Can You Get Free Drum Circle Facilitating Training?

These days, not everyone can afford to spend the money for drum circle facilitation training. Some others aren’t able to leave the area they live in to travel somewhere to take a training program, intensive weekend workshop, or ect. It’s just the reality of how things are in the real world right now.

Let’s say you want to learn to facilitate drum circles for a group, or even for a living. Maybe you just want to get a community drum circle started somewhere. That’s the intent of my article. Please keep in mind, these are just my opinions based on my experiences.

Is taking classes, or training a good idea? Of course it is. Just like with most other art forms, some training is good, but the best way to learn, is to do. To get experience go out and do it. That is a viable way to go about this.

If you have some musical background, the odds are you can keep basic time, and that is the foundation of a fun drum circle in my opinion. But, let’s say you have never touched a hand drum before, and you want to learn to facilitate drum circles, or host one. If you are not a musician, start by just listening to some of your favorite music that has a strong beat. Try keeping time with both of your hands tapping on your thighs or on a table. Keep at it until you can stay on the beat. Try some different songs out and follow them along. When you are on beat, you are keeping good time.

You can do this, and be out there organizing a drum circle in a month or two. Are you going to make mistakes? Yes. Are you also going to get some things right? Yes. You will remember the things you did right, and the ones you did wrong. This helps you on the next one, and it’s how you get better and better. Like with any other craft, you have to put the work in.

So where to start right now for free? YouTube is a good place to see clips of other facilitators. How they start a rhythm, end one, do a rumble, or even a few rhythm examples, and games. Do a search on the keywords drum circle + Facilitator, or facilitating. Lots of stuff will come up. Check a few out. There are many different styles, methods, and approaches to facilitation. Learn as many as you can, and develop your own style. You don’t want to just copy somebody. It’s like a band that just plays cover tunes. You probably aren’t going very far unless you have some original material.

So what about being “certified” as a drum circle facilitator?

I have had people tell me that they are under the impression that drum circle facilitators have to be certified. Okay, doctors, dentists, lawyers, yes. I wouldn't want to use one that hadn't gone through the process of accreditation and/or licensing. But, facilitators don't have any kind of official governing body. Anyone can decide to teach, hold workshops, etc. and then give out a certificate. But, all it means is that the person spent some money on training in one style of facilitation. Like in any other field, some are better than others. Is certification necessary to facilitate drum circles? No. Does it help? Yes. Their logo looks good on your resume, and it adds some credibility to you. Most of them cost a bit also. Do you need certification by someone in order to work and earn a living? No. Many individuals and companies offer their own brand of facilitation. One isn't necessarily better than another, some are promoted more, and widely known than others.

Practically speaking, even if you are a newcomer you can buy a few books on the subject, watch a few videos, and get out there and host a drum circle just fine. But you need to be able to hold a beat. Like I mentioned, I think you learn the most by doing. Go to some drum circles in your area, participate and observe other facilitators if you get the chance. Check out my drum circle finder page, and see if there is anything going on around you within a couple of hours driving distance. It is worth the drive to attend a few and see what works, and also what doesn’t. There might be a few facilitators that you can go participate with, and observe.

Would you only want to know one style of cooking to prepare dinners? Many good books on facilitating approaches have been written. Look for used ones in places like Ebay and Amazon. There are also some good DVD’s on this also. Look in the same places for those. Forty bucks will buy you a lot of reference material, and give you a lot more understanding and insight into this art form.

I think to a certain extent, a good drum circle is an extension of the old Bluegrass days of 100 years ago. There were no cars, so people couldn't travel long distances. There was nothing to do for entertainment but get together and get out the fiddles, washboards, spoons, jugs, drums, and sing and dance and make music. For years, it was about the group ensemble, and the musicality. Any facilitating that needed to be done, was done through the music, not by someone playing conductor. That concept still works. And, it brings out the improvisational skills of the participants. The better things sound, the more fun it is for the group. Almost every culture has a rich history of group drumming, so you are about to do something that has transcended the test of time, and more importantly, brings people together.

Under most circumstances, I like to begin a drumming session by letting everyone just choose something, sit down in the circle, and start playing. This approach helps everyone to relax before the welcome, introductions, and then into some more organized rhythms. The reason I encourage everyone to play first is the nerves. The barriers just begin to melt away. After the first jam, I offer a few pointers about hand technique, and volume, so nobody gets injured, or is uncomfortable. I let people know that a support rhythm is just a starting place. You don’t need to play what I play. You can if you want, but I encourage you to improvise and experiment. Have fun! We get to be kids again, and make up our own rules. You may invent a new way to play, or a new sound from your drum, that’s what good musicians do. They find new ways to do things, not just copy others.


