Forums > Social Discussion > Sound Healing, article on drum circles and their health benefits
Login/Join to ParticipateGOLD Member
Teacher, Dancer, Artist, and General Smartass
149 posts
Location: Portland, OR, USA
Teacher, Dancer, Artist, and General Smartass
149 posts
Location: Portland, OR, USA
Posted:
I came across this article (literally, randomly found a copy of it) and thought it was an interesting read that fire spinners might care to read because we all love drum circles, and I bet we all like to be healthy.
I didn't know that there's a pretty big network as far as "sound healing" goes, (there's the American Music Therapy Association, and nearly 4,000 music therapists certified in the US).
Linky McLinkFace
Thoughts? Comments?
I came across this article (literally, randomly found a copy of it) and thought it was an interesting read that fire spinners might care to read because we all love drum circles, and I bet we all like to be healthy.
I didn't know that there's a pretty big network as far as "sound healing" goes, (there's the American Music Therapy Association, and nearly 4,000 music therapists certified in the US).
Linky McLinkFace
Thoughts? Comments?
GOLD Member
HOP Mad Doctor
13,925 posts
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
HOP Mad Doctor
13,925 posts
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
Posted:
I mean, music therapy is a well-known modality. It's just not covered by most health plans.
Music has healing benefits. I think that's obvious both anecdotally and clinically. It's soothing, it's calming, it distracts patients from their pain, and it gives them something positive on which to focus.
I mean, music therapy is a well-known modality. It's just not covered by most health plans.
Music has healing benefits. I think that's obvious both anecdotally and clinically. It's soothing, it's calming, it distracts patients from their pain, and it gives them something positive on which to focus.
-Mike
Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella
A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura
BRONZE Member
Returning to a unique state of Equilibrium
3,289 posts
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
Returning to a unique state of Equilibrium
3,289 posts
Location: Adelaide, South Australia
Posted:
mmm can I suggest that a *good* drum circle might heal, and a terrible one might damage?
many many a good drum circle is damaged by adding one or more 'bangers'...usually young men with no rhythm who like to hit drums too hard. hehe..ah teh irony.
mmm can I suggest that a *good* drum circle might heal, and a terrible one might damage?
many many a good drum circle is damaged by adding one or more 'bangers'...usually young men with no rhythm who like to hit drums too hard. hehe..ah teh irony.
--
Help! My personality got stuck in this signature machine and I cant get it out!
BRONZE Member
poiromaniac
162 posts
Location: liverpool, uk
poiromaniac
162 posts
Location: liverpool, uk
Posted:
i watched a documentary on something similar, except it was about these people in the US who took up playing the harp to help get rid of cancer, with surprisingly good results to =D
i watched a documentary on something similar, except it was about these people in the US who took up playing the harp to help get rid of cancer, with surprisingly good results to =D
SILVER Member
what goes around comes around. unless you're into stalls.
4,030 posts
Location: Bali, Australia
what goes around comes around. unless you're into stalls.
4,030 posts
Location: Bali, Australia
Posted:
As soon as i saw the name of this thread I was going to jump in and say the same thing. Numerous drum soup-bowls I have been around were the opposite of healing. To me anyway. The bangers usually look pretty pleased with themselves in a vacant sort of way. Unless anger can be seen as the healing to depression 
But then I wasn't depressed before the bangers started...but repressing the anger and seeing events canned cos the drummers annoyed the neighbours can be pretty depressing hmmm.
I have been to drum/cymbal/horn/chant based healing ceremonies with Tibetans and Indians and in Morocco. Very moving, not just emotionally, at some other level. I remember feeling one time like my cells were being reorganised in a more positive way. That was the effect of the cymbals and horns with the drums.. not 'jamming' like jazz trumpet horns; very targeted sustained notes. Lots of the Moroccan Gnawa/Sufi music is based on healing rhythms that put people into trance.. different people react to different rhythms, start spontaneously dancing and so on.... not just hippy dancing, really something going on... and there is something explicit about the combination of the wind instrumetns and beat (the drum= human earthedness heartbeat and the horns= the breath of God is how it was said to me.
So ya I've seen both sides and I suspect that the authentic 'healing' trance comes from not only the technical skill and group connectedness of the drummers, but a long tradition to figure out what works. AND most especially the disciplined spirituality of the musicians. As opposed to the 'I'm lost in my own little world and so spaced out man so I don't actually notice how I am murdering any rhythm that might have been here before I started banging' trance.
Herein endeth the rant.
Written by :Pyrolific
mmm can I suggest that a *good* drum circle might heal, and a terrible one might damage?
many many a good drum circle is damaged by adding one or more 'bangers'...usually young men with no rhythm who like to hit drums too hard. hehe..ah theirony.
As soon as i saw the name of this thread I was going to jump in and say the same thing. Numerous drum soup-bowls I have been around were the opposite of healing. To me anyway. The bangers usually look pretty pleased with themselves in a vacant sort of way. Unless anger can be seen as the healing to depression But then I wasn't depressed before the bangers started...but repressing the anger and seeing events canned cos the drummers annoyed the neighbours can be pretty depressing hmmm.I have been to drum/cymbal/horn/chant based healing ceremonies with Tibetans and Indians and in Morocco. Very moving, not just emotionally, at some other level. I remember feeling one time like my cells were being reorganised in a more positive way. That was the effect of the cymbals and horns with the drums.. not 'jamming' like jazz trumpet horns; very targeted sustained notes. Lots of the Moroccan Gnawa/Sufi music is based on healing rhythms that put people into trance.. different people react to different rhythms, start spontaneously dancing and so on.... not just hippy dancing, really something going on... and there is something explicit about the combination of the wind instrumetns and beat (the drum= human earthedness heartbeat and the horns= the breath of God is how it was said to me.
So ya I've seen both sides and I suspect that the authentic 'healing' trance comes from not only the technical skill and group connectedness of the drummers, but a long tradition to figure out what works. AND most especially the disciplined spirituality of the musicians. As opposed to the 'I'm lost in my own little world and so spaced out man so I don't actually notice how I am murdering any rhythm that might have been here before I started banging' trance.
Herein endeth the rant.
.....Can't juggle balls but I sure as hell can juggle details....
Stargazer
6,650 posts
6,650 posts
Posted:
Ey - "sound healing".... I tried this for years on Goa/Psy Trance festivals, now my bowl is singing 24/7
Seriously I believe "YES" it's good for you, depending on the kind of sound and the volume its played at. Loads of Sufi, meditational music can move to tears (and by that contribute to emotional healing).
Playing music yourself can be healing too - but I reckon that to be the case with with any artistic expression. It's soothing to the soul...
Still looking for that "kind" approach to these bangers who ruin the rhythm again and again... usually I tell them to play 60% "off" their present volume - it rarely works
Ey - "sound healing".... I tried this for years on Goa/Psy Trance festivals, now my bowl is singing 24/7
Seriously I believe "YES" it's good for you, depending on the kind of sound and the volume its played at. Loads of Sufi, meditational music can move to tears (and by that contribute to emotional healing).
Playing music yourself can be healing too - but I reckon that to be the case with with any artistic expression. It's soothing to the soul...
Still looking for that "kind" approach to these bangers who ruin the rhythm again and again... usually I tell them to play 60% "off" their present volume - it rarely works
the best smiles are the ones you lead to 
© 1998 - 2025 Home of Poi
All prices converted to United States dollars using XE.com