What’s common between a group of hearing-impaired students, a group of altruistic volunteers of an organisation that works with feeding communities, a group of children with physical and intellectual issues, a group of junior college students from Asia’s largest slum and a group of waste pickers from Pune? You guessed it… Taal Inc. Drum Circles. In the last two months we reconnected with our roots and used drum circles for engagement with the community of people around us. We drummed with groups who wouldn’t otherwise have access to therapeutic arts-based activities like these. So, at the onset, I would like to say a very heartfelt thank-you to the groups and individuals who made these sessions happen. In my personal opinion, it is this work that truly brings out the benefits of drum circles as it should.

I feel grateful to be able to drum with a different pair of hands and hearts every single day of my life. These last two months have been very rewarding, challenging and more than worthwhile. IT reminded me of the importance of community engagement and the ease with which drum circles are used in this regard. It reminded me of the humanity in people around me; of the good people are tirelessly doing. Here’s another shout out to the volunteers and benefactors of these organisations and activities.

The first example was our drum circle with a group of children (of different ages) with hearing impairments. These kids all wear hearing aids and some of them have very slight (partial) hearing. As you can imagine as a facilitator I had to rely wholly on strong visual and mirroring cues and change all of my session plans based on the feedback given to me by the group in the moment. I learned to trust my gut and take steps in service of the group’s needs

The second session was a high energy and feel-good session for the All India Summit of a group called ‘Robin Hood Army’. This group is a volunteer-led pan-India organisation with the motto of ‘No Hungry Citizen’. They have a vast network of volunteers from all walks of life and I have had the good fortune of being associated with them for over 20 years now. This drum circle was an offering from Taal Inc. to the group to encourage them to keep moving forward and performing admirably.

Third was a group called ‘Social Adda’. This group comprised children with special (physical & intellectual) needs led by a Physiotherapist Dr. Supriya Abhishek. As a part of inclusive education she works toward providing new experiences to the children she works with. The drum circle proved to be a wonderful way for them to interact with others from the community. Thanks to the caregivers and volunteers we were able to drum with a group of around 50 special needs participants. We used drums that would fit in their respective range of movement and gave the group appropriate breaks for rest and food (courtesy Robin Hood Army).

Fourth was a Corporate supported CSR initiative that works with and supports a college for children from Dharavi (Asia’s largest slum). The group is called GTT Foundation and supports these students with life skills needed to help bridge the gap of college and work. The scale at which the organisation is working is truly commendable and the drum circle was a textbook community engagement example. The corporate colleagues drummed along with the students of the college. This helped them all open up more genuinely after the drum circle as they spoke with each other over some chai and snacks.

Finally, the fifth session of the month was with the official waste-pickers union of Pune: KKPKP / Swach. This day-long mela (carnival) was especially put together to bring all 4000 waste pickers of the city under one roof. The aim of the gathering was to honour them, show them a good time and give back to a group of society that is otherwise ignored and without whom our entire daily schedules would go out the window. This was a very special session where the team at Swach sourced and organised junk percussion instruments from buckets, bottles, tin cans and PVC pipes. This session is proof of the fact that music and rhythm is everywhere.

What is a community drum circle? It is a place where people (of various heritages) come together and drum. They speak about their backgrounds, release some emotional content, they get to know about the others in the session and they experience oneness. THIS is the power of community engagement through drumming.

What’s your reason to drum?
Come. Drum. Be One.
Varun Venkit
Taal Inc.