Healing from the drum: Wholistic experiences of Indigenous drum circle

Kelly Laurila

M.Ed., MSW, RSW; Doctoral Student (3rd year)

laur4318@mylaurier.ca

Integral nature of the drum in Indigenous peoples’ lives

• Song and drum are interconnected

• Song is an everyday experience and woven into all that Indigenous peoples do

References: Sadie Buck, 2012; John Blacking, 1973; Clint Bracknell, 2015; Jane

Davidson and Andrea Emberly, 2012; Craig Fermore, Robin Richards & Kim Stafford,

2002; Harald Gaski, 2011; Kelly Laurila & Lee Willingham, pending; Leroy Little

Bear, 2000; Ánde Somby, 1995; Sheila Wright, 2015.

Drum Beat is the Heart Beat

Heart beat of our mother

The Circle and Interconnectedness of All Our Relations

• The circle is an expression of Indigenous peoples’ knowing, being, seeing and doing.

• The circle is a reminder that we are all related and interdependent on one another.

• The circle teaches us that each person is responsible for living life in a wholistic way as what we do and don’t do impacts the circle of all our relations.

• References: Cindy Baskin, 2016; Fyre Jean Graveline, 1995; Michael Hart, 2002; Calvin Morrisseau, 1999.

Colonization

• Colonization and efforts to assimilate Indigenous peoples have had tremendous impacts on their lives (spiritually, emotionally, mentally, physically).

• The circle of relations have been impacted.

• Indigenous culture, identity and sense of belonging have been impacted.

• References: Mary-Ellen Kelm, 1998; Laurence Kirmayer, Cori Simpson & Margaret Cargo, 2003;

Arthur Manuel & Ronald Derrickson, 2015; John Milloy, 1999; Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP), 1996; Mariette Sutherland, Marion Maar & Stéfanie Fréel, 2014; Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, 2015; Cora Weber-Pillwax et al, 2012)

Healing from the Drum

• Drumming is an act of resistance.

• Drumming is a way to return to Indigenous teachings

• Drumming contributes to Indigenous identity

• Drumming contributes to belonging

• References: Ghislaine Goudreau, Cora Weber-Pillwax, Sheila Cote-Meek, Helen Madill, &

Stan Wilson, 2008; Kelly Laurila & Lee Willingham, pending.

Spiritual Aspects of the Drum

“There’s a disconnection of people starving

for spirituality or starving for something

deeper and it’s because they are disconnected

from the land. And the songs help us stay

connected to everything around us and

remind us that we are sacred[…]that

everything is sacred[...]Our singing is

ceremony[…]” (Kelly Laurila & Lee Willingham, pending)

Emotional Aspects of the Drum

I come from a small community[…]where community

is everything[…]I lost that connection to my

community because I’m here[…]Coming here and

sharing music and sharing events and when we have

our feasts, when we have socials together[…]it has

given me a broader sense of what my community is

because I feel that I’m missing that in my life[…]

(Kelly Laurila & Lee Willingham, pending)

Mental (cognitive) Aspects of the Drum

“A lot of people have got a lot of knowledge. And

without the circle how am I going to find people

like that?” (Kelly Laurila & Lee Willingham, pending)

Physical Aspects of the Drum

“It’s more than a physical circle. I like the

fact that we do it in a circle. That we basically

have all of our participation in a circle[…]The

circle shows us that we are equal in the eyes

of our beliefs. Not one of us is greater than

the other[…]” (Kelly Laurila & Lee Willingham, pending)

Physical Aspects of the Drum

“Sometimes when I’m at drum, sometimes

just listening to everyone else sing[...]it just

relaxes me[…]I can look over and everyone

is smiling. It tells me that I don’t have to

worry about being off beat. Because it is not

about being off beat[…]”(Kelly Laurila & Lee Willingham, pending)

Drumming is not about making music

“[…]drumming to me is not even about the music. It is

about the connection to my culture. To the people I

drum with and to the circle. It’s not the music[…]If I

didn’t have the medicines. If I didn’t have other people

together to sing with. If I didn’t have all of that I am

learning in the circle and reinforcing what I do in my

own life, I think I wouldn’t be here. That’s why I

come.” (Kelly Laurila & Lee Willingham, pending)

Chi Miigwetch! Giitu! Thank You!

All my relations

References

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helping professions. Toronto, Ontario: Canadian Scholars’ Press Inc.

Blacking, John. (1973). How Musical is Man?, Seattle, Washington: The University of Washington Press.

Bracknell, C. (2015). ‘Say you’re a Nyungardmusicologist’: Indigenous research and

endangered song. Musicology Australia, 37(2), pp.199-217. doi: 10.1080/08145857.2015.1075260

Buck, S.(2012). The sound of what I hear on earth. In A. Hoefnagels & B. Diamond (Eds.),

Aboriginal music in contemporary Canada: Echoes and exchanges, pp. 133-149. Kingston, Ontario:

McGill-Queen’s University Press.

Davidson, J. & Emberly, A. (2012). Embodied musical communication across cultures:

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Fermore, C., Richards, R. & Stafford, K. (2002, Fall). Picking up the drum: An oral history

from the Columbia Plateau. Oregon Historical Quarterly, 103(3), pp.338-361.

Gaski, H. (2011). Song, poetry and images in writing: Sami literature. Nordlit, 27, pp.33-54.

Retrieved from: http://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/nordlit/article/view/1804

References

Goudreau, G., Weber-Pillwax, C., Cote-Meek, S., Madill, H. & Wilson, S. (2008). Hand

drumming: Health-promoting experiences of Aboriginal women from a Northern Ontario urban

community, Journal of Aboriginal Health, January, pp. 72-83.

Graveline, F.G. (1998). Circle works: Transforming Eurocentric consciousness. Halifax, Nova

Scotia: Fernwood Publishing.

Hart, M. (2002). Seeking Mino-Pimatisiwin: An Aboriginal approach to helping. Black Point,

Nova Scotia: Fernwood Publishing.

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50. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.

Kirmayer, L., Simpson, C. & Cargo, M. (2003). Healing traditions: Culture, community and

mental health promotion with Canadian Aboriginal populations. Australian Psychiatry, 11(1), pp. 15-23.

Laurila, K. & Willingham, L. (pending). Drum circles and community music: Reconciling

the difference.

Little Bear, L. (2000). Jagged worlds colliding. In M. Battiste (Ed.) Reclaiming Indigenous

voice and vision (pp. 77-85). Vancouver, BC: UBC Press

References

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References

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