It’s Saturday afternoon and I’m sitting in a circle of people chanting the words “I’ve got two bunny rabbits” to the beat of an African drum between my knees.
It’s fair to say I’m a little out of my comfort zone.
I’ve joined Rhythmajix drum circle at Kirkgate Community Centre in Shipley. There are about 30 of us drumming away and shaking maracas. We’re making quite a noise, but if we listen carefully, we can make out the layers of rhythms and beats we’re creating.
The drum circle is led by Anna Green and her husband Paul Rigley. Anyone can have a go, no musical experience is necessary and drums are provided.
“Drum circles bring people together to create ‘in-the-moment’ rhythms,” says Anna. “People often say they haven’t got a sense of rhythm – until they start drumming, then they realise they have. If you start thinking about it too much, you lose the rhythm – you need to just go with it.
“When I was younger, someone told me I hadn’t got a sense of rhythm, so I had to work through that. Now I’ve been drumming for 12 years.”
Anna, who performs with African drum group Bang On, runs the drum circle with Paul, a former teacher. As well as holding monthly Rhythmajix sessions, they provide music development and percussion events in schools and for organisations such as Shared Voices and Kala Sangam, and for people with learning disabilities.
“It’s about working together, creating rhythms and having fun,” says Anna. “Communal drumming helps with listening skills, concentration and teamwork. The heartbeat is the first sound we hear, in the womb, so it’s quite therapeutic to lose yourself in drum beats.
“Drumming relaxes the body and calms the mind. Rhythm is a universal language. Uniting people in drumming can be a wonderful shared experience.
“The circle is family friendly; parents and children can do it together and we welcome all ages and abilities,” adds Anna. “It’s not a lesson in percussion skills – it’s just a chance to have a go.”
I take along my nephews, Sam and Jack, and they love it. Jack, six, chooses a Brazilian carnival drum which he bangs with a stick. Sam, eight, goes for a handpainted African djembe drum.
Anna shows us how to bounce our hands off the drum skin, as if it’s a trampoline, rather than just hitting it with a thud. Beating the edge of the drum creates a different sound and tilting it adds another layer of sound. I pick up a doumbek, a Middle Eastern drum, and take my seat in the circle, placing the drum between my knees, legs crossed. For the first 20 minutes or so, we tap out random beats. I feel a bit self-conscious, but gradually get into the rhythm.
Anna stands in the middle with little bells strapped to her leg, stamping to the beat. She gets us to increase, then soften, the noise, then we take a break to loosen our shoulders and rub our hands together. My fingers are tingling. Before we start again, there’s a bit of drum-swapping and some of the group pick up other instruments. They include a chekere – an African shaker – maracas, guiros – a wooden instrument you scrape a stick along – and sound shapes, which look a bit like tambourines. Standing in the middle of the circle, Anna holds up a ‘rumblestick’ and tells us to ‘rumble’.
Trying not to think of Ant and Dec’s Let’s Get Ready To Rumble, I tilt my drum and follow her lead. When she raises the rumblestick we drum hard and fast, when she lowers it we drum softly, and when she jumps we stop. Then Paul hands us all a percussion tube called a boom whacker and we tap various beats according to what colour tube we’re holding. It feels like making music.
There are young families taking part, as well as older people and a group of adults with learning disabilities. It’s an informal, playful experience. There’s no judging of ability, or awkward moments being singled out for solo performances.
And where do bunny rabbits come into all this? That would be the fun chanting techniques Paul gets us to do. He asks if anyone has pets and some of the children pipe up with their animals’ names. Standing in the middle, a drum strapped to her waist, Anna splits us into groups and we each take on a different chant – “I’ve got two bunny rabbits”, “Theo and Milly”, “And a dog called Chester” – accompanied by our percussion. Jack and Sam are delighted that their cats, Theo and Milly, are the focus of a little ‘song’.
We move on to an African song of welcome and end with a ‘rainstorm’ involving body percussion – tapping hands, chest and legs – passed around the group. There’s something joyful about communal drumming. By the end of the two-hour session, I’ve grown quite
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