Christine Stevens is an internationally acclaimed author, music therapist and speaker. The founder of UpBeat Drum Circles, she has appeared on NBC, CBS and Living Better TV and is a frequent contributing writer for a variety of health magazines on music and wellness. Christine has drummed with many major groups and companies internationally (including DuPont, The Department of Defense, and Verizon), students at ground zero and most recently survivors of Katrina in New Orleans. She is the author of The Healing Drum Kit and The Art and Heart of Drum Circles.
As a member of an integrative research team, Christine has published studies on the scientific benefits of group drumming and serves on the editorial board of Explore: The Journal of Science & Healing. As a contributing author for Yogi Times Magazine and columnist for Health World Online, she writes about the power of music as a wellness strategy for holistic health.
RockOm’s Tom Crenshaw had the privilege of speaking at length with Christine in early September. Tom adds, “I felt an instant connection with Christine. The second I heard her voice I knew this was going to be a learning experience. Christine’s passion for music and healing is very inspiring. Her message made me consider more deeply the natural rhythms surrounding us and how we can use, even create our own rhythms - for a deeper connection to our inner-most being and human experience and use that connection for healing. I really could have talked for hours with Christine as the level and diversity of her work is quite extraordinary. I came away from our conversation with not only an inspiring interview to share but with a whole new perspective on what it means to serve others through music. RockOm has made a new friend, a new soul-connection and hopefully, together, we can go on and serve others for many years ahead."
RO: What makes drumming spiritual?
CS: There's a beautiful quote, a Navajo saying: "The Great Spirit loves the drums so much he gave everyone a heartbeat." When you look from a multicultural, global perspective, you see a type of drum in the temple in Japan, in the Shinto shrine; you see the gathering drum in the Native American pow-wow ceremony; and you see the djembe in a healing ceremony in Africa. All of these are spiritual places. So I think what makes drumming spiritual first of all is its history. Secondly, the drum's shape is a circle, which reminds us that everything is connected. Third, the drum is an easy access point to music-making. I've actually never met anyone who can't just pick up a stick and make a sound on a drum; it offers immediate access to the world of music. It doesn't require years of training. In fact, most of us were learning this before we were born, listening to our first drum teacher, our mother. The drum is a great access point to connecting with creativity, and that is an element of spirituality. Also, when you connect in a group through the drum in a drum circle, you have that sense of unification, that we're all together. Especially when you're not speaking, you're feeling the rhythms together; you're feeling even the vibrations together. That's the most spiritual element of drumming. You know, there are three elements of music: rhythm, melody and harmony. To me, what does rhythm do in music? It's like the container. It's the temple. It sets the space, it sets the tone; is it going to be fast? Slow? It's a very powerful force. I love watching audiences when the drum solo happens: the group starts dancing. People are ignited by rhythm. That's the way I want to feel about my spirituality; I want to feel that ignited feeling. I'm really thrilled that we're seeing a revival of interest in the drum because it's so ancient, it's so spiritual, and it's so historic. And now we're using it today when, now more than ever, people need to feel a connection to that which is greater than themselves, that spirituality – whatever you want to call Great Spirit, higher spirit, divine consciousness, God. Whatever people want to call that is spiritual practice because we are connecting to something greater than ourselves.
RO: Isn't it funny how in a rock concert when the drummer goes into a drum solo, the audience goes nuts?
CS: Absolutely! I love watching that. First of all, we are biologically/neurologically wired for rhythm. People aren't even consciously trying to move their bodies; their bodies are being moved by the beat. It's a powerful force. They want to participate, they want to clap along. I think spirituality involves our participation. A lot of people ask me how drumming can be used in spiritual practice. A lot of times in music, we say we should practice music – well, flip that around and make music your practice. It's a little different intention; you're not practicing notes and timing and thinking "one-ee-and-ah, two-ee-and-ah." The drum helps you get out of your head and all the sudden you can just resonate with the heartbeat. You don't need to play only the heartbeat, but in drumming you get into your heart. If you think too much when you're playing a hand drum – I'm not talking about stick drumming or playing a trap set which requires a lot of coordination – but when you're playing a hand drum, one of these rural, sacred percussion instruments, you can't think too much and drum. Thank God, it gets us out of our heads. That's really the place of spirituality – the heart.
