has the highest concentration of musicians of any place in the world; talent literally seems to be growing on trees! I stayed in Bobo for 3 months, living with a group of musicians in a typically vibrant “cartier”. For one auspicious ceremony right outside our front door, we invited a man from Mali to come down and share his music and magic with us. What ensued was a two day festival of high octane drum and dance mixed with fetish magic and traditional theatre. Raucous cheering and laughter lifted the theatre of the occasion to new heights on the second day as word spread throughout the town that a Malian witch doctor was here.
There were roosters, horse tail wands, spells, nails & blood… the locals couldn’t get enough of it. It was an awesome experience
– Simon
All the way back in May (2013) when one of our African containers was fresh off the docks! We get 3 – 4 containers landing from our operations in West Africa and Indonesia each year, so there’s always something new and interesting @ HQ
In Burkina Faso, the landlocked West African nation of funk, nearly all the djembefola play with cow skin as opposed to goat. And they crank their drums!
The sounds are dry but warm in tonal quality and the slaps often have that shade of metallic (though not ringy) edge too them. The balafon and dunun are never far away
