The Daily Muse
Welcome to the Daily Muse feature of Music Makes Sense! This daily update brings you up to the minute news about music and music therapy as it relates to our professions, events and individual lives. You can follow the daily entries by subscribing to Music Makes Sense on Twitter or by "Liking" the Facebook page for Music Makes Sense. Enjoy, and thanks for reading!
If the situation at the Occupy Wall Street Rally were not so serious and filled with real drama, then the standoff with the drummers could be even more humorous than it already it! The second paragraph in the news story reads like a script for a Saturday Night Live skit! I mean you've got ad hoc committees like the "community relations" group being formed to carry out intense negotiations over several weeks of time in order to manage the relentless drumming going on in the community drum circle. Apparently, the drummers are up against the "good neighbor" policy and are drumming for too long and into the wee hours of the night. I feel for the drummers - who would have thought that squatters in a public park making all kinds of noise and mess would enforce a "good neighbor" policy within their own ranks?? Really? The plot thickens after the community drummers agree to play only during certain hours, when suddenly, rogue drummers show up who don't feel bound by the agreement! Hello producers! Do you need a skit for next week?!
I do not want to make fun of community drum circles which can be very valuable therapeutic experiences when properly guided. But I do think that this situation does not show community drum circles in a good light. This is not what we want people thinking about the next time we introduce a drum circle at a corporate wellness event or community center. I think the OWS protesters are missing the point that a true drum circle is an organic creature an generally loosely facilitated. They are trying to make it an arm and instrument of their political message rather than allowing it to ebb and flow with the true nature of a group drumming experience. What do you think?
No comments:
Post a Comment