When suggesting a drum circle rhythm, I like to vocalize the first few measures before we play it. I think the logical analytical side of the brain can process it quicker, which then frees up the creative intuitive side. People can then play what they feel, rather than over thinking it.

Plus, I start it out very slowly, then I can gradually bring it up to the desired tempo (speed) once they are comfortable with it. I always mention that this is just a starting point, and you don't have to play this support rhythm, play whatever you feel fits.

Interestingly, I've found that most people can wrap their heads around a rhythm quicker if I vocalize out sounds with a "K" in them. ie: Heartbeat rhythm: Boom Boom chicka-chicka Boom Boom. (pause, & repeat). Or, Doum Doum, tekka-tekka Doum Doum. Or, I just "scat" them out jazz style any way I can think of. My goal is to get them out of their heads and playing as quickly as possible. Drumming uses the brain in a different pattern than the linear thought process that’s usually needed in everyday life, and even the work environment.

Playing a drum brings you to a more open mental and psychological thought process. Once you vocalize out a rhythm, the creative side of the brain is quickly freed up to improvise. And most importantly, they are not thinking about remembering, or trying to figure out what to play. Help start them out, and let it go. Boom.

Another idea is drumming to common word phrases, rhymes or well known commercial jingles, or songs to get things rolling. For example: "Yum, Yum, tastes like chic-ken" (D, D, t k t-k) or try "pep-per-oni-Piz-Za" (t-k-t-k D D) An easy way to start a Clave rhythm is to remind them of the beat in the song, “Hand Jive“.

There's a variety of different ways I like to use to notate a drum rhythm. There are 5 examples in an earlier post of mine, as well as a list of notated support rhythms from around the world to help get you going. The list is also a free download in a word doc on my website. No registering, or signing up for anything is required.

Later as the rhythms join together, everyone joins together. We join together musically. The result is there is no distinction between you or me. We just all sense the feeling of the one song we are creating in the moment. This was the tried and true approach of the elders who would begin their gatherings, and ceremonies this way. The babbling came later.

So, you have done some research, read up, watched some stuff, now what? In my opinion, you need to be a musician first. You don’t need to be a great one, just good enough to be able to start a rhythm out, and keep time. If you can’t keep time, often what ends up happening is something that sounds like a bunch of dog paddling, or a pile of rocks rolling down a hill. It’s not a very satisfying experience for everyone. Sure people will still have a good time noodling around for an hour, but if you can help guide them into some good sounding music, people will have a great time, and then they can’t wait for the next drum circle.

Some disagree with me on this, and think it creates a dependency on you. Well, guess what, sometimes that’s exactly what’s needed to get them jamming. Sometimes they are dependent on you, or the circle sounds like crap. Not always, but sometimes you need to be there to hold things steady until the group finds it’s groove. Usually after a rhythm or two, you can back off a little and let the group go with a given rhythm, but I like to participate, playing my drum all the time. I want to set the tone that I just want to jam with everyone, not be a control freak. This way, others will likely start up a rhythm, and you can go with that. This is how to create a good group dynamic.

I prefer to facilitate from the edge of the drum circle, leaving the middle open for self expression. People will get in there and dance if the groove is right, and they are feeling it. One thing I bring along is a few hula hoops, and a couple of belly dancing wraps. Hoops are 5 bucks, and belly dancing wrap skirts are fifteen. These entice people to get in the center and do their thing. The drumming elevates to a whole new level when this happens. Sometimes the dancers, or hoopdancers will drive a rhythm a bit longer than you had planned, but I never stop a good groove from going on. You can sense when it’s over, or, they leave the center. That’s your cue to “wrap” it up, and start another one.

I approach a drum circle like a band set. 45 minutes to an hour long. Sometimes two 45 minute sessions with a “let’s take 5” brake in between. I bring along a “set list” just like most bands have. Usually it gets changed, or goes right out the window, but you are prepared to introduce rhythms for an hour if you need to. I like to vary the rhythms a little. Some up tempo, some slower and grooving, some even meditative. Sometimes it’s a jam out, but I like to end things that way. Always leave them wanting more. When the hour is up I say, “Okay time’s up, thanks everyone…wait a minute…should we do one more?” Everyone will say yes, so do one more and make em’ happy.

