Rhythm at the Heart of the Universe: A Drummer's Cosmology

Rhythm is at the heart of the universe. Hebrew Scriptures (Genesis 1) say the universe began as a primal sound, a word, a divine vibration. Christian Scriptures (John 1) identify the Primal Word with Jesus. In Hindu mythology it is out of the element of ether, or nada, the original sound, that the universe came into being. The god Shiva is depicted playing the hourglass drum in one of his right hands while dancing, thus creating and sustaining the universe through rhythm and dance. It is believed that existence would cease if Shiva stopped drumming and dancing. Within Native American stories of the Sacred Wheel (Medicine Wheel) imply that if the people stop dancing and singing the tribe, and even time, may cease to exist.

Drums play a role in the creation stories of many cultures. These stories indicate that drumming and rhythm are understood to be integral to human life. In a creation myth of China a being called P’an-ju, who was an architect, went to the cliffs of Chaos with his chisels. He began drumming out a beat with his tools. Pieces of the cliffs flew into the sky and became the stars and planets. Rhythm and percussion find themselves in our stories of creation’s origin.

Not only is rhythm featured in world mythologies, but also in Western science. Scientists advocate the big bang theory of the universe’s origin. Subatomic physics teaches us that there is rhythm at the heart of the universe. Over 2,500 years ago Pythagoras told his followers that stone was “frozen music.” His intuition has been confirmed by modern molecular physic. All matter is made up of energy vibrating at about 10 (to the 22 power) times per second. A drummer’s cosmology recognizes that there is a Primal Rhythm at the heart of the universe.

The Easter Drums of Aragon

Dear Friends of La Tienda:

Two years ago I was at a friend's house in Spain leafing through a European issue of Time Magazine. The cover story trumpeted 'Spain Rocks!' Shaking off its benighted past, the author bragged, Spain was rising like a phoenix. This vibrant 'new' nation was setting an innovative, dazzling standard for all of Europe. Her chefs were the talk of the world of cuisine; her people were dominating the worlds of fashion, music and the fine arts. Spain was at the vanguard.

But then I looked up from my magazine, and saw images flashing on the television screen - the train station in Madrid had just been bombed by terrorists. March 11 in Madrid was a painful echo of September 11 in Washington and New York 31 months earlier.

Since that terrorist bombing two years ago Spain has exploded with radical social and political changes - discounting traditional values as 'old hat', and in many ways mimicking the values of contemporary Europe. The shift is quite astonishing, and in some ways disturbing. Yet I find comfort knowing that over the ages Spain has been able to absorb many passing influences while remaining anchored in her identity.

Some Spaniards, who are less intoxicated with modernity, are beginning to explore long-ignored cultural sites. By revisiting traditions and rituals they are seeking to understand their roots. It is this fresh appreciation of the lasting traditions which will continue to anchor and define Spain for the next generation.

The central ritual of Spain focuses on Holy Week. Throughout this diverse nation, every one - young and old, believer and skeptic - is drawn into the observance.

There is one Holy Week ritual that I hope to experience in the next few years. It takes place among a cluster of small villages deep in the mountains of Aragon. Once every year, all the inhabitants gather around their parish churches, take up their drums, form bands and spontaneously start drumming. For about twenty four hours without pauses, bands of drummers, largely young men, but also young women and a few children process through the streets of their towns.

On Good Friday as the clock of the parish church in each village strikes at High Noon, an enormous roar resounds throughout the town as all the drums roll simultaneously. There are all kinds - traditional bass drums stretched with skin, modern snare drums, and many other types in between. The drummers dress in blue, violet or black gowns and hoods, the color depending upon the custom of the village. They remain together for two hours, generating among their neighbors an indefinable emotion, which some describe as ecstasy. The drumming makes the ground tremble under their feet. When people put their hands on the wall of their houses they feel the vibration in their bones.

Then the townspeople begin to form a procession, intermingling between the bands of drummers. They leave the Plaza Mayor and weave through their villages, finally returning to where they began. There are so many people who join the procession that the last have not begun before the first reach their goal.

In the procession are men and boys dressed as Roman soldiers, others (including little children) are centurions. There is a Roman general accompanied by men called Longinos,- the ones who guarded the sealed tomb of Jesus. The drum rolls have five or six different rhythms. When two groups of drummers with differing rhythms encounter each other at a street corner, they meet frente y frente - face to face -- and embark on a duel of rhythms. The contest can go on for an hour or more until finally one group acquiesces and assumes the rhythm of the stronger.

At about 5 o'clock the procession through the village is complete and the faithful pause in silence at the church, mourning the Crucifixion. Then the rolls of the drums sound in unison once more, and continue their distinct rhythm until the afternoon of the following day.


All night long the people of the town are engulfed by the prolonged rhythm of the drums. By sunrise, some of the drummers have bleeding hands, but they continue all Saturday morning until they hear the sound of a trumpet as the church bell tolls the appointed hour. At that moment all of the drummers silence their drums. They will not play again until the next year. But for weeks after, some say the rhythm of the drums is reflected in the conversational pattern of the villagers.

Romans, Goths, Arians, Moors, Jews, Christians, and pagans before them - they have all contributed to the consciousness of these isolated towns. These various civilizations are woven into the rich fabric of Spain - and that fabric is lasting. I am confident that no terrorists of any stripe are going to change the traditions of Spain. Neither will the latest trends of Europe. Spain will continue to absorb the contributions of others. Her traditional values are not static, but they will endure.

Your Friend,

Don

*article from- http://www.tienda.com/reference/updates.html?update=7085

Hans Bohm: The Drummer of Niklashausen (1476 C.E)- a poem by Leo Hartshorn

Hans Bohm
played on his drum
to entertain the peasants
it was more pleasant
than shepherding sheep
which caused him to sleep
under the stars
until arousin'
from the sun coming up
over Niklashausen

it was a Saturday night in Lent
his energies spent
on the herd
then suddenly he heard
a voice in the night
from a light in the sky
wondering why
the Mother of God
would come to a drummer

She spoke of vanities
of the people under the steeple
and in the street
the heat in his heart
led Bohm to start a fire
a bonfire of the vanities
for all the insanities
of inequity and injustice
and the unpleasantness
of peasantness
he would soon preach against

upon the flame he tossed
his drum, a shame
and dumb, if you ask me
because, you see,
he could have beaten that skin
against the sin and inequality
and frivolity of pimping priests
and the naughtiness of nobles
before his drum fell silent
and peasants revolted
and heaven was jolted
by his execution
which is never a solution
for drummers who seek justice

Christian Huygens and the law of entrainment

In my Drumming for Peace programs I tell the story of the Dutch scientist Christian Huygens. The story illustrates a principle of peacemaking. The story illuminates for me a conviction not only that rhythm is at the heart of the universe, but that the rhythms of creation tip toward synchronization.

In 1665, Christian Huygens, a Dutch scientist, who was also a clock maker and inventor of the pendulum clock, had placed two of his pendulum clocks next to each other on the wall. After several days he noticed that the pendulums, which had started off randomly, were swinging in synchronization. He observed that there was nothing material that connected one clock to the other.

From his observation he explored what happened when oscillators or things that pulsed were placed in close proximity. He discovered that the pulses tended to “entrain” or synchronize. The law of entrainment says that when pulses are placed close together they tend to come into a common rhythm, rather than work at odds with one another.

Scientists have observed this law of entrainment in heart cells placed near each other and have observed it in speech and body patterns in human dialogue. This tells me that the divine mystery has drummed out a rhythmic principle within the universe that communicates this truth: It is easier and more natural for our life rhythms to entrain and harmonize, than to clash and work against each other.