DRUMMING CIRCLES BEAT OF LIFE By MORRIS SULLIVAN, News-Journal correspondent from the Daytona Beach News Journal; July 29, 2002; Page 01C Drummers sit in a circle, beating out a steady rhythm. One picks up the pace, and another adds a quick flurry of notes. A few people begin to sway, entranced by the sound. A small group briefly stops drumming to dance, a chant spontaneously begins, and someone sets aside a drum to blow a sustained tone on a seashell. The scene could unfold in a remote recess of Africa, beneath the clear desert sky of aboriginal Australia, on an American Indian reservation, or perhaps on an isolated, still-Celtic British isle. However, this is happening in downtown DeLand. Similar rites occur almost every weekend in other such unprimitive settings as DeBary and New Smyrna Beach. The majority of the drummers are women, and they represent a cross-section of middle America. Some drum for spiritual reasons. Others drum to develop their musical craft. Most, however, drum for sheer joy and camaraderie. Tiffany Aldridge is a regular drummer at Merlin's Vision in DeLand. The Port Orange resident got involved in the rhythm movement two years ago, and now comes to DeLand "just about every Friday." She started drumming out of curiosity, but stayed, she said, because she enjoys "the sense of community -- the way this brings people together." "You have to pay attention to each other," she said. Much like a good conversation with a crowd of people, "each person gets a turn to speak," she said. "It's a chance to get together in a relaxed atmosphere with a lot of fellowship. And you're using both sides of your brain, which quiets your mind. It's a great stress reliever." People come from nearby communities to partake of the rhythms. Millie Baralt and her friend Kris Burke came to DeLand from Mount Dora. "I started as a joke, sort of," Baralt said. "But I fell into it, and now Friday nights, this is what I do." "It's relaxing," Burke agreed. "You feel frustrated by daily life, and you can put that into your drumming." Aldridge, Burke and Baralt were among the group who entered the darkened, incense-filled room at Merlin's for the recent summer solstice drumming session that lasted more than two hours. About half were women, ranging from early teens to well into their senior years. At its peak, nearly 30 drummers joined in. "We always seem to have at least a few more people than we have chairs," said Deborah Downing, one of the shop's owners. "But really, it varies from week to week." The shop started holding drum workshops and regular drumming circles four years ago to enhance its focus on new-age spirituality and healing. "Drums have been used as ritual tools for healing, for celebration and for shamanic purposes," Downing said. One of the more accomplished drummers stepped onto the sidewalk outside to cool off after a heated round of drumming. The young woman from Winter Springs who introduced herself as "just Seaweed," has been drumming for four years. She now has a band that combines drum-circle rhythms with other musical elements. "At first, I didn't want to do this," she said. But friends dragged her to a drum class, "and I couldn't stop." For her, she said, drumming is both a spiritual, meditative experience and a musical one. She has studied various styles, including African, Latin and Brazilian. Drummers in local circles use djembes, African talking drums, Native American frame drums and Latin American congas, among others. Choosing the right drum, she said, "depends on the direction you want to take. The djembe, which is by far the most popular in local circles, "runs about $140 to more than $300, depending on the quality." In DeBary, there are Sunday evening drumming sessions at the Purple Door which are a little more technical. In April 2001, store owner Gretchen Ganas attended a drumming workshop in Orlando led by Seguenon Kone. She invited him to teach workshops at the store. Kone came to the United States in 1998 from the Ivory Coast. He started playing music when he was 4, beginning with a type of xylophone, then moving to drums. At 14, he said, he joined a national company that took him all over the world. He now plays regularly at Disney's Animal Kingdom. He recently recorded a CD on the Afrobeat label, playing drums, xylophone and kora, a West African instrument that resembles both a harp and a lute. "Anyone can be a good drummer," said Kone, "if you keep playing." Another Sunday night participant, Kandi Hayes, has been drumming Native American style "since I was 5." She moved to DeLand in December, but learned to drum in her native Texas. Normally, she said, she drums for spiritual reasons. "But I want to be focused. It's not just for fun." Like Hayes, many area circle-drummers use the movement to enhance both their spiritual and musical growth. Rhonda Donahoo founded the Drumming for Peace Community Drum Circle in New Smyrna Beach. "Our approach is for people who may have never touched a drum, but are interested in unity and community," Donahoo said. The group does exercises from different drumming styles, but much of the activity focuses on "just playing with drums, and just relaxing and enjoying what's coming out of them." Donahoo started drumming in early 2000, participating in an all-woman drumming circle. "After Sept. 11, I wanted to start something that focused more on peace, so I started this group at a friend's coffee shop." They now meet from 7 to 9 p.m. on the first Friday of each month at the New Smyrna Beach shuffleboard clubhouse. The size of the group varies. "We normally have 25 to 30 people. There are men, women, and children, so it's like a community coming together to express themselves. And none of us are experts, so no one feels intimidated." DeLand's Unitarian Universalist Church has a healing circle, according to Joyce Natalie. "We use chanting, with drumming as one of the elements of the ritual." Stylistically, the circle is "kind of cross-cultural," employing neo-Pagan or Celtic chants that arose from the women's spirituality movement, and some adapted from Native American and other sources. But as for who may have picked up the drum that started the current movement, "I don't guess anyone knows," Natalie said.