My Teachings Are Grounded in Her Legacy
An interview with DEBORAH REED
Dr. Deborah Reed, an audiologist, began intensive study with Layne Redmond in 1996 and completed the first six-month frame drum intensive taught by Layne and Tommy Be, in 1998. She assisted Layne on several occasions at Rowe and elsewhere and performed with Layne’s ritual drumming ensemble, the Mob of Angels. Deborah teaches frame drums to individuals and groups and has facilitated therapeutic rhythm and drumming in settings that include inpatient psychiatry, community mental health, hospice, and special education. She currently is the percussionist for Seven Sisters Kirtan.
THE ROWE CENTER: You worked intensively with frame-drum virtuoso Layne Redmond. How did you meet Layne? Did you know immediately that she would be a life-changing teacher for you, or did that evolve slowly?
DEBORAH REED: I first met Layne Redmond and the frame drum in 1996. I attended a ritual that was supposed to be at the Widow Jane Mine in Rosendale, New York, but was moved to a farm nearby. The next day Layne offered an introductory class on the frame drum in Kingston, New York. The first time I held a tambourine it felt oddly familiar in my hands. Layne came around the circle and said, “You must be a reincarnated frame drummer.” I’m sure she has said these words to countless new students, but they resonated with me. I felt fragments of myself slide into place and a sense of coming home to a community of frame drummers.
After that initial class I began attending a monthly class with Layne in upstate New York and followed her around afterward The frame drum has brought me many profound, interesting, and synchronistic experiences. For me, meeting Layne led to an immediate connection. I don’t know if I realized how life-changing it would be. That became apparent fairly quickly after my first couple of lessons.
R.C: What qualities did Layne possess, as a teacher, that changed your life?
D.R.: It’s impossible to summarize with words the effects the frame drum and the teachings of Layne Redmond have had in my world. You would need to have known me, and all that was hidden before I met the drum and Layne, and compare that to my present self, to even hold a slight appreciation of what happened when I found her book When the Drummers Were Women and Layne as a teacher.
The frame drum has been a reference pillar for me; it’s a practice that continues to generate amazing and unexpected connections in all areas of my life, like a complex web of neural pathways. From a heightened and vivid dream life to sublime meditations; from a deep sense of connection to past, present, and future to finding an international polyrhythmic tribe.
The practice of frame drumming has led me to a doctorate degree in sound, so that I can better understand the neuropsychology of rhythmic entrainment. A more personal example was when my mother asked me to play during the Eucharist meditation at my grandfather’s funeral. His funeral was held at a very small, very conservative church. The church where I had brought my earnest soul as a child. Playing my drum for the congregation, my family, and to honor my complicated grandfather healed a psychic wound from a spiritual community that was not able to embrace my authentic self. I love that about drumming. You can shift time paradigms and change energetic history.
R.C.: Were there ways in which Layne challenged you that might have felt uncomfortable at first, but now make you feel grateful?
D.R.: Layne was a master, and as a young twenty-something, I found her intimidating. Her precise technique seemed impossible for me to grasp and I felt frustrated that I would never get close to the sounds possible on the frame drums. Over the years, Layne challenged me to continue to develop my technique. I am grateful for her required precision because today I have good technique, and feel an internal metronome that allows me to play with grace and a consistency that entrains students and audiences. Layne’s directive to learn how to hold the pulse has given me rhythmic composure, so I can play polyrhythmic and odd time-signatures with grace and ease.
R.C.: In addition to pioneering research in traditions of women and frame drums, Layne also recovered traditions of the Sacred Bees. How did these traditions affect you or influence you?
D.R.: Layne was a wonderful historian. And it always amazed me, the layers she connected by documenting women and frame drumming — such as the connection of drumming and Brahmari Devi, the bee goddess. She also linked a wonderful group of beekeepers and educators.
One encounter that kinesthetically lives in me occurred during a sacred bee and drum workshop in Topsham, Maine. Layne led us in a meditation. During the meditation, I experienced these ancient eyes looking into me and dancing right above my face. I had a sense of my great-grandmother, my grandmother, my mother, and all of our generational, genetic sadness evaporating into a contented stillness. The meditation ended and I returned to the present with a profound sense of lightness. Later that day, and before I had shared my eye encounter with anyone, Layne showed me a yantra of Brahmari Devi for the first time. I was amazed that these were the same eyes that had come to me during the meditation. Continually, the frame drum leads me into mystery and wonder.
And this spring I hope to have our first beehive at home.
R.C.: How did Layne’s teaching style shape your own teaching?
D.R.: My teachings are grounded within Layne’s legacy. She has given us a formula to teach beginner-to-advanced drummers by entraining with our breath, movement, and sound. Once we feel the pulse in ourselves and in the group we then pick up drums and begin to learn technique. This approach accommodates all skill levels. Having a solid foundation has given me the freedom to bring my own style and feel into the teachings. I tend to use humor and lightness to allow room for new drummers to feel more relaxed. I’ve also been very influenced by Layne’s longtime collaborator Tommy Be. He offered a wealth of talent as well as a sparkling wit. It’s impossible to drum well when you’re stressed about the learning process! Layne also taught me about ritual — a rhythmic framework for a spiritual tradition.
She pressed me into teaching a six-month intensive program. In fact, we were sitting in the dining room of The Rowe Center in 2006. When she informed me that Hollie Marron and I needed to teach the six-month program, she turned to the table of workshop attendees and asked who would sign up to study with us. The first intensive was comprised of four women from that Rowe workshop. Rowe was a place that Layne loved.
R.C.: Following Layne’s unfortunate death in 2013, how has her teaching and legacy remained alive for you?
D.R.: During Layne’s last few years with us, she encouraged her senior students to teach and play in our own way and not just repeat her work. She has more than a lifetime of teachings for me to work on, and I am creating my own pieces and offering my interpretation of information Layne presented. She was such a great academic researcher and recorder of history. I’m often discovering new material and information as well as revisiting favorite recordings. I am grateful she recorded much of her material onto DVD, so when I’m missing her I can see and hear her play.
Deborah Reed will present, with Shirsten Lundblad, “When the Drummers Were Women: Living Layne Redmond’s Legacy,” September 22–25.
