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Essence of SPIRITDRUM
April 19th 2012 Another SPIRITDRUM gathering…
These are some moments that I experience and sure many did too!
Moment 1:
For this gathering I decided to bring “Little Hibou” for his first debut! “Hibou” is the name that I 
selected to name my little owl whistle. Hibou means owl in french. Thanks to a friend that suggested this name. Dave C. had me introduce our new little friend and I then blew into it, to create the Barred Owl sound. Of course everyone welcomed him and smiled! Now I started to play “little Hibou” and one of my friends, Mike M. had a little bone flute and started to make bird sounds, Dave C. had a bird calling whistle, others started to make bird sounds…now we were in the enchanted forest and all the birds were singing to the sounds of the drums, bells, shakers, etc. I kept playing little Hibou and creating its own rhythm…Oh! What fun! Just to think what a little owl whistle can do and bring a different harmony to SPIRITDRUM!
Moment 2:
Many individuals were into their deep drumming, some had shakers, chimes, bells, etc. I was sitting mostly where everyone was playing their frame drums. After some flutes playing, I picked up my buffalo frame drum and started to join in. As I played, I listened to the other frame drums and my right hand started beating. One-two, one-two, beats and so on and on and on…to a point that everyone that was playing the frame drums were following the same pattern. I closed my eyes and just went into auto pilot…my heart and drum became one. I smiled, as I was feeling this deep connection and forgetting totally what I was doing. My drum became alive and took over. I am sure as I was feeling this, so did many! The connection of the heartbeat!
Moment 3.
While Dave C. was drumming on the mother drum, some individuals around the drum started to chant words about the drum, don’t remember the words exactly, but it sounded real nice. I started to play my flute in between some of the lyrics and rhythms. It was my first time I tried this out, but totally loved it. Experimenting tones and sounds while they were chanting. As they were chanting, I was remembering what I had written for my reading and this is it:
All creation moves and dances in the same circle of life…
The rocks, the waters, the clouds, the trees, the birds, the four-legged creatures, the water dwellers,
you and I…
The heartbeat of Mother Earth is the heartbeat that thumps…
within your chest and in the rhythm of everything in our natural world.
This is one of the symbolism of the sacred drum at the center of our gathering circle.
It is the heartbeat that we are all connected.
We are related to everything.
Let yourself dance in the circle of connection to all living things!
We are indeed, all related!!!
~~MMGrey
~~I never know what to expect at these gatherings, nor who will attend, what the essence of the event will be. But I do know one thing, there is a very strong connection. Much more than what we can even imagine. For me to prepare this reading and many others, bring them to the gathering and its the perfect one to share without knowing the essence of that evening. I am always totally speechless at the end of each gathering. This is the Essence of SPIRITDRUM!
We see with our eyes. We know with our hearts. Outside…Inside.
~~Cantus Fraggle
It has Arrived! My first Native American Flute!
It has arrived!!!
It’s October 2011 and now I am a proud owner of a Native American Flute and its in my hands. What on earth am I doing? I don’t know how to play this instrument! Can I do this? Now what? I know nothing, only that I love the sound! HAHAH!
Okay! Let me see, I hold the flute like this. I place my fingers like this…Hummm! My fingers are not liking this and not feeling so comfortable! But I will keep them there! They need to stay there! Now, put the mouth piece next to my lower lip and blow air into the flute. Here we go! Hummm! This is not sounding so great! Why, when Joe plays his flute, it sounds so beautiful and easy. Okay! It’s from the heart! Let me try this again! My fingers here, the mouth piece here. Lets try again and again and again and… Now its sounding even worst! Oh Great! Now as I am playing, Joey (pet bird) starts to scream! Even he’s not feeling it. HAHAH! Okay! Lets go! Again! Feel free! Relax! I don’t think its suppose to sound this way! This is not right….
It’s time to contact Joe, my flute friend and mentor!. I emailed him and he explained that the flute will collect moisture and will make the flute sound funny. He explained what to do. So I let the flute dry a bit before playing it again! After a while I realized why a Native American Flute performer, bring tons of flutes with them, because one is lucky if you get 15 minutes out of one flute…due to the moisture. Hummm! Now I get it. Oh! But I only have one!
