Winter Words from Greg”
–by Greg Whitt
Some say the drum is a vessel. On the one hand, you fill it with your heart, your spirit, your beat. On the other hand, it fills you — with peace, with connection, even with revenue. In fact, for more than fifteen years now the drum has been my primary source of income. Income — not livelihood. My livelihood, my vitality, that’s different. It comes from you: my fellow members of the Drum Circle Facilitators Guild.
At the end of winter each year I emerge from the cold and darkness and I do it with you — at the annual DCFG Conference. The one coming up is my 18th such outing and our 20th anniversary event. It’s the place I go every year to fill my vessel. When I meet you on the mountain or by the sea, around the table, over a drink, and in the circle, I’m nourished in ways I don’t get anywhere else.
It’s no small commitment to show up for this gathering. For many of us, it’s five-plus days away from home and work. It comes at a cost — we clear our calendars and empty our pocketbooks and deplete our energetic reserves through these long days of travel, learning, and late nights. And yet my spirit is fed while sitting with, playing with, talking with, and dancing with you.
Sometimes I top off my vessel a wee bit with an email, on a call, or in a Zoomery. Nothing compares, however, to the time we spend elbow-to-elbow, face-to-face. Breath time. Quality time. Time for growth and flourishing and in relationship with one another.
And when our vessels are filled, we carry that goodness back to the world, to our work, to our patrons. We’re able to pour out a bit without significant loss, as if we’re offering a libation to the spirits of the ancestors who paved the way for us to deliver this amazing experience we’re calling drum circles.
Our annual conference is my medicine for burnout. Toward the end of winter, depletion of spirit reflects in my work — in the tone of my correspondence with clients, in the brightness of the smiles I bring to my patrons, in the satisfaction I feel as I cash a check for doing this worthy work in the world. But when I’m at my best I think of you and the goodness you bring to me; to all those who encounter me. When my vessel is filled with your insight, support, inspiration, and good cheer, I am better for it, and so is everything else.
It’s a lesson for me to pay close attention to what’s in my cup, because that’s what’s likely to spill out as I carry my cup through the world. Personally I’d like to show up with ease and grace, with excellence and good wisdom, with grand style and great exuberance. That’s so much easier to do when I spend this time with you.
“Be a lamp, a lifeboat, a ladder. Help someone’s soul heal. Walk out of your house like a shepherd.” — Rumi
Greg Whitt
Drum for Change”
January, 2025 Issue
Scholarship Essay, remembering DCFG Conference 2024, Cultivating Connections
by Kim Lea
“About Cultivating Connections:
While your expressed goal was to “create an opportunity to…cultivate and deepen our connections to this work (of facilitating drumming experiences)and each other,” I can say with certainty that many other connections happened for me! Thank you for providing a medium where exponential growth could happen. And I saw it all around me! Honestly, the most notable connection I made at the conference was to myself. There were endless opportunities to learn from so many other like-minded individuals-a virtual smorgasbord of delicious bites of interactive rhythm play, that I feel like I am finally beginning to get an idea of what types of experiences excite me most/fit best with my offerings/might benefit my community most. This is thrilling!
New things I learned were first put into practice just five days after I left, and often since. I’ve connected with presenters for mentoring. I’m in touch with several new friends who I’m sure will one day be old friends. And in few days I’ll (very, very loosely) lead my first large urban circle as co-facilitator. I turned sixty this year and have the enthusiasm I felt when I first entered the classroom so many years ago. Thank you for rekindling that fire. I’m forever grateful for your support of my participation in this year’s conference.
Kim Lea”
The Beginning of DCFG
by Jaqui MacMillan
“The Drum Circle Facilitators Guild was founded in September of 2001 by Jonathan Murray, Ken Crampton and myself, Jaqui MacMillan. As one of the founding members, I was recently invited to share some of the guild’s history. During the first five years, I served as Secretary and Treasurer, and for seven years, I was the newsletter editor. Due to these roles, I have a treasure trove of notes and paper newsletters.
I came across the notes from our first official in-person meeting on November 27th, 2001. With just the three of us at the time, we rotated our meeting locations between our homes and Ken’s studio. On December 10th, 2001, we officially registered the guild in Washington, DC, using my personal address as our headquarters—a setup we maintained for several years until we secured a PO box. Around the same time, we also registered the website, DCFG.net.
On February 19th, 2002, Arthur Hull joined us as the first member of our Advisory Board. He affectionately dubbed us “The Three Faciliteers.” Later, on October 22nd, 2002, Robert Friedman became the second member of our Advisory Board. Since that time, we’ve had many incredible Advisory Board members, including Jim Greiner and Christine Stevens.
In April 2003, we published the very first Rhythm Makers newsletter! (Below is the front page of that inaugural paper newsletter.) While the original plan was to release it in April 2002, other pressing tasks took priority….