I like to play different rhythms from different cultures. The variety makes it more fun. Play some Latin, African, Bellydancing, Funky, Hip Hop, Soul, whatever feels right. An hour is usually enough time for 7 or 8 rhythms. So you don’t need to have a huge list, but you don’t want to play the same things next circle either. It makes sense to have a good body of reference rhythms to draw from, so you can put together a good set list each week, or each month. At least vary the tempos if you don’t want to try cultural rhythms.

I offer a 2 hour DVD of djembe drum rhythms called 101 Drum Circle Rhythms. It is ideally suited for this purpose. It’s $15 and includes a drum circle jam CD. I priced it low so it is affordable to everyone. I also have a long list of notated drum circle rhythms in a word doc. format. You can download it free on my website drum circles.net There are also drum circle mp3’s to check out, and lots more. This will also give you a visual aid to help you learn rhythms, and to keep time. With that, and a little experience, you can be out there rockin’ in no time.

You’re going to need a fairly decent drum to play. Somewhere in the $100 - $200 range is good enough to get you started. If you do end up not liking this, the good news is that most drums have a pretty decent resale value. But I do hope you don’t go there. If you need some advice on what kind of drum to get, read a few of my prior blog posts about choosing a first djembe drum. You need something durable that will allow you to play louder than the group if you need to. Sometimes it’s necessary, but most of the time if you feel a rhythm heading for a train wreck, let it go. Laugh it off and move on. It sets the tone that you aren’t a control freak, and willing to take risks with everyone else.

Another thing you will need to slowly invest a few bucks in is a few drums for other people to play. A dozen or so, and some smaller percussion instruments to fill it out, is enough to get you started. 30 body drums is a good target number. I suggest getting aluminum doumbeks (that have synthetic heads), rather than wood shell djembe drums with goatskin heads. They are much less expensive, yet still pack a decent punch musically. Djembe heads break easily, and the drums are heavier. I can get 30 doumbeks in my Yugo, no problem. And still have room for a couple of plastic bins full of tambourines, frog rasps, maracas, shakers, etc.

The doumbeks are easier to move, transport, carry, and people enjoy playing them. Plus they take up less space, and are more durable. They are lug tuned with an allen wrench, and you can change a $10 head yourself if it breaks. (Which isn’t easy to do with a rope tuned djembe). With a kit of djembes, if one kid whacks it with a stick, it’s pop, bye bye 60 bucks. Bongos are very durable, small, and inexpensive also. You need some variety, and frame drums played with a mallet are good to have, because some people have physical limitations and can only play with one hand. The idea of a good drum circle is including everyone.

I bought most of my drums second hand, one at a time, in places like Craig’s, and Ebay. Many were $35 - $50 each. You can round out your kit with some frame drums, or sound shapes. Not everyone wants to, or can, play a body drum, so having a few choices is a good idea. Frame drums are as low as $20. Last time I bought a pack of soundshapes they were in the $80 range for 6. (new) They store flat easily, and people like playing them.

Okay so you are ready to start up a drum circle, or get out there and try your chops at facilitating one. Unless you are in it for the love of it, you might need to do it for next to nothing for awhile, or even for nothing, but that’s a good place to start and get that valuable experience.

You can start one in a café, new age shop, park, community center, art center, or even at the beach. A regular meeting drum circle gives you an important thing, a home base to operate from, and a place to build up a community, as well as get leads for future work.

Around the country right now many places like night clubs, bars, and coffee shops are struggling to find working formulas for weeknights. I’ve started them at a micro brewery, even a comedy club. Both of those went very well, despite the serving of alcoholic beverages. Fortunately most people that know each other at a local drum circle see each other a lot, so they don’t want to get too hammered and make a fool out of themselves. But drum circles at places that serve alcohol, that’s an important factor to consider. Wherever you do it, having a drum circle night quickly builds up a community around it with a loyal following that grows very quickly. You are also bringing lots of people together, and these days, it’s needed more than ever.

The cost to do this is minimal, I've been doing it successfully for years at various venues. All that’s needed is you the facilitator, or organizer to help keep things running smoothly, and promote the drum circle. If you do this at a business establishment, keep in mind that it isn't the drummers, musicians, or dancers that do the majority of buying their products. They will help support the venue and buy one or two, but it's the onlookers that are attracted, who will be doing most of that. They are after all a business and in business to make money. A following will grow very quickly if people have a good time. That’s your job, and it takes some time to hone your skills. Each time you will get better at it.

