Visit Lyle’s web site at http://drummingandhealth.com/
January 31/’12 entry – Innovation…Thinking out of the box
Professor Stephen Wexler from UBC’s Faculty of Law regularly attends the Beat Street Community Drum Circle http://drummingandhealth.com/events/beat-street-community-drum-circle/ and was looking for an “out of the box” activity for his 2nd and 3rd year law students. The legal philosophy class was exploring the theme of time and how it influences the flow of legal proceedings and events. Dr. Wexler explains: “I teach a seminar on Modern Jurisprudential Concepts at the University of British Columbia Faculty of Law. This year the concept we are studying is time and on January 30, 2012, Lyle Povah led a drum circle for the seminar. This was, of course, an unusual class. It was off the usual academic path and I was a little unsure how it would work, but it was excellent. All the students were involved in the drumming and it led the class to talk about things we could not have reached in any other way. It was also remarkably effective for building class cohesion. Lyle’s manner is gentle and inclusive. He provides a wonderful structure. My students and I got a great deal from him. I could imagine Lyle leading drum circles in classes on sociology, political science, history and language, among other things”.
Some student comments: “Drumming can transform people and behaviors”. The best part of the Drum Circle was how “everyone gets to bond with everyone else in the circle…sharing…experiencing the new and unknown together”. “You could feel it in your body even after the playing had stopped”. “I found that it required a lot of concentration, so you leave everything else behind”. “It’s fun and uplifting”.
January 10/’12 entry
Excerpt from 2011 article “Uncovering Joy”, written and inspired through the great work done at the Haven on Gabriola Island where Lyle is a guest faculty member and teaches “Drum Talk” http://www.haven.ca/programs/drum-talk.html
“…music and drumming assists us in uncovering the joy of an innate ‘musicianship’ that is our natural birthright. I say ‘uncovering the joy’ because I believe it is only temporarily inaccessible and simply needs the right conditions to re-emerge. While this work has always been about building community, enhancing health, deepening faith, exploring creativity and moving into the true expression of ourselves, I now subscribe primarily to the simple notion that if we are open to it, playing music, singing and drumming together uncovers joy. Joy is like the yeast in the bread – when it is part of the mix, all the other elemental components are able to rise up together fully expressed.
Whether working in hospitals, jails, schools, churches, with corporate groups, seniors, at risk youth or with special populations, the the music of the drum has always been a powerful companion in my own personal search for healing.
Try this: choose someone you are close to, a friend, an intimate partner, someone you trust. Lay your head on their chest so you can hear the beating of their heart. And breathe long and deep… Imagine yourself as the fetus you once were, listening to the beat of your Mothers heart…
People who are profoundly affected by a group drumming experience often report it as being like ‘coming home’, to a deep life long yearning for rhythm and beat that originated in the womb. The drum is considered one of the oldest musical instruments – most other instruments came after the drum. Our affinity with rhythm already exists and only needs a mode of joyful expression to become manifest.”