RO: What constitutes a drum circle?
CS: I'd like to define it by what it is not. A drum circle is not a music class. There's no one teaching. There's a facilitator who makes it easy for everyone to join together. There is not a focus on performance, because there's no stage and no audience. Everyone is part of it. It is inclusive. It doesn't require any musical talent. In fact, you already have the rhythm in you. The drum circle just brings it out. The reason we use drums and percussion is because it's really hard to have a violin circle. Just kidding. [laughs] It's really easy to have a drum match other drums, they go together very simply and sonically. Harmonically and rhythmically people come together in the drum circle and create a spontaneous, in-the-moment composition. It is really defined by the outcome. People are not coming to become the next Gene Kroupa or the next great drummer. They are coming to reduce their stress. They are coming to feel a connection that is beyond words. They are coming because they want to do some activity with their family. They find they have a language or a generation barrier and all the sudden the drum helps connect people. They are sometimes coming for healing. They are coming because they love to dance, and they want to feel rhythm in their life. They are coming because they want something exciting. I always say that drumming and drum circles are the greatest natural form of caffeine.
RO: I hear a lot of people say, "I don't have a musical bone in my body. I couldn't carry a tune in a bucket." Can anyone drum?
CS: [laughs] Yes and they already are! Everyone who is alive and has that great instrument called the heartbeat is drumming. We are biologically wired for rhythm; we are walking, talking, ticking-tocking rhythm symphonies. When you start to see your biology that way, you start to realize 'I am already a symphony'. I am the orchestrator of this in my life… on a mind, body, and spirit level. There's really no excuse not to drum, because you've already been doing it, you're more entrained to it than you know. That's a really important word – entrainment. That's what makes a drum circle work. This is a term from physics; it means that pendulums over time will synchronize. So when people come into drum circles and they've never drummed before, I see them stepping to the beat as they walk in the door – they're entrained. You can't help but fall into the groove. If you've ever loved to listen to music – world music, drum tracks, drum solos – how easy it is, how effortless it is to drum along – that's entrainment.
RO: What does the scientific world have to say about the documented health benefits of drumming?
CS: Now we're seeing science and spirituality coming together – it's an exciting time in history. We're seeing better awareness of the limits of the old kind of science and the inventions of new science and one of those is psychoneuroimmunology – mind/body medicine. We worked with a neurologist, Dr. Barry Bittman – who in the Meadville Medical Center was able to show in a study published in the year 2000 that in 112 subjects who had never drummed before, their biology changed on a cellular level – they reduced their stress through one hour of the health rhythms drumming program. That's pretty exciting; it was groundbreaking news in the year 2000. But in the year 2004 we replicated that study with burned-out employees and we were able to take these employees who had never drummed before, bring them into drum circle programs in the workplace and we were able to show with our evidence that we reduced burnout by 46%, increased their positive moods, and saved money for the organization.
RO: So, just bring some drums to work and let's everyone be productive!
CS: I really see a time when in the workplace, because of this hard science that we have – it's such an evidence-based practice – and you look at the workplace challenges with multi-language, intergenerational [issues] and morale – these things definitely have an impact on the bottom line. So I really see a time when that employee break room at noon is filled with people jamming together.
RO: Tell us a little about manifesting. Tell us how drumming can help us manifest our dreams.
CS: Well, that's a great question. I think that first of all, when you drum it helps you discover your dreams. So many people have felt that music is taboo – or that they "can't carry a tune in a bucket" – and drumming helps people reconnect with the creativity that is within every person. I really believe each person has some dream here to manifest and I think people know that, they feel that intuitively. Music has traditionally been a source of connecting to that creativity, that technique, I should say. First of all, drumming helps us find or reconnect, allowing the dreams to be remembered. Secondly, anytime you take something as powerful as music, it transcends language, it's like a wordless prayer – and you drum your dream, you drum your intention; I have done this personally in my life. In fact in manifesting The Healing Drum Kit, our book that's published by Sounds True, I actually drummed my intentions for making that drum kit. [laughs] When you add music with an intention, you amplify it. It's a pretty simple formula. Not everybody can play a cello or a piano, but if you pick up the drum and go "Boom," most people say "Yeah, I can do that!" You want to take your intention, add music, and manifest it that way.