Try it on a trial basis for a few weeks, and when it takes off, ask for a small percentage of sales to cover your costs, damage, etc. You will be dealing with a lot of different personalities, so issues and problems will arise from time to time. You may need to make some tough calls on the spot. Some may be wrong, but you will learn from them as they occur. For the most part, things seem to run smoothly.

The reason for a home base, is that eventually better paying jobs will come to you. After the circle is established, people will want you for birthday parties, city events and festivals, gatherings, schools, even weddings and churches. So start putting together press materials as soon as possible, photos, videos, newspaper articles they write about your drum circle, and get some good looking business cards made, to leave out prominently on a table by the door. I’ve been very pleased with Vista Print.

Try to get the website, and social networking thing happening as quickly as you can. It is very effective in getting things rolling. If you want to get more in depth with all of this, please consider picking up my book. It is 300 pages of scintillating drum circle information for eighteen bucks. I include a facilitated drum circle CD along with it free. If you do choose to purchase my book or DVD, thanks in advance for helping out. I really do appreciate it.

Drum some, and have fun. I am here if you need to ask a question, or need an opinion on something drumming related.

Check out my website: drumcircles.net & my blog: drumcircleworld.blogspot.com/for lots more resources and ideas.

Shannon Ratigan

Copyright © Shannon Ratigan All Rights Reserved.

Publicizing & Promoting Your Drum Circle – Getting The Word Out

Back in the day before the day without the internet, it was harder to do. I still have my vinyl LP records too. But now, there’s numerous free ways to get the word out about your drum circle. Years ago, it was pretty much just spreading it by word of mouth, posting flyers around, and that was about all I could do. But in reality, word of mouth is still how most drum circles take off and become a really happening scene.

If people had a great time at your drum circle last night, they go to work the next day, and tell their friends and co-workers how much fun they had last night, and word gets spread around very fast. So, just try to make sure it is a positive, fun scene, and it will create lots of talk in your community. In a matter of months the circle will be kickin’ and people will seek it out.

There are some other things you can try, you just have to find the time to do be able to do the work to get the word out there about your circle. Here are a few ideas I’ve tried that have worked pretty well, since the electronic age has taken off. Now, it’s a cinch, if you have the time. And you need to stay on top of the emerging technical breakthroughs that could help you promote things even more effectively. New ways to promote events for free are popping up all the time.

One thing I did that helped, was send a very short press release to all the local papers. Especially the smaller ones, like the weekly free ones you tend see all over the place. They are mostly music, local event, and entertainment oriented, so most are actually eager to post your drum circle event listing for you for free. The big papers also, at least some of them, will print notices for free. Don’t forget the tiny free ones that show up in your yard either.

Most newspapers have a place on the front inside page to send an email, fax, or letter to. Try to contact an editorial person. Try Public TV – Public Access TV – And the college and Public FM Radio stations also. See if they will possibly come by, and run a story on the circle, or at least see if they let you promote a local event, on their site. Most of them will. Drum circles are not just some hippie fad anymore, and they know it.

A very good idea is to make some flyers up to hand out to your friends to give out for you. Try to post them in local music stores, (Say you will send them new customers, because you will.) Look for good old fashioned bulletin boards and put up a flyer there. It’s easy to create a nice looking flyer these days yourself, or at a copy store. Put them in stores, drycleaners, condos, apartments, churches, at work, etc. are all great places to spread the word out about your drum circle. Try other institutions, anything you can think of. Visit any local drum circles, music stores, music teachers, concerts, or any music related events, and give out flyers at a break, or at the end. Approach Tai-Chi and Yoga studios and see if they might like to attend, perform, or at least let you leave some flyers there.

Try to get a few five minute video clips from your drum circle, to post out on the video sharing sites, like YouTube, and there are a bunch more video sharing sites out there now. If you have a video clip, or two, that’s a great way to promote your circle. Keep the excitement going in your community with some good sounding video. Now you can put them on places like GoogleBuzz, FaceBook, MySpace, etc Make sure they sound good, and that people are smiling.

Some try to get email lists of drummers to contact them later to promote circles. My experience is that most people come there to have fun, and drum, not to be asked to sign up on some email list. It’s a bit less intrusive if you can give them a card, or flyer that has your email on it, so they can contact you instead. That way, you aren’t putting people on the spot to give out an email address. This is the method I used, and it worked just fine.

