Breath was the First Drummer is about the history, significance and effects of drumming with emphasis on the making of drums, types of drums, and the transformational qualities of sound and light. This book contains the only clear explanation of why drumming works shamanically and why rhythm affects consciousness the way it does. Complete with original artwork, photographs and illustrations by the author.

This useful book reveals profound teachings about shamanic drumming, which is a time-honored method of healing and helping others. Rhythmist Drake presents the first practical guide to applying this ancient healing art to modern lives.

Drummer, dancer, and folklorist Sule Greg Wilson introduces the principles behind African and Diaspora music, including breath, posture, and orchestration.

In response to the phenomenal resurgence of the drum nationwide, Michael has completely revised and expanded the 1991 edition for all those folks discovering the power of drumming. This useful book reveals profound teachings about shamanic drumming, which is a time-honored method of healing and helping others. Trained as a ceremonial drummer in the Mongolian and Native American shamanic traditions, Michael presents the first practical guide to applying this ancient healing art to our modern lives. Through a series of simple exercises, lessons, and rituals, he teaches you the basic shamanic methods of drumming. The focus is on creating sacred space, journeying, power practice, power animals, geomancy, drum therapy, drum harmonics, drum circle dynamics, and the universal rhythmic phenomena that come into play whenever we drum. The techniques are simple and powerful. Whether you are an accomplished percussionist or a total beginner, this user-friendly book will help you harness the power of drumming.

The beat is universal drumming as a way of communicating with other people, spirits, and self exists around the world and throughout time. And contemporary drumming is thriving! In the neopagan community, the most popular festivals and workshops are those that feature drumming circles. In healing centers, nursing homes, women's centers, and schools across the country, people are forming drumming circles. Sacred Beat honors and explores every aspect of drumming historical, contemporary, practical. In Part I, Telesco and Waterhawk tell the history of drums and drumming circles and the myths, superstitions, and religions that have grown up around drumming. From West Africa to Tibet, from Siberia to England, from Vietnam to Apache territory, where Fox gave the people drums along with fire come stories about drums, their invention, their use up until contemporary times. People respond almost universally and profoundly to drums to relieve stress, to communicate, to move in rhythm with the universe, to praise their gods. A comprehensive section of practical information follows, with ideas for finding a drum and other rhythmic tools that are right for your vision, caring for and decorating your instrument, drum etiquette, and elements of a good drum circle. The next section of Sacred Beat is all about drumming in groups different ways it's being done, from Native American PowWows to Goddess gatherings to community centers, and how to become a part of it. The book closes with a section on creating drumming magic all your own, with meditations, prayers, and divinations to create overall wellbeing and spiritual awareness with drums. The voice of the drum combines with the voice of the Ancestors, the voice of Spirit, and the voice of our own soul to create a powerful and transformational partnership. By working with the drum, a person can support this partnership, reach out to the community, touch the earth, and nurture their own spirit.

DOUG Sandom's part in the making of the most exciting rock band in the world can never be underestimated. He joined The Who - then known as The Detours - as their drummer in 1962 after an unexpected meeting with Roger Daltrey on a west London street. It was a time when fires were being lit under the music scene worldwide, everything had to change and The Detours had a long way to go to become revolutionary leaders in their field. Having finally decided to write his memoirs, Doug Sandom chronicles each stage of the band's transition right up to his, Roger Daltrey's, Pete Townsend's and John Entwistle's emergence from their chrysalis as The Who. It is a punchy tale of gritty determination and ever-burning passion for music. As Pete Townshend writes in his moving Foreword 'Doug Sandom's work with our band gave me the confidence to drive the band as a writer and creative thinker . . . '

DRUMMER’S LUCK is based upon actual events that occurred in America’s Revolutionary War at the surrender of Yorktown in 1781 when a young British drummer boy resolutely stood silhouetted on a parapet under fire from Continental riflemen to beat out a call to parley. DRUMMER’S LUCK begins on the grim streets of Edinburgh Scotland where Ossian, an orphaned choirboy of 11 is cruelly pressed into Britain’s Royal Navy to serve as a powder monkey aboard a ship of the line. Born under mysterious circumstances and raised by a secretive mother, Ossian is unaware his unknown father, chieftain of Scotland’s most powerful clan and a lethal duelist, is seeking him. Ossian learns to survive by wits and courage on a man of war that is little more than a floating prison as he begins a dangerous journey that will lead him from the horrors of eighteenth century naval warfare to the battlefields of Cornwallis' campaign in the Carolinas and Virginia. From the dangers of life at sea to the plantations of South Carolina, DRUMMER’S LUCK is the story of one young boy’s frightening discovery of his true identity while seeking a new life for himself in America.