i drum

my loving husband gave me an early birthday gift a couple of weeks ago. a new djembe! actually a new to me djembe. this drum comes from a wonderful woman, Lynn. Lynn had been hand drumming for years, but sustained a hand injury and wouldn't be able to play a djembe again...she's fine and has moved on to her love...the duns. this drum was displayed at Mae's home...not my sister, Mae, my drum teacher, Mae. i fell in love with it, but not it's price tag. Daryl noticed my interest in the drum, so he contacted Mae about buying it. 'absolutely NOT' Mae said....'Tanya has to pick out her own drum...one can't just be bought for her...it's a very personal choice'. she did give Daryl Lynn's info....a few days later, i found myself in front of whole foods playing this lovely drum. Lynn told me what she knew about the drum...it's from West Africa and is sacred. the carving is of kundalini rising...

you can see it better in this shot. in an email to Daryl (that he shared with me), Lynn wrote, 'It is like kundalini rising when drumming, you know what I mean?'...no, he didn't, but i do :)

the goat skin is beautiful...with the obvious spine down the center...very desirable in a djembe

here's a close up..you can actually see some of the goat hair....it's that beautiful? it's said that each drum has three spirits...from the tree, the animal and the drum maker. i love that


here's my lil snapper, thrilled to get her hands on both of mama's djembes...the smaller one is now hers and she's just delighted.

so, tonight was the first night of the next series of drum classes. Leah Ann also drummed...all the others couldn't make it this session. we were joined with 2 women that had taken 3 previous classes...i was a tad intimidated...so in awe. there were also 2 newbies..and i'm soooo glad. Mae had us doing much harder/faster rhythms, and i needed the time it took Mae to teach the new students to catch up with my parts. it was difficult, but that's what it's all about stretching yourself. my drum sounded fabulous and was so much easier to play...the wide base enabled me to get a good tilt without worrying it would fall over. i was able to close my eyes and let it flow. i'm SO ready for next weeks class and the drum circle i'm going to with Lynn next friday....did i mention she's a Djembabe? :)

thanks for the beautiful drum, Babe