Saturday came around and I attended the FREEDRUM drum circle. Now while Dave, the facilitator was making the announcements, he also mentioned SPIRITDRUM, which meets every third Thursday of the month. It is a more quieter circle. It’s geared to relax the mind and be creative with softer tones. Since he was aware that I had purchased a flute, he shared with everyone that I will be bringing my flute!
What? Huh? Did he just say flute? I did a double take toward him and said “Oh! Oh! Yeah! of course! I will BRING my flute” Then I started to laugh as normal. Then started to think, no pressure now, its only been two days since I purchased my flute. This was like being pushed down the stairs and saying “Good Luck! Safe landing! Adios! See ya!” 🙂
Throughout the next couple of weeks, I continued playing my flute every morning and evening. I position my fingers and mouth piece and still was getting those strange sounds but I continued no matter what. I would remember these words “Play from the heart”. “Let the heart flow!”. “Don’t think!” “Just play!” I started to listen to other music, like piano soloist and accompanied them. So I can feel, where I belong with the flute. That helped quite a bit because I was not thinking, I flowed into the song. That was when my heart started to feel different. Like a disappearance of one self and becoming one with the flute. This is the most unbelievable feeling, one actually feel invisible. I love this feeling!
SPIRITDRUM came around and “Yes!” I brought my flute with me. This was it! I will just leap myself off the cliff with faith and hope someone will catch me at the landing. Did I feel sure of what I was doing? No! Was I a bit nervous of any strange sounds coming out? Yes! Did I know when to come in while everyone was playing? No! But here I am with flute in hand. Everyone started to play their soft sounding instruments and drums of choice and creating a beautiful rhythmic tones and harmony. As I was feeling the music and feeling every pulse, I picked up my flute and out came a soft sound then a strange one, which I wanted to die but kept on playing. When one plays an instrument with others, you have no ideal what direction it will take, but I kept on. Kind of winging it as the rhythmic sound moved along. After the gathering, I was so relieved. I did it. However it came out, however the sound, I did it. From this day on there was no stopping!
My first flute, will always be special. Because of this, I wanted to give it a name that represent me, my journey, my 
life. Three years ago I had purchase a little figurine from the “Willow Tree” collection. The one that represented me 100% is called “Freespirit”, “Dancing through life with laugher”. I treasure this little piece because its my essence. It’s who I am. So I decided to name this flute “FreeSpirit”.
This flute is an instrument, but not just an instrument that I play, it also teaches me. When I play, I become one with the flute. It is a healing instrument, which I will explain at my next blog. Playing from the heart, not knowing where it will take me. When I play my FreeSpirit flute, it spreads its wings and flies, soars through the sky like an eagle. (To be continued…)
~~Did I get pushed off the cliff? Was there pressure to speed the learning? To move forward? I would answer with “Yes” but it was up to me. I did bring my flute, I did play, however and whatever the sound would be. I am very grateful that Dave pushed me forward and because of his support and confidence, it helped me move and leap forward. Also the support of all my friends. They were the ones listening as I played, they are the ones playing other instruments and mending into one solid rhythm and harmony. There are no words to explain my gratitude.
I love where I am at now. I am still learning. It has only been four months and so far I have three Native American Flutes. For me, this is like a miracle and many individuals have become part of this miracle which I will always cherish and treasure. And my first flute, “FreeSpirit” has taught me to play from the heart, feel from the heart, connect with element of the wood, voice my song, voice my feelings. I believe this is a gift from my creator as I follow my heart and dreams…
We see with our eyes. We know with our hearts. Outside…Inside. ~~Cantus Fraggle
SpiritDrum! Oh! SpiritDrum
SpiritDrum! SpiritDrum! Oh! SpiritDrum! Let me hear your voice….
One of my favorite drum circle is SpiritDrum, held at the Enchanted Fox in Medway. Its held every 3rd Thursday of the month from 7-9:30 PM but sometimes till 10 PM because no one wants to leave. 🙂
During this past week, it was a crazy, extreme busy week, more like squeezing blood from a rock! and I was the rock. Now, I was looking forward to SpiritDrum for a relaxing, creative gathering together with very special individuals that I hold close to my heart and love seeing.
