HEARTBEAT OF THE UNIVERSE
PERCUSSION
INTRODUCTION
Drum beat magic has lured me since my earliest memories. As a little kid, I went with friends to dances at the Hopi mesas near my home town in northern Arizona. I felt the heartbeat as I watched in fascination and fear, praying the clowns wouldn’t find me and that I would be safe to soak in the excitement of colorful dancers and the hovering crowd. I trusted I would be ok because I was with people I loved. Later music became my go to, my secret channel to comfort. In high school besides playing piano for just about everything, I tackled percussion in the band – glockenspiel, cymbals, tympani, and yes, triangle. And then, I abandoned music for half a century. Epiphany, rejoining music at nearly 70 is a long story told in another place. Melding music, imagery, and playing with others challenges and delights me in ways I never imagined.
BOMBAST
The joy of playing, hearing, feeling the drum beat in all its resonance and color.
Percussion on collaged music scores
Copies of the first percussion score I ever saw, Mahler’s Symphony #1, are collaged on 12” x12” wood supports and painted with acrylics. These are all my instruments (except the congas) or interpretations of them. A great example of the joy of painting!
A SPIRITUAL HISTORY OF RHYTHM
WHEN THE DRUMMERS WERE WOMEN - Homage to Layne Redmond, the Mob of Angels, and women in percussion. The top right drum is Redmond’s design. The figure is based on a small figurine, dated ____ BCE, found in a Mycenae cave. See Layne Redmond’s book, When the Drummers Were Women: A Spiritual History of Rhythm. Acrylic on canvas, collage with wood circle frame, vellum, and faux leather. 40 X 30, 2025.
AFRICAN PERCUSSION
The images in this section are based on photographs taken at the Musical Instrument Museum in Scottsdale Arizona. Dates and comments are from the museum labels. The paintings were prepared for a group show in the Oakland, California gallery, Art @Archer, November 2024. All the paintings, my interpretations, not realistic copies, are acrylic on canvas.
NYANYERO - Bowed spike lute.
Fula People - The Gambia - 2006 - Gourd, wood, Monitor lizard skin, horse hair. metal
SINGLE-HEADED BARREL DRUM
Ewe people, late 20th Century - wood, cowskin, rope, metal
TREE DRUM
Drum style found throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Hollowed tree trunk, animal skin or other flexible material.
RATTLE
Yaka people - 1950’s - Fruit shells, wood, cord. A leg rattle worn by masked performers
DRUM STOOL
Tonga people - 1960s - Wood, animal skin. Miniature playable drum carved as part of a stool.
GANKOGUI - Double Bell
Ewe people - 20th Century - Iron - This instrument serves as the primary timekeeper in Ewe drum orchestras.
IRON BELL
Gan people - 17th Century - Bronze. The Gan people produced diverse ritual objects in bronze for their rulers.
SHEKERE
Yorubaland (Nigeria, Benin and Tonga) Dried gourd with beads or cowries woven into a net covering the gourd.
