Doumbecky

[ladysprite]

So. I camped. I survived. I'm home, and showered, and re-established in the land of electric lights and climate control and made-for-cable SF miniseries. This is all good.

The event was.... well, it was. There were people, and there were tents, and there was court. There was a lot of court. People got awards; some of the people were friends, and I was glad to be there for that. There was enough sun and enough thunder and lightning to sate me for quite some time. I managed to almost completely avoid getting sunburned; on the other hand, I also managed to almost completely avoid seeing and socializing with most of my friends, who for the most part legitimately had more important things to do than pass the time of day with a minnow like myself. I tried my best to make myself helpful, which was more or less unsuccessful, and when that failed I settled for trying to be unobtrusive.

Once both the sun and the dramatic thunderstorms had both passed, I wound up getting pulled into a nearby gypsy encampment to watch the drumming-and-dancing. It was beautiful and artistic and it fit in with the mood and the site, and the only negative thing for me was being unable to participate in any way. It's not a style of dancing that I know at all, I have less than no musical ability, and I've long ago let go of the pretty myth that the audience's mere presence is a form of participation. I have no doubt that I could learn to dance like that, given time and lessons and dedication, but I was in a mood that required immediate gratification, which was nowhere to be found.

So I stumbled off to sleep, confident that the sunshine and fresh air would make everything better the next day. Unsurprisingly for those who know just how solar-powered I truly am, it did.

Morning came. Sunshine came. Breakfast came and went, and I was wandering around aimlessly, halfheartedly packing, when a friend started noodling on her doumbek. Filled with a combination of curiosity, hunger for social interaction, and a desire to get out of packing up the tent, I flopped down beside her and asked her to show me how to play. She handed me the drum and told me where to hit. I settled it on the ground, then in response to her frantic gestures of wrongness, tried to readjust it onto my lap. My first cautious tap on the thing's head produced a flat, twangy bonk. Undaunted, I took a deep breath and tried again. The drum promptly rolled off my knee.

Another friend with a bit more experience stepped in at that point, and handed me a drum that seemed to like me a bit better. He showed me how to hold it between my lap and my arm, and how to shape my fingers, and how and where to strike. I gave it one more try, figuring that after three failures I could walk away without feeling like too much of a quitter.

boom

And it sounded right. And it felt right. And I tried it again, and it was right again. And after that, it was just a matter of convincing my hands to catch up with the rhythms in my head. Slowly at first, one at a time, making sure I could get the right sound in the right shape and at the right time, then once I had that outline established, inserting beats where they seemed to fit best, until it felt like I was building a dance out of the sound and the motion of my hands....

Wow.

I'm still not a musician. I'm still not even particularly good, but after 20 minutes of practice at my first lesson, I know enough to know that this is something I like. It's a way to connect with music that I've never found before - not a replacement for dance, more like another dimension of understanding. And while I need another hobby like I need an invigorating encounter with intestinal flu, it'll be worth the investment of time and money if I get to feel like that again even once.

All things considered, I'd have to call the weekend a success....

Comments

[janetmiles.livejournal.com]

What a wonderfulness! I find myself very happy when my friends encounter things that make them feel Right.

[pixel.livejournal.com]

did you have a little one (~1ft high) or a big one (~3+ft high)?"

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

It was probably closer to 1 foot - I think anything bigger than that would be difficult to hold....

[vettecat.livejournal.com]

Very cool! Glad you enjoyed the weekend, and got to have a fun new experience.

[warinbear.livejournal.com]

All things considered, I'd have to call the weekend a success....

Sounds like it couldn't be beat. <g> I'm glad you enjoyed the event.

[starcat-jewel.livejournal.com]

Glad you had a good time.

Tom started playing the doumbek a few years before we split, and really enjoyed jamming with it. I never could get the hang of it, so now I'm mildly envious.

[hawkegirl.livejournal.com]

I saw you briefly at GNE, but did not have time to say hi. (I'm not even sure if you remember me, I was the female Ogre in a midsummer nights dream.)