RO: Christine, how did you get started? Tell us a little on how you got started in drumming.
CS: I was like a lot of people; I didn't think I had percussion skills and it's kind of ironic that I've devoted my life to drum circles. I worked as a music therapist and just saw immediately - I'll never forget a young woman who came and had been very traumatized, sexually abused, very depressed. She sat in the back and refused to drum in the drum circle. When everyone left the room, she walked over to the big bass drum, took up the mallet and really whacked it. She didn't stop for about an hour. [laughs] When she finished her "releasing," I would say, I thought to myself, "This is the most powerful tool I've seen since being a music therapist – this drum." I'm a pianist and a saxophone player – but I got realizing that the drum brings people in immediately and it's such a healing tool. That's really how it happened.
RO: You've done something that I think is quite amazing and very inspirational: you've traveled over to Iraq and worked with the children. Tell us about that experience; that's got to be so rewarding.
CS: Actually, it was a real life changing experience. We were able last year to do the first drum circle training program in a war zone. We were in northern Iraq and we took drumming to children in the donation centers, to Kurdistan's Save the Children. Our partners were Save the Children and ACDI/VOCA. They're doing incredible work there, there's really not a school-structured system in Iraq and the kids are really at risk for being recruited into terrorist organizations. So music and drumming is the preventive tool, supporting those kids' self-esteem, their connectivity, their creativity, their feeling of success in the world. What we did was train 30 people from seven different governances of Iraq, and we brought together people that would be enemies from different sects, from different religions and speaking different languages – and just like RockOm when you have Spanish and English, but you also have music. What we found was that music is the common language. I really believe that the drum is the language of global diplomacy. I think when we all are learning each other's rhythms in the world peace will happen. So we went there to learn their songs. And we watched them teach each other songs and we watched a drum circle become a tool for connecting people that would never have had the chance to know each other simply because they were perceived as enemies. And at the end of five days they really became friends and I'm happy to say they're still drumming over there. We're hoping to go back in October and we're very grateful to our sponsors for this project, Rex Foundation, NAMM, and Remo drum company - the world's largest drum company, which donated the drums for this project.
RO: Much kudos to those sponsors, and a personal thank you for spreading the love and inspiration. America gets a bloody nose in many parts of the world, and thanks for doing your own part to inspire folks over there.
CS: Exactly, it's so interesting. When you take drumming and music to a place of the greatest need – in the war-torn area of Iraq – and you see how much people hold onto it like a life preserver; it gave people hope. A woman said in her quotes at the end – we interviewed people at the end of the training period – she said it was the best five days of her life. Someone else said drumming helps to bring your hope back. I feel really blessed to have gone there, and I can really say in this interview with you right now that if it plays in Iraq, this can work in any place of conflict.
RO: You've worked with military veterans as well.
CS: I think that the drum goes into any place that has a need for healing. They have different ways of helping people. In the case of the veterans, we were very sensitive because we didn't want the drums to be stimulating memories of the sounds of gunshots. The same in Iraq, we were very sensitive to that. So we started with shakers and we started with a protocol that helped people get into the drumming. What we learned from working with the veterans and in the VA in West Los Angeles and Hollywood is that when they were able to drum together, they had such joy. When you come back from the seeing the kind of trauma that we can't even imagine as our servicemen and women, it's very tragic and a difficult thing to adjust. And all the sudden we saw people smiling! Despite their injuries, they could play the drums. I think that's the important thing: helping people feel strong again, feel powerful, and feel empowered.
RO: Surely you do some work in hospitals and such; tell us about that.
