More conference fun! Remo Artbeat drums!

Did any of you attending the national conference for the America Music Therapy Association in Jacksonville see the new Artbeat line of Remo drums??  These drums have actually been around since 2010, but now they will be on sale for the public starting in January!

These drums have special textured canvas heads that allow several different kinds of permanent art medium like paints, chalk and more.  Here is a short video that shows the drum being used for art: 

 

I was impressed by the resonance and overall good sound that came from the drums when I played them at the conference! I don't have any links for the new drums yet, but I did play one of the buffalo drums similar to this one at Amazon, just with the new canvas head:
 


I was informed that the drums would soon be available in different sizes and will include frame drums, djembes and even rainsticks or paddle drums! My first idea is to use a large frame drum during a group session to create a large mandala! I have proposed to my students that will be seniors next year to think about doing a fund raiser to purchase a large frame drum and then create a group mandala on the drum as a senior project. This drum can then be donated to the music therapy program as a senior gift! They seem to like the idea and I am very exited about this idea as well as other therapeutic applications. You can find other ideas about combining music and mandala art in one of my other posts here. 

Happy Thanksgiving and happy drumming!

Remo's New Versa Drums!

I had a chance to try out the new Remo line of Versa drums at the American Music Therapy Association national conference.  I was really impressed!  

They were amazingly light, but still had the good sound of a Remo tubano or djembe.  In addition, the ability to stack them and use the heads as hand drums makes them extremely versatile!  I think the name fits!

These drums are definitely worth checking out!  And great for the mobile music therapist!

  

Robin Spielberg: Celebrity Spokesartist for the American Music Therapy Association

Robin Spielberg performed at the opening session of the AMTA national conference in Jacksonville, FL this year. She has been a spokesperson for music therapy since 2000.  She was a wonderful performer and wove her stories in between the playing of some of her favorite original piano compositions.  Her new book is:


My wife and I particularly love this album:

Thank you, Robin, for all you do for music therapy!!