#drumming

Yesterday I returned the keys to the studio space I’ve rented for the past 47 months, room 120 at Orion Studios in Baltimore. Not only was it a place where I made tremendous growth as a musician, it proved to be extremely important for my mental health and stability. Having a space of my own where I’m completely free to be creative, and to better myself without judgment of any kind, turned out to be more important to me than I ever thought it would be.

The photos above are a few that I’ve taken over the years from various recording and video projects I’ve done. I’m very proud of what I’ve accomplished in the last 4 years in this space, and although this chapter of my life has ended, I find myself inspired and excited about my creative future.

According to astronomers, our Milky Way galaxy is warped and vibrates like a drum because of the influence of two small companion galaxies. Astronomers say peculiar drum-like vibrations in our Milky Way galaxy may explain why it is warped, and similar explanations may apply for other warped galaxies. The researchers said the effect is due to the most prominent of the Milky Way’s satellite galaxies, a pair of galaxies called the Magellanic Clouds. They are stirring up with the Milky Way’s dark matter, an invisible substance that is thought to make up more then 90 percent of the weight of the universe. The interaction creates a warp in the galaxy that has puzzled astronomers for half a century. The warp, most obvious in the thin disk of hydrogen gas permeating the galaxy, extends across the Milky Ways 200,000-light year width. A light year is the distance light travels in a year.

Leo Blitz, professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, and colleagues charted this warp and analyzed it in detail for the first time, based on a new galactic map of light given off by the  hydrogen gas. They found the gas layer is vibrating like a drumhead, and that the vibration consists almost wholly of three notes, also called modes. These notes would be unimaginably deep by human standards some three million octaves, or scales, below the note called middle C on a piano. This means that if a piano could play these notes, it would require a keyboard about the width of Iceland to do so.

It’s not uncommon for astronomical objects to exhibit some sort of regular vibrations, like musical instruments, so that they can be said to be playing notes. Which note depends on the vibration speed. A study last summer found that a violent quake on the surface of a compact type of star called a neutron star left it playing the note of F sharp.

Although the Milky Way’s warp has been known for almost 50 years, astronomers previously dismissed the Magellanic Clouds as its cause because the galaxies combined masses are only 2 percent that of Milky Way. This mass was thought too small to influence a massive disk equivalent to about 200 billion suns during the clouds 1.5 billion-year orbit of the galaxy. But Martin D. Weinberg of the University of Massachusetts joined Blitz to create a computer model that takes into account the Milky Ways dark matter. The motion of the clouds through the dark matter creates a wake that enhances their gravitational influence on the disk. The wake stirs a vibration at the center of the dark matter blob pervading the galaxy. This in turn makes the embedded galactic disc oscillate. When this dark matter is included, the Magellanic Clouds, in their orbit around the Milky Way, closely reproduce the type of warp observed in the galaxy. The model not only produces this warp in the Milky Way, but during the rotation cycle of the Magellanic Clouds around the galaxy, it looks like the Milky Way is flapping in the breeze.

As a rhythm seeker, I spent much of my life exploring the rhythms of many of the world’s shamanic and spiritual traditions. As I learned the drum ways of various world cultures, I found the same rhythmic qualities underlying all of them. Like the colors of the rainbow, each culture has its own hue or identity, yet each is a part of the whole society. Although the focus or intent differs from culture to culture, rhythmic drumming invariably has the same power and effects in all traditions. The resonant qualities and attributes of these rhythmic phenomena are universal and come into play whenever we drum.

The universal power of rhythm is the effects it has on consciousness. Recent studies have demonstrated that rhythmic drumming produces deeper self-awareness by inducing synchronous brain activity. The physical transmission of rhythmic energy to the brain synchronizes the two cerebral hemispheres. This shared resonance integrates conscious and unconscious awareness. The ability to access unconscious information through symbols and imagery facilitates psychological integration and a reintegration of self.

The ethereal rainbow arching high into the heavens symbolizes this harmonious union of intuition and intellect. In her book Voices of Our Ancestors: Cherokee Teachings from the Wisdom Fire, Dhyani Ywahoo states, “We are the rainbow, each of us. When we speak of rebuilding the ‘Rainbow Bridge,’ it is to bring into harmony the left and right hemispheres of the brain, to renew the flow of our intuitive mind.”Regarding rhythmic stimulation, she says, “Chanting and drumming were also a significant part of the learning, balancing activity of the right and left hemispheres of the brain.”

In his book Shamanism: The Neural Ecology of Consciousness and Healing, anthropologist Michael Winkelman reports that drumming also synchronizes the frontal and lower areas of the brain, integrating nonverbal information from lower brain structures into the frontal cortex, producing “feelings of insight, understanding, integration, certainty, conviction, and truth, which surpass ordinary understandings and tend to persist long after the experience, often providing foundational insights for religious and cultural traditions.”

Brain hemisphere synchronization connects us to the guidance of our own intuitive knowing. Intuition reveals appropriate action in the moment for a given set of circumstances. Synchronous activity appears within consciousness as the most natural thing to do. One can readily perceive what aims are in accord with the cosmos and not waste energy on discordant pursuits. By allowing the intuition to lead the body, one attains clarity in movement. So long as one follows one’s intuitive sense, one’s actions will be in sync with the true self and ultimately the cosmos.

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