Why Study World PolyRhythm?

The Healing Drum

by Wolf Murphy

There is a great deal of buzz about the drum as an instrument of healing, with a great deal of profoundly well thought out and researched science behind it. It's an extensive topic, however, a few brief considerations here are appropriate and necessary.

The most relevant and amazing research comes from the field of psychoneuroimmunology, via Dr. Barry Bittman, and has become established in practice with the HealthRhythms protocol of Group Empowerment Drumming. The fundamental concept underlying this entire protocol is based on the understanding that our psychological (and therefore neurobiological!) state affects our immune system—profoundly.

More and more modern science uncovers the elegant truth that our immune systems are not isolated biological mechanisms that operate independently within the confines of our skins. Our environment, both ecological and social, has a huge impact on our immunological wellness, and therefore on our general state of health.

Ecologically, this obviously encompasses our balance of nutrition, the quality of our food, air and water, and goes far beyond that as we discover that the complete and integrative natural world itself is part of our immune systems. Let's look at just one quick example—the odor of a pine forest:

"Pinosylvin is a natural antibiotic. When emitted as an ester form it exerts in the forest a stimulating effect on the process of breathing itself. It also functions as a mild narcotic. These aerosols have an anaesthetic effect on the body, bringing about relaxation. A forest of pines acts as an air sweep, cleansing and soporifying the atmosphere anywhere they grow in the global garden. . . . the global forests exert an antiviral and antibacterial action on moving air masses, in general."

—Beresford-Kroger, Diana. The Global Forest, p. 81

And our social surroundings have a profound impact as well. Psychoneuroimmunologically and sociologically, our immune systems benefit from an individual awareness of being an empowered part of a supportive community. We can postulate that all the proven wellness benefits of HealthRhythms derive from this one fundamental premise. These benefits encompass physiological benefits including: immune system improvement, increased NK (natural killer) cell activity; and most astonishingly, the reversal of the human stress response associated with the expression of hereditary stress-related disease—on a genomic level! Yes: community drumming can change us at the level of our DNA, and for the better.

This notion of being an empowered part of a supportive community is exemplified by the very structure of polyrhythmic, polyphonic music. This is an approach to music with a different fundamental premise than a Westernized, consumerized perception could encompass:

"Whatever music is being performed, whether ritual, ceremonial or simply for entertainment, no Central African society has a relationship between musician and listeners that may be compared with that existing in Europe. The radical division prevailing in the West between active musicians and their passive audience could have no meaning here. Music exists either to carry out a function or simply to entertain. But as soon as it is a question of a collective music, every member of the community will, in one way or another, participate, although not always to the same degree. People do not go to listen to music, they make music together. Some play an instrument, others use their voices or their bodies, but everyone does something, everyone participates."

—Arom, Sima. African Polyphony and Polyrhythm: Musical Structure and Methodology, p. 15

"Everyone participates"! This aspect of inclusiveness is definitely one of the structural foundations for effective facilitation of community building of any kind, especially musical. And even deeper than mere inclusiveness is the supportiveness of intentional, goal-oriented, group cooperation. This sense of accomplishment and satisfaction can have life-changing, stress-resolving, physiologically healing effects:

"Positive emotional experiences can provide protection to the delicate hippocampus by reducing cortisol production. . . . All positive and negative life experiences, whether in childhood or adulthood, can reset that sensitivity."

—Perlmutter, David, and Villoldo, Albert. Power Up Your Brain: The Neuroscience of Enlightenment. p. 66  

There are numerous benefits to taking the Healing Drum further, into the realm of study and craft. Studying technique and tradition, and continually learning and exploring, crafting our own expressions and interpretations. One of these benefits is neuroplasticity, which depends on continual focus on new information—continual studying.

"The discovery that neuroplasticity cannot occur without attention has important implications. If a skill becomes so routine you can do it on autopilot, practicing it will no longer change the brain."

