Sherry Gingras (above) leads drumming workshops throughout central Texas. I give it a thump myself (below). Photo by Phil Houseal

Details:
Sherry Gingras will teach Heart Beats, a one-day Hand Drumming Workshop on Saturday, May 13, 2006 from 9am to 5pm at the Fredericksburg Herb Farm. Call 830-456-3910, or visit www.fredericksburgherbfarm.com for details and reservations.

Gingras sells drums and percussion instrument from her shop in Austin - DRUMZ - located at 3700 1/2 Kerby Lane. Call 512-453-9090, or visit www.drumzaustin.com.

webmaster: phil@fullhouseproductions.net

Heart beats

by Phil Houseal
April 26, 2006

That pounding you'll hear from the direction of South Milam a few weeks from now is not road construction. It is the sound of people discovering the beat of their own drum.

The Fredericksburg Herb Farm will host a one-day "Heart Beats" drumming workshop on May 13, led by Sherry Gingras, an Austin-based Drum Circle facilitator who has taught drum performance for seven years.

I, as a former professional drummer, admit part of me chafes at the thought that just anyone can drum. Did I waste all those years mastering the 13 basic rudiments? How can anyone be considered a drummer if they can’t play a proper paradiddle?

But Gingras, owner of DRUMZ in Austin, insists that creating rhythm is a natural part of life, and anyone can do it. According to Gingras, drumming is not about technique, but about striking something deeper.

“People who attend my workshops come for many different reasons,” she explained. “Some come for the sheer fun. But another segment comes because they yearn to connect at a deeper level. They see drumming as a pathway to a spiritual connection.”

Drumming is the oldest form of music. Virtually every culture that has existed on earth has practiced some form of drumming. From Africa to early America, the beating of a drum has been a part of the ritual of life.

In drumming's modern permutation - the drum circle - folks gather with their djembes, doumbeks, and bougarabous. (Many women prefer the djundun, Gingras explained, because "it has a big bass sound they find liberating.")

The leader begins with a simple rhythm. Participants join in, echoing the sound or providing complementary patterns and textures.

"We try to create a supportive stetting," she said. "We play games, make simple rhythms, and laugh. People tend to lose inhibitions fast."

It is not a competition or a concert in the conventional sense. Gingras calls it a special kind of communication.

"When you communicate through music, you go to a place where there are no words," she said. "You plug in to the spiritual side...  you become one with other people."

It is her observation that modern society offers few other opportunities for this connection.

"Technology has gotten in the way. Unlike when watching TV, drumming requires listening to each other, feeling the vibrations," she said. "The end result is a beautiful and fun piece of music."

Drumming also breaks that "fourth wall" that separates performers from listeners.

"At any music concert, part of you really wants to be up there," she said. "But our system has put music in a place as a commodity: music can only be made by musicians. It isn’t seen as a part of the day-to-day fabric of the community as in other cultures."

Gingras wants to place music back into the daily lives of everyone. When it happens, she has witnessed some remarkable transformations.

"I've had students change jobs after starting to drum!" she said. "It may be coincidental. But when people connect to their internal rhythms, once they travel to the beat of their own drum, they become less dependent on external motivators. They are no longer looking outside of themselves. They discover something that wakes up in them that feels alive."

"That can change a lot of lives."

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