Drums are amazing insturments. Kudo's to you for not just quitting when it wasn't working at first. We need more drummers!

FWIW I think elizabear teaches drumming, you might want to ping her on it if you want some more lessons via the SCA.

[sdorn.livejournal.com]

Doumbeks are definitely cool instruments. It's a worthwhile addiction, if you can be drawn in.

[spectoria.livejournal.com]

You don't have to be a musician, you only have to recognize there is music inside you. This may be the first step on a life-long road. Why focus on now? Instead, recognize you've had a glimpse into what is going to BE in the future. We are, all of us, striving to BECOME future selves.

And good luck!

[umbran.livejournal.com]

Why focus on now?

To take advantage of current enthusiasm to create some momentum, rather than slip back into pasdt inertia? Because with focus comes progress?

And because it's fun? :)

Drumming up support

[cristovau.livejournal.com]

I'm a stealth doumbek player myself (taught by elizabear). Don't worry about this new hobby. Play and practice when you can. It's like riding a bicycle. It comes back even after years of inacticity, and there isn't a drum circle that doesn't need someone holding a steady beat, so never feel like you aren't good enough to join in.

Feel free to borrow my drum anytime you see me with it. Half the fun of owning a drum is sharing it.

Re: Drumming up support

[dreda.livejournal.com]

What he said - the drum I bring to non-winter events is really super-forgiving and lovely to play, and even easy on the hands. (The winter drum is cool, but it's trickier, not to mention being wood and skin, which is an utter disaster in the summer.)

Plus, it's tooled and etched copper, so it would look phenomenally beautiful as an accessory to you in particular. ;)

Re: Drumming up support

[ladysprite.livejournal.com]

Wow. I feel like I've just joined a very, very big, very, very stealthy (yet percussive) club. :)

That sounds absolutely gorgeous, by the way. I'm seriously thinking about having a friend pick me up a drum of my own at Pennsic, but I should probably look around to see what options there are before I do that....

Re: Drumming up support

[pixel.livejournal.com]

"I may have a line on simple drum-aquisition. Give me about a week or so to check up on it."

||: DOUM DOUM teka teka tek, DOUM teka teka tek, teka teka tek! :||

[siderea]

Wow. I feel like I've just joined a very, very big, very, very stealthy (yet percussive) club. :)

You will be assimilated. :) Welcome to the hive. :) :) :)

[jtdiii.livejournal.com]

When you eventually get August free, there are many, many classes and impromptu drum sessions at Pennsic. There is drumming every night in some encampments and in the coffee shop when everywhere else closes for the night.

If you enjoy drumming there are few better places for it. :)

[jducoeur]

Like I said, I'm really not surprised. You have a dancer's instincts, and key to that is an innate sense of rhythm. So for you, it's mostly a matter of learning how to let what you feel flow out through your hands.

Something to think about: instead of thinking about it as a hobby, you may want to think about it as a toy. I never really "learned" hammered dulcimer -- never took lessons or anything like that. My father gave me the thing as a wedding present, and for the longest time I just kind of noodled. But what I discovered was that there are moods where noodling is incredibly therapeutic: just pull it out, and hit strings however it felt right to me. Over the course of years, that noodling slowly got more comfortable, as I stopped being self-conscious about it (after all, I was usually just doing it for myself at home), and started to really enjoy it. And somewhere along the line, I wound up good enough to play for dancing, almost by accident.

You tend to be goal-oriented, and I'm not going to dissuade you from it if you decide to really pursue that. But bear in mind that it's not essential. If it feels good to just noodle, then do so -- it's good for you. Think of it less as an instrument that you have to get "good" at, and more like dance. I know that you understand the notion of Just Dancing because it feels right and necessary and good; this may well work very similarly for you once you've got the basics nailed down. (And you're pretty close to having the basics already, based on what I was hearing on Saturday.)

And now, having written this, I'm realizing how badly I miss doing this. Time to blow the dust off the dulcimer and set it up somewhere...