CS: I worked for fifteen years as a music therapist, especially with cancer patients, and during that time used the drum for mind, body and spirit. There's such an interest now in holistic medicine. For example, working with the cancer patients, I'll never forget this woman that came into the drum circle. She played that really big bass drum - we have a really big Native American gathering drum - and she played that drum the whole session. I was actually kind of worried about her arm in terms of her strength. And the next session she came and everybody handed her that mallet and let her play it; it became her drum. By the third session, she held up the mallet and said, "I'm ready to let go. I've released my anger at my mother and my father and my husband…" – she had a really long list. We didn't know, it but she was doing her own work. It's really said that what healing is about is creating the context for the natural healing to happen. She cleared the space out. She made space for a new groove in her life. She cleared out the anger and she opened up to a new rhythm.
RO: After talking to you, I'm very excited about going out and getting my own drum and getting started. How would I go about doing that?
CS: Well you already have a drum in your heart. [laughs] The other most commonly placed drum is the dashboard in the car. Besides that, we're so fortunate right now to have access to the world's drums. We really recommend Remo drums, made in America with recycled material and not with animal hides. They hold their sounds no matter what the weather conditions. If you go to remo.com you can see great choices between African, Brazilian, Japanese drums, so I hope you tell people to go to a drum circle in your town, your city, your state. Find your way to a drum circle, call your music circle and see what draws you. And the reason we created The Healing Drum Kit, which we recommend for beginners, is because you don't need any prior musical experience. It includes a drum, 25 rhythm cards, 2 play-along CDs, and a guidebook. It's really made so that you can simply pick up that drum and get started immediately.
RO: Tell us what you feel when you're drumming. What are your intentions when you're performing? Is it in any way at all like praying or meditating for you? What do you feel?
CS: I am interested, instead of performing, in reforming. I think that we are shifting from being performers to being inspirational reformers. I want to watch an audience join me. I think it's all in how you prepare. I love talking to performers about what they do before they walk out there. Don't you? Then you start to see the spiritual practice come in. Okay, I breathe, I picture things… this is all spiritual practice. I breathe, maybe I do some jumping jacks, I focus, I maybe even meditate. In my mind, the intention is different than putting on a show – it's connecting. It's sharing, it's inspiring. I think that's how we do it: we start off by clearing the energy, clearing space, making ourselves available, and then really offering that as a gift to an audience. Is that really any different than meditating or praying or having a spiritual experience? Show me any church that doesn't have music – it doesn't matter what religion. Why is that? It's usually first in the order of service. The reason is that it's the most ancient, simple away to connect a group.
RO: Tell us what the future holds for Christine Stevens and Upbeat Drum Circles.
CS: Upbeat Drum Circles is going to be going back to Iraq. We are continuing to research that project; we hope to be able to prove in a research paper that drumming was successful in reducing conflict and improving leadership skills in a war zone. We're hoping to publish that study, we're always involved in research and events and concerts and we teach a training program called "Change Your Life through Rhythm." We teach a training program called "Health Rhythms." I think it's really about the continuing of training, recording, and making music that inspires people to no longer be a listener, but to pick up a drum and be part of the rhythm of life.
http://www.ubdrumcircles.com/
[Edited by Andrew Hoogheem]
By Tom Crenshaw, Tom@RockOm.net
Christine: Well that’s a good question. "The beginning is half the whole" as they say and the first moments of a connection are crucial. A lot of preparation goes into going to Iraq. I dress according to the cultural norms; I dyed my hair, wore a hijab and prepared to meet people in their way. The first connection - what I noticed - it was all about making music and not talking at all.
Christine: I think we’re becoming energy linguists. In sound and in music we can communicate best… our heart, our feelings. When we communicate on that plane there’s no conflict, there’s no war. We create “sacred space.” What happens in sacred space? We create connections and harmony. Just the word harmony is a metaphor for what we’re creating on the planet right now, one beat at a time.
Children danced while a balloon of the world floated about the rhythms of Japan, Iraq, Native America and India. Rhythm is about timing; taking a sad occasion and turning it into a beat of transformation.
All of this from a man who, in his late 70s with a nearly unmatched spiritual resume and nothing left to prove, has released a new album entitled Cosmix - a unique blend of music and spirituality, mixing electronica beats and soundscapes with sound bites and spoken word. There is no doubt that Baba Dass finds in music that great power to bring healing and transform lives.
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