Drum Circles
Interview with 'Steiner Waldorf Education'
What have you done since you left school?
After leaving the Holywood School I decided to focus my attention on music and started a music diploma in Bangor. However my main musical links were made in the last few years at the Steiner school where I met Mark, Max and Theo Buckingham, the other side of a music company we formed, called ‘Grunt Productions’.Tell us about the millennium commission.
The commission is a lottery funded organisation which funds projects of various sizes. We sent off an application at the last minute, not expecting anything to come of it. So we were surprised when a few months later a letter arrived accepting our project; however, we hadn’t had time to make a copy of our application so we had to ask for one! We received funding to purchase drums and to get training to facilitate drum circles and improvisation workshops in schools around Belfast.So what are drum circles?
The idea behind drums circles is to involve everybody in creating a communal rhythm with drums. The way we facilitated it is with one of us leading rhythmically, one with hand signals and the other helping individuals. Drum Circles require confidence and therefore the drum circles are relaxed so that people can explore creative ideas without feeling self conscious. It requires a huge amount of focus in both coordination and reception of the rest of the circle. We are often told how it benefits the unity and concentration of a class and an enthusiasm for music.
Yes, as well as taking the Drum Circles to schools, we also created a workshop based on improvising within the blues idiom. This is more specialist as some musical knowledge is needed. It is a challenge to work with the varying types of instrument that come to this workshop.What sort of instruments do you work with?
The workshops are a hotchpotch of whatever a particular class play whereas the drums for the drum circles are chosen to balance and complement each other tonally. They include; Djembes, Dumbeks, Surdos, small hand percussion and many other drums from around the world. It is important to have a drum for any need. We have a full set of drums for about 15 people both in London and Belfast.What are your plans for the future?
I am applying for university music courses around England and hope to continue creating music full time. I have also started to teach class 11 and am open to teaching as an area for me in the future.
Harry Whalley was born in 1984. He attended the Holywood Steiner School from nursery and left after class 11 to study music. www.gruntproductions.com
Grunt Productions are available to facilitate workshops and drum circles in both the London and Belfast areas.
Thanks to Martyn Rawson and Steiner Waldorf Education