—Sharon Begley quote, Op. Cit., p. 74

I have often responded to queries about my passion for these rich and challenging polyrhythmic traditions with the observation that playing these orchestrations and arrangements in a cooperative group setting allows us to experience the creation of a music we could never manifest by ourselves; and this while simultaneously imparting a sense of transformative personal effort and success in learning a part and maintaining it in the context of the complex ensemble construction. Properly played, traditional polyrhythms offer a unique musical opportunity to experience how every single part communicates with and supports every other part.

And thus every player communicates with and supports every other player. And when this magic manifests via our focused attention we experience a quantum leap of aesthetic and spiritual potential and satisfaction. So here's my thought, informed by decades of study of traditional rhythms and drum healing modalities, and the same decades of playing in drum circles, both facilitated and "anarchic":

If we truly wish to experience the deep healing of becoming an empowered part of a supportive community, we face the challenge of transcending whatever cultural predispositions we may bear towards competitiveness and individual aggrandizement that are an entrenched part of an industrialized, westernized cultural indoctrination. If we wish our healing to be regenerative and reconnective, we must learn a sense of belonging not only in true human community but also in a deeper respect for nature. None of this is a judgment from a height. These are aspirations that I myself have, and challenges I find in my own path.

My study has shown me that the cultures that these rhythms originated from have much to offer in this quest. How better to learn cooperation, connection, and community support than through learning ensemble polyrhythms that require exactly these attributes?

"The predominant participatory mode of African music can be said to constitute a formal characteristic that takes precedence over other elements of musical organization. In this regard, therefore, aesthetic issues can be contextualized by functional concerns of communal cohesion. The aesthetic principles that make African music work reflect the manner in which the music has been institutionalized to provide frameworks for participation."

". . .it is clear that the rhythmic medium functions according to organizing principles that solicit participation and encourage movement. . . . it is now a generally accepted axiom of current ethnomusicology that the use of rhythms in African music is a socializing element that patterns interaction and enhances a sense of togetherness at community events. . . . When the music relinquishes its relation to movement, it abandons its participatory potential."

—Chernoff, John M. The Rhythmic Medium in African Music, pp. 1094, 1100–1101

Once we deeply connect with the idea of polyrhythm as a structural tool for community building, and experience a deeper connection with that community—how better to continue and learn regenerative reconnection with the earth than by respectfully devoting ourselves to the craft of celebrating by creating music with wood and skins?

"The drum possesses a healing power which is both physical and spiritual. The source of this power is the very structure of the drum itself. An African hand drum is a union of two life forces--an animal skin and a hardwood tree. The drum is alive. . . . Now in many African traditions, trees are said to carry all the knowledge of the universe—their roots extend deep into the earth, while their branches touch the sky, so that they are in continual and constant contact with forces which are hidden from the eye of man. When you think of the organic knowledge that a tree has absorbed, you begin to realize that there's a considerable amount of power in a drum.

"This power, however, can only be harnessed if the art of drumming is approached with humility. That is, the drummer must put aside all considerations of personal gain or self-glorification—the object of drumming in the African tradition is not to draw attention to yourself, but to the lifeforce. In order to produce a healing rhythm, therefore, the drummer must serve as an intermediary between the unknown and the community. The drummer opens himself to the unknown and becomes a lightning rod through which the lifeforce--the spiritual energy which permeates the universe--enters the skin and the wood of the drum through his hands to produce a healing rhythm."

—Rose, Darrell. Healing Rhythms (online)

The very materials and form of the drum, as well as the very compositional structure of the rhythms themselves, all combine to offer us a possibility of regenerative reconnection with so much that we have lost.

The discipline of practice and study can restore us to our birthright of respect and connection, and the challenge of group orchestration can inform us regarding a pathway to cooperation and community.

At the heart of each of us, 
whatever our imperfections, 
there exists a silent pulse of perfect rhythm, 
a complex of wave forms and resonances 
which is absolutely individual and unique, 
and yet which connects us to everything in the universe. 
The act of getting in touch with this pulse 
can transform our personal experience 
and in some way alter the world around us.

—Leonard, George. The Silent Pulse, p. xii