Friday, February 26, 2010

Drumble Club Rocked!

This past Saturday's Drumble Club drumcircle was rockin' with about 30 people coming out to play and jam together.  We had some fun rides during our 21/2 hours.  Many folks were there for their first drumcircle experience including a mother-daughter and father-daughter pair.

Come join us for the next Drumble Club on April 3rd!  Go to http://www.drumbleclub.com/ for more information.

j

Lively Arts for Little Ones


Recently did a program for 60 preschoolers as part of the Lively Arts for Little Ones at the Other Barn in Oakland Mills in Columbia.  SO much fun to sing, dance and play with all these children and their parents. During our time, we sang 2 songs from Africa, had a dance party with animals and dinosaurs, heard a story about Ijapa the tortoise from Nigeria and played together with some 'happy' drums.  What a fun way to start the day!

j

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Drumming together with Johnson and Johnson

Ann and I managed to dig out of 30+ inches of snow to drive up to Philadelphia for a team building program with a group of 75 people from Johnson and Johnson.  We had a great 90 minute program that had some real rockin' moments.  This group was comprised of some very smart and talented people (lots of initials after the names - physicians, scientists, researchers, etc. ) who were all located in different parts of the country.  The program I did for them was a part of their group's team building efforts.  Their music was spirited and really gelled together representing a collective sound.      

When I went online to see the company website: www.jnj.com  I was amazed to see how many companies they own that make products that touch our lives: Band-Aid, Aveeno, Visine, Neosporin,  Lubriderm, Bengay, Listerine, Tylenol, Nicorette, Rolaids, plus tons of baby products - tearless shampoo, baby lotion, etc.  JnJ also makes a lot of prescription medicines as well as medical devices and products.  Pretty amazing to see all the products.  They also do some interesting philanthropical work in several different countries and here in the US.

It was really fun to work with that JnJ team and deliver a really powerful and meaningful event.

jm

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Basic Hand Drumming Class is Rockin'

Thanks to a great turnout for this season's class series through Howard County Rec and Parks, my Basic Hand Drumming class is rockin'!  I have 22 people in the class (17 showed up tonight), and it just makes it so much fun when you have that kind of critical mass.  

In our second class tonight we started by reviewing the basic sounds and working through some practice rhythms.  I introduced the first rhythm that we will be learning - Groove Safari.  This piece is a composition I created that utilizes universal principals as well as diverse cultural elements blended into a very funky polyrhythm.  We played the first two parts tonight and it was kickin'.  It was cool to see when things just clicked together and sounded so solid.

Our class next week will meet at the Rec and Parks office on Oakland Mills Road.

J

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Welcome to FunDrum Rhythm Circles Blog!

Hello!

Welcome to the FunDrum Rhythm Circles blog!  I have created this blog to share some of the experiences from doing drumcircles with groups ranging from nursing homes and schools to state agencies and Fortune 500 companies.  You can learn more about FunDrum Rhythm Circles and the programs we offer at http://www.fundrumrhythmcircles.com/.  Follow this blog to learn about my drumming events and classes.

Check out the survey on favorite drums. Thanks for visiting.

Jonathan