🎃 Groove Garden Theme for October: “Shadow & Shift” As the days shorten and the leaves turn, October invites us to explore the dramatic shifts happening both in nature and within our own creative rhythm. This month is about honoring the transition, stepping into the unknown parts of your sound, and finding the beauty in contrasts, between light and shadow, tension and release, speed and stillness. Intentions for the Month: - Embrace complexity and tension in your playing. - Explore new, unfamiliar scales or rhythms. - Use dynamic contrast (loud/soft) to tell a story. 🍂 Groove Garden Prompts for October: Explore, Record, and Share Dive into the spirit of Shadow & Shift by exploring, recording, and sharing one or more of the following prompts. Let the mystery of the season guide your hands and your instrument! - The Shifting Scale: Choose a scale or set of notes you rarely use. Play a piece that transitions abruptly between a bright, major feel and a dark, minor, or dissonant feel. - Shadow Rhythms: Record a simple, steady rhythm. Then, play a second, more complex rhythm over it. When you listen back, notice how the second "shadow" rhythm alters the feel of the first. - Tension & Release: Play a phrase that builds tension through volume or speed, and then resolve it completely with a single, held, quiet tone. Repeat this cycle three times. - The Color of Contrast: Limit your playing to two distinct dynamics: p (soft) and ff (very loud). Play a piece that jumps only between these two extremes, with no in-between volume. - Witching Hour Groove: Choose a time of day, early morning, midnight, or late afternoon, that has a strong mood for you. Improvise a groove that captures the atmosphere and feeling of that specific hour. - The Unveiling: At the end of the month, take a groove you played earlier and try to strip away everything but the essential rhythm. Record the raw, bare-bones version. Which do you prefer: the embellished or the simple version?

Join our very first Steel Groove Drum Circle, Sunday, November 2nd, at 3pm EST for a cozy, heart-centered gathering where rhythm becomes connection, and sound becomes meditation. If you are in TC, MI join me IN PERSON! Send me a DM for the location. Don't worry! There is no experience needed, no pressure to perform! just you, your drum, your breath, and a circle of open-hearted humans ready to explore together. November Drum Circle Theme: “Rhythms of Gratitude” As the year begins to slow, we gather in rhythm to give thanks, for sound, for stillness, for the pulse that connects us all. This circle celebrates gratitude, grounding, and presence through rhythm, reflection, and community connection. What You Need - Any hand drum or melodic percussion (Rav Vast, steel tongue drum, cajón, etc.) - A quiet space and comfy seat Meeting via Skool & will last for an hour. Come and go as you please!