You can post notices for events on drumming newsgroups like Yahoo, Usenet, and Google. And all the other social networking websites like MySpace, FaceBook, MeetUp, Ning, Twitter, and any other social meeting boards you’re on. Or take the initiative and start one up. New sites are constantly popping up all the time. Try to stay up on the ones that seem promising. Join them, and set up a profile. Easy free networking if you have the time. They come and go. Look for local event websites in your area. Most news channels have one. They are always happy to have new content.

You just need to find the time to create a profile for each social site, and that can be pretty time consuming. But once it’s set up and running with one, you can just plug the new information in to the other ones. You can post photos from your drum circle on places like Picasso and Flickr. Do things like putting up the videos I talked about, create a drum circle blog, and do event postings. Try to put some new information out there each few weeks if you can to keep them fresh and interesting. Once you get this publicity “machine” going, it gets a lot easier to maintain, and rolls bigger and bigger like a snowball rolling down a hill. There are dozens of these sites out there now. It just takes some time to set up profiles on all these things.

Once you do, you need to add friends as fast as possible. Just do a search on the key words, drum circle, drummer, belly dancer, fire spinner, or Djembe, etc. and you will find lots of like minded people to send friend invites to. You can build it up quickly if you sit down once a week and do it. Mention your social websites on your flyers that you give out also, so they can find you.

Also try lists like CraigsList, other local event, and online musician’s lists, where you can bulletin your events. There are loads of musician boards and groups out there. You should want to attract local musicians and artists, so you have a strong core group.Many of these social sites have specific drumming, or drum circle groups you can join, and then can post an event on. With some, you can post the event, and then bulletin it out to your friends. You just have to have time, and the willingness to do all the work behind the scenes. It can be a bit tedious, but it’s the way to create a buzz about your drum circle in the area. Create your own group for it if you need to.

About 6 years ago with this one circle, after a couple of weeks, I started this drum circle blog up, describing the happenings of the evening each week. It worked better than I thought it would. It helps to promote it just a little bit more, and you can add it to the social networking sites. The search engines do pick blog entries up sometimes.

I made up these colorful flyers, a money saver is to print them yourself. I put two 5 x 7” ones on each page and cut them in half. Then I went out and asked the local music stores if I could leave stacks of them there for people that might be buying a new drum. I spoke to the managers about it first, and explained to them if they would let me leave them there, I would recommend them to drum circle participants who might want to buy a new drum. After all, it’s better to try one out in person rather than buy a drum blindly online. Plus you are helping to support the businesses in your local community. So they sent me drummers, I sent them customers. That was a huge help. You want the younger crowd there, to create a real happening scene for everyone, and to help spread the word. We had like 5 generations of people all together having fun drumming and dancing. Be sure to have a few stacks of your flyers at your drum circle, and ask people to hand a few of them out to their friends.

I then took the flyers around to all the other drum circles, and at a break, passed a few out to people during breaks in the action, that I was friendly with. Word of mouth about it spread around very quickly, that this was a cool place to come and have a good time drumming in A/C comfort! And this new drum circle took off immediately. We were packing the place every week. The owners were in a state of shock at the success of it. They loved the fact that it was so interactive, and that people that just walked in, could be a part of the band, instead of just sitting somewhere and watching one. I think secretly everyone wants to be in the band at one time or another in their lives. You just have to be a bit tactful passing out flyers at another drum circle. If you participate there it’s a bit easier.

I had no idea that this would actually work, but I think the single biggest help in getting people in there was making some “Drum Circle Now” signs up and hanging them outside in conspicuous places, like nearby telephone poles. Make them about the size of the politician signs you see around elections. I made one that said “Drum Circle” “Belly Dancers Welcome” and put them all up on telephone poles where people just driving by would see them, and be curious enough to want to come in and check it out. I can’t tell you how many people told me “I saw the sign and decided to come in, and I love it!” So these drive by drummers started coming in, and bellydancers too. I couldn’t believe how effective that was. Something so simple, like a stupid hand painted 18” sign. Lots of curious first times came in also from those. Just remember to retrieve them at the end of the night. I'd be tired and forget that a lot.

So you’ve got the social meeting, and networking websites, news groups, and drum circle flyers. All of those all very useful tools to get the word out at no cost, when you are trying to promote your drum circle. The only part that costs anything, is getting some flyers made up. Get some printer ink and make something up. All the rest is free. (For now, anyway.) But as I mentioned, the word of mouth is what works the best.

