I am happiest and at peace when I am drumming and creating music. All negativity dissipates and floats off into the ether. It is a healing to my soul and my goal is to share this with other people and teach them how to use rhythm to heal themselves. I do this through my performances and through my sharing of my musical knowledge with anyone and everyone that wants to learn.
I am a percussionist, a recording artist, a teacher, and a student. I have studied a variety of percussion methods including African, Afro Cuban, Afro Haitian, Middle Eastern and the rhythm concepts of India. By blending these styles I feel that I have created my own style of playing. I love to play with other musicians and for dancers. Besides solo performances I also play for the dance troupe Maverick Moon Belly Dance. Playing and sharing the stage with other musicians and dancers creates a bond of friendship and sharing. I have shared my rhythms through the release of three percussion-based recordings featuring several great percussionists.
In addition to being a performer I believe that even more important is my ability to teach. My goal when teaching rhythms is to create a safe space for people to co-create rhythms and build a community of rhythm. I have been teaching and working with people with Intellectual Disabilities for almost thirty years and this experience has provided me with the knowledge and skill to break down even the most difficult musical concepts into something that almost anyone can learn. I have taught difficult odd time signature rhythms from the Mid-East to third graders who then played these rhythms for a belly dancer. I have taught multi part songs and rhythms to children and people with Intellectual Disabilities. I have presented a variety of workshops and classes for all ages from young children in pre-school to teaching classes at the University of Illinois, community education classes at Lincoln Land Community College and presenting workshops annually at the World Rhythm Festival in Seattle, WA. I feel honored and blessed to have been asked to present a workshop at the 2019 Pasic (Percussive Arts Society's Annual Conference).
I have also put my teaching skills and knowledge into the written form and have released three instructional books on hand drumming.
I am also a student. The world of percussion and rhythms is so vast that I would have to live many lives to learn it all. I am a lifelong student of rhythm and always look forward to enriching my life with musical knowledge of rhythms found throughout the world.
My music is my truth. Life is rhythm and rhythm is life and my truth lies in bringing in this message to a culture that has turned music and rhythm into a commodity. Rhythm has been used for thousands of years to bring people and communities together in celebration and ritual and somewhere along the line our culture forgot this and my mission in life is to help people to remember these ancestral roots of rhythm.
