Drumming is an ancient technology for synchronizing the body-mind complex and accessing realms beyond the physical.
The frame drum is the oldest known drum, played mainly by women for millennia in sacred rituals and oracular ceremonies as a means of creating peace and ecstasy, and accessing the deepest wisdom within.
Layne Redmond (1952-2013), world-renowned drummer, composer, recording artist, author, and drum historian, brought the frame drum back into Western consciousness through her life-long research, study, practice, and teaching, empowering people all over the world to reclaim this ancient transformative art.
Layne playing one of her signature Lotus frame drums
From Layne’s “Being in Rhythm” meditation: “Our bodies are expressions of energetic fields of vibrations. From the pulse of our hearts to the rhythms of our breathing and the patterns of our speech, we are truly rhythmic beings. We are conceived to the pulse of our mother’s blood and born into a rhythmic world, where we are continually influenced by the celestial cycles of the Sun, the Earth, the Moon, and the stars. Although we can never extricate ourselves from this rhythmic web, many of us find that modern life is unconnected to the rhythms of nature and we feel a deep yearning to be in rhythm once again.”
In Layne’s book, When the Drummers Were Women, she notes: “Many are returning to the drum to recover an important spiritual connection that has been lost, a connection long buried but somehow instantly familiar.”
Layne’s work has enabled people to reconnect with a rhythmic world through the powerful experience of playing the frame drum, which she shared as a musical discipline within a spiritual framework.
At Blessed Beats, we teach and explore Layne’s approach to frame drumming mastery through introductory and intermediate classes, frame drum intensives, and through our frame drum ensemble, Sancta.
Sancta at “Twilight at the Oasis”, a benefit for Cornucopia House
Sancta at the Music Explorium grand opening
Upcoming Events
Introduction to Frame Drumming, Spring, Triangle area, details TBD. Experience the world music frame drumming of Layne Redmond, internationally known performer, composer, recording artist, film maker, drum historian, and the author of When The Drummers Were Women! Class is for women and men of all skill levels, from absolute beginners to experienced drummers, and is open to anyone curious about frame drumming or Layne’s work, or those just wanting to have fun drumming with others. We begin with Layne’s chakra breathing meditation for synchronizing the mind/body complex. Then we cover all of Layne’s core techniques for tambourine and tar (Middle Eastern style frame drum), including how to hold the drum, how to play the basic strokes, and how to combine strokes. Class will conclude with a participatory rhythmic ritual. $40-60 sliding fee covers handouts, light snacks, and all class instruction. For more informaiton, or to be notified when the next class is scheduled, contact Farrunnissa at 919 361-2383.
For more information about these events or about Blessed Beats, contact Farrunnissa at 919 361-2383.
To learn more about Layne Redmond, her recordings, publications, and legacy, visit www.LayneRedmond.com.
Farrunnissa and Layne
Look what the Goddess does when she is sad:
She takes up a tambourine, made of taut skin
and rimmed with castanets of brass,
and she begins to dance.
The sound blares out wildly,
reaching even to the depths of the underworld,
so loud, so clamorous is it.
Look what the Goddess does when she is sad:
She finds the wildness in herself,
and as she does,
she finds that there is joy there too.
— Euripides (Greek dramatist)
quoted in The Goddess Companion by Pat Moynihan
In Beauty is the secret of Divinity. – Hazrat Inayat Khan