At some point consider getting some of those band size 4 x 5 vinyl bumper stickers made you see everywhere. It’s is a good idea, and you can stick them on all your drums so you can easily identify them because people are bringing their own drums in. This happens a lot if you get into it, and it‘s an easy way to spot what is yours, and deters any from walking off a little bit. It’s not too expensive to have a 100 made. It’s a fun way for people help to spread the word about your drum circle, website, etc. Hand out those stickers.

One really good idea for promotion, or for building up your press pack, is to try and document your events, whenever you can. Photos are powerful tools, snap pictures whenever it‘s possible, or ask a friend to do so for you. Without annoying people too much of course. Be sure to ask permission, it‘s the right thing to do. And photos of kids are a no - no. The other photo’s are great for your social website profiles, and your press pack. The same thing with videos. Mostly it’s the other people who take the photos, and email them to me. I’m busy playing.

Drum circles at events, clubs, and most paying gigs love to have good press and free publicity. Later you can make up a nice flyer, poster, a letter, card, pictures, and maybe a brochure. A letter of recommendation from the owners is a very useful tool also, later down the road.

But at any gathering or event, make sure it is appropriate to video or take pictures before the event, some groups are very sensitive to their images being released into the public. (Especially special needs groups.) But if the event is in public, it is a lot easier to get permission. Be sure to get it in written form, just an email will do. The rules with video are somewhat more relaxed.

Making that blog about your drum circle helps a lot to promote it. It can be tedious to do it week after week, but it gets the word out there, and people really seemed to respond to it. They couldn’t wait to read what happened last week, or what was coming up this next week.

Odds are that if you live near a metropolitan area, there are some dance teachers, even belly dancing teachers, near you. Take the time to invite them out to dance at the circle. A few of our local dance teachers started to bring their students out for a “field trip” once or twice a month to the circle. They will enjoy it, and it will make your scene all the more “talked about” around town, and at the water cooler. Some entire dance troupes would come in, hula hoopers, various object spinners, tapestry wavers, all kinds of creative types will start coming out once they hear about it.

Also, keep an eye out for openings and events, like the movie, “The Visitor”, which had a little about drum circles in it. We arranged with the theater to have a drum circle inside the lobby before the opening of the movie, then got free passes to go watch it. Approach big cultural events, art fairs, or store openings. Anything where the owners want to create some buzz and draw attention to their business can be an ideal opportunity for you, or your drum circle group.

For thirty something years, I have seen lots of drum circles start up and flourish, and other ones wither and die off in a few weeks. Most people think the drum circle is all about the drumming. It really doesn’t have that much to do with it. The drum circle is not primarily about the drumming and music that is being created. It is more about building a community, the people genuinely finding out who they are, and their self discovery, as they go through this process without even realizing it is happening to them. I know this may sound like some sort of psychobabble, but you will see it happen over a period of months at an ongoing drum circle.

Many successful open public drum circles have started by just having two or three people gathering at a public spot on a beach or at a park, and start drumming together. The word spreads, or you help spread the word about them, and they take right off. Just like that. It’s that simple.

One thing I’ve noticed is people like variety in the rhythms, and like to see a different program from week to week. Otherwise it can get boring. You don’t want the pros to be bored playing the same old beat all night long, or have it too complicated for the beginners either. I offer a 2 hour DVD called 101 Drum Circle Rhythms, that includes a free drum circle CD for $15. It makes a great source of reference material to keep your drum circle fresh and interesting. I think that is the real key to keep people wanting to come back for more week after week. You can pick it up at my site drumcircles.net or Amazon. (No free CD at Amazon.com). I try to offer a good value at a fair price to fellow musicians. Please also consider picking up my book, the proceeds from sales of the DVD and book help me to fund work in our community. Helping others along their drumming path is what it's all about for me.

Ideally you want everyone to be engaged and having a good time. It’s an art form to lead without leading, mix up the rhythms, some up tempo, some slow and grooving, especially for the dancers, without making it too obvious. Whether it’s you starting out the rhythms, or anyone who wants to start one out, or a combination of both. It’s a good idea to really mix up that set list, or at least have a couple of things ready to go, so you can just “go with the flow”. I hope some of this helps your circle to grow!

shannon ratigan

Copyright © Shannon Ratigan All Rights Reserved.