So Thursday came around and I went to work. I was thinking that when I arrive to E-Fox, I was going to grab the floor pillows and place them against the short wall so I can lean my back as I play some of my instruments or sing. So I had a plan… The time came for me to leave from work which was at 2 PM and headed home. Took a shower, put together my dinner and sat to watch some news and catch up with this planet we live in. The weather came on and said that there were forecasting snow for the evening and all night…”Great!” Now I started to think…should I attend or not. How bad of a snow storm? How many inches? yes? No? I want to go but my commute is close to an hour. I need an answer… Since I still had a couple of more hours to kill I started to do some creative, artsy projects as I waited for the answer. HAHAH! Yes an answer!
At about 5 PM I started to gather all my instruments and putting them in my SUV but still waiting for an answer. Finished getting dress and so on. Then I sat down and watched the weather again…turned the TV off and sat to think and meditate. After 5 minutes I got my answer…”Go!” and I went! 🙂 There was traffic and the roads were getting a little slippery but arrived safe and happy.
I walked up the steps to the second floor thinking of what I needed to do with the floor pillows. Some of my friends were already there settling down, talking, getting updated with life. As I continued into the room I glanced over to my left which is where I normally sit and noticed a floor pillow with two smaller pillows on top against the short wall… I was in awe! It has been already laid out for me…this was my plan and it is done! I needed to be here and see and feel this! Someone is my angel. What a sweet welcoming! At that moment while everyone was talking and greeting each other I was in my own little world…I was so grateful and touched…speechless as I took out all of my instruments.
The Host, Dave started with news updates, then proceeded with the smudging, and calling of the four Native American directions. He then started beating the ceremony drum with strength and power giving out a strong firm sound. Like an awakening of a calling. We all started to join him with different beats, singing bowls, rattles and other instruments. Then our voices started to join in with the same strength but not loud but strong and firm. The sound became very intense and unified. The entire room felt like it was 
elevating into the heavens. Like if the roof just opened and we reached over to the galaxies. Simply beautiful.
So from the very beginning the unity as one was felt. Everyone was in such connection from one another. We were all a family helping each other out, listening to each other, giving each other support. Then we took a few minutes to breathe quietly. Then we started again with a different beat and rhythm. There were times we would laugh and exchanged a few words plus made fun of each other…but it felt good, we were a family. I played my flute several times which I love because it helps me know when to come in within the beats. I am learning not to anticipate and just flow, feel the essence of the moment and express that from my heart. It’s not the same as playing at home when I can create my own expressions.
I shared a reading reflections from one of my favorite Native flute performers and writings. After, my friend, Dan brought his didgeridoo. He set up his amplifier and microphone so the sound would be more intense. He 
started to play and 
I started to smile. Dave played the ceremony drum with mallets and hands. I picked up my singing bowl and started to play. Listening to Dave and another friend, Caroline that was next to me…plus Becky on the Shruti box. This is all I heard in instruments. I am sure there was more but this was it for me…I could not believe the voices I was hearing…a rejoicing, chanting, an intense honoring. I started to voice my deepest feelings…I joined in with what I was hearing.
This was so pure, so free, so raw, so honorable, so simple, so rich, so tender and so powerful. I would have kept on all night until I would have fallen asleep listening…
At the end we all held hands together. Dave always has a few words to depart with, but this time he did not. He expressed that while driving over to E-Fox, he was thinking of what to express, what to share and came up with a reflection to leave everyone with. But when he heard what I shared earlier, it was almost a word for word transcription of what he was going to say…so he was floored when he heard me and when I heard him explain, I became numb. We all then gave each other a caring squeeze of the hand we were holding, to show that we are here, we are one, we are connected. ~~
Here, I was not sure in attending due to the weather but was told to “GO”. I had to go, I had to be a part of this gathering. I arrived and found the pillows against the short wall, shared the harmonic rhythms, sang, reached the heavens and galaxies, was blessed with the playing of the didgeridoo and shared my reading reflection that Dave was thinking of. A total perfection I would say. This gathering and everyone who attended were highly blessed and I am sure they felt blessed, I know I did.
We make plans or have plans. It does not matter how simple or complicated they may be. But they are sometimes taken care of by the spiritual world. I had my plans, Dave had his, but they were taken care of in the most spiritual wonderful ways. Its just that simple and we learn from them. These are little miracles but when we think and start to discern they are huge as we begin to understand the connection. So make your plans, but remember some of those plans maybe already be taken care of…Flow…Go…Embrace!…Be grateful! _/|\_
We see with our eyes. We know with our hearts. Outside…Inside. ~~Cantus Fraggle
Free Spirit Song 