Drumming in the Free World
Kim Redshaw’s poetry and prose on the art of drumming has the pulse and soul you would expect from a drummer, containing deep profound beats within a clean and simple rhythm.
Drumming in the Free World has chapters entitled ‘Learning’, ‘Technique’, ‘Intuition’, ‘Heart’, ‘Free World’, ‘The Meaning of Drumming’ and ‘Passion’ with each set of two pages containing a poem and related piece of prose.
Redshaw is a great believer in feeling the spirit rather than overly focussing on the technicalities. “Played by a skilled technician the drum is purely an instrument. Played by a drummer who plays as if not playing, the drum is part of the drummer; it has a soul.[1]” (p 24). He also advises that agonising over if we are ‘good enough’ or are using ‘accepted standards’ blocks intuition and our drumming. Incidentally this was one of the lessons shared also by my previous djembe tutor who had played since a small child in his native country (and knew some amazing technicalities!). There is no one correct way to play a drum – drumming comes from the heart; drumming, as Redshaw states, is ‘earth music’.
Food for reflection, the poetry and prose in Drumming in the Free World is for anyone who sees drumming as an important part of their life journey and will resonate with anyone who loves to, or would love to, drum.
Details: Kim Redshaw. Drumming in the Free World. CreateSpace (13 July 2015). ISBN-10: 1514121190.
Review Details: Drumming in the Free World was reviewed by June Kent, Editor of Indie Shaman Magazine
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[1] Kim Redshaw. Drumming in the Free World. CreateSpace (13 July 2015). p 24