We have replacement audio CDs for "Drumming the Spirit
to Life"
and
"Way of the Drum"
1-888-400-5405
Protection Drum Prayers
MP3 sample clips
Charlie Dechant plays flute and saxophone
on this CD. He has been with Hall and Oates as their sax player for 25 years.
He has played with Tina Turner, Mick Jagger and many other world class music
acts- as well as our early band; Bethlehem Asylum. We are still playing
together after 30 years of music and life.
Protection drum prayers CD $15.00 plus $4.00 shipping.
1-888-400-5405
"No 2nd Chance"
Martial Arts Drumming Grooves
for
Guru Dan Inosanto Academy
performed by Buddy Helm
Marina Del Rey, California
recorded October, 2005
mp3 clips (actual tracks are aprx. 10 minutes running time
each)
"No 2nd Chance" was recorded live with no second
takes on any of the tracks.
Each song has multiple over dubs but each performance is
allowed only one take.
"No 2nd Chance" is fearlessly improvised, which
means that there must be no mistakes for each initial take then 4 subsequent
overdubs- about 30 separate takes using different instruments, each take
approx. 10 minutes long, so the complete recording time of fearless appropriate
improvising is.....300 minutes.
This recording is done with great respect for Guru Dan
Inosanto and all the Martial Artists in the Inosanto Martial Arts Academy.
Guru Dan Inosanto was Bruce Lee's partner and appears in
many of the Bruce Lee movies. He is a master in stick fighting and most
other martial arts forms. Many consider him to the the foremost teacher
of martial arts in the world.
Inosanto Academy is located in Marina Del Rey, California.
"No 2nd Chance" Martial arts drumming CD $15.00
plus $4.00 shipping. 1-888-400-5405
HelmTone
Music, Healing, Enlightenment
Drum Therapy Protocols Booklet
with CD of affirmations and releases
The breathrough drumming therapy protocols is a simple
method of rhythmically reprogramming our belief system for a happier and
more integrated life.
The audio CD features a number of affirmations and releases
that can be spoken while hitting the drum. By following the directions in
the booklet we can access our unconscious and use the gentle rhythms to
change how we feel and react to different things in our lives.
new additions to this page:
excerpts from "Drum Therapies Healing Grooves"
the third book about Drumming and healing by Russell Buddy Helm.
"Drum Therapies Healing Grooves"
excerpts from the Third Book on Drumming
by
Russell Buddy Helm
Rhythmic Programming Language
Rhythm is a basic programming language for
human beings. It is one of many programming languages for the human organism
and the human Spirit. Rhythm is maybe the most basic and easy to understand
of these programming languages and the practitioner does not have to be
a trained musician. Sometimes traumatic musical training can get in the
way of true enlightenment.
Anchor Note Therapy
This Anchor Note Drumming Therapy is a simple
method to circumvent the typical intimidation that most people feel when
they approach a musical instrument. This anchor Note is commonly called
the "DOWNBEAT" in jazz or Rhythm and Blues. This anchor note or
Downbeat is the beginning note of any rhythm. It is the anchor note that
everyone agrees on. Without this tacit agreement, there is only chaos in
the drumming. With the downbeat present, there is well-being, dance, healing
and joy.
Minimal Technique
Basically, play the downbeat in the middle
of the drumhead, getting a full deep tone. Then play two or three little
notes out at the edge of the drum for a higher sound. Then hit another downbeat
in the middle of the drumhead, feeling that grounding sensation of coming
back to your home beat, then go out to the edge to hit several higher notes
again.
Then back to the Downbeat.
"Feel"
The most important thing to remember is to
play the Downbeat in a steady manner. Don't let the higher notes interfere
with the steady heartbeat coming from the deep note back in the middle of
the drumhead. The fewer high notes played at the edge, the better. "Feel"
comes from the space in the groove.
This process works for any drum.
The next step is to alternate hands on the
downbeat. This actuates an important brain function that enables both hemispheres
to communicate with each other.This mirror imaging of activity creates a
profound self induced trance state that is usable for release, affirmations
and redirecting of belief systems.
The drummer does not need to "sound"
good. The point is to activate this physical programming process. There
are no wrong notes in this approach to drumming. The essentials are simple:
play a big steady repeating Downbeat in the middle of the head, alternating
hands, and keep the tempo steady and relaxed.
Tempo
"Tempo" is a musical term for the
speed of the pulse of music. Tempo is often defined in "Beats per minute".
This can be a misleading term because there are different kinds of beats,
but we can work with this definition anyway.
Entrainment
We entrain to rhythms in our environment.
This term means that we "lock up" to a pulse that we hear or feel.
In a traditional culture, this tendency was useful. The human would feel
in harmony with the environment. We would sense the passage of time, feeling
seasons, and function accordingly. The rhythms of our environment were slower
in a pretechnological era. Although the drum might be considered part of
the first technology. But simply put, we felt the grooves of the natural
world: birds singing, wind blowing, surf lapping on the shore, crickets
chirping were the types of rhythms and tempos that we felt comfortable with.
Technological Neurosis
With the advent of technology, our environmental
rhythms became faster and more insistent. One overwhelming factor in technological
rhythms is intense steady tempo. Machines do repetitive work. They repeat
the same work continuously until the machine is either stopped or breaks
down. Our tendency to entrain to these technological rhythms puts us in
risk of breaking down ourselves.
HUMAN RHYTHMS
Human rhythms vary quite a bit. This is different
than machine rhythms which are unforgiving and brutally constant. Computers
are evolving in speed every generation, getting so fast that our perceptions
cannot perceive the pulse anymore. YET WE STILL FEEL THE NEED TO ENTRAIN.
This entrainment is as much a part of the human organism as seeing, hearing,
and laughing.
Anxiety
When we cannot entrain to our environment
we feel anxious. The signal that we get from our Survival Mind is that we
could be in danger if we don't lock up to the current tempo of the environment.
This is an assumption by the Survival Mind that is inappropriate. Once the
Survival Mind understands that it is an inaccurate assumption, our belief
system starts to shift to new Life Enhancing Rhythms and concepts.
Advertising
Madison Avenue advertising agencies started
research in the Sixties about how rhythm persuades people to buy. This insight
into unconscious human behavior modification is used every day to convince
us to do or buy things that we do not want or need.
Art Reflects Technology
The steady pulse is the key to understanding
the effects of rhythm on humans. A typical pop song of the Sixties ran at
about sixty beats a minute. The Big band era ran at a slower average tempo.
The current tempos of some rock songs are up to one hundred ten beats a
minute and higher.The tempo of life has increased as a reflection of the
evolving technologies. Our bodies and minds are still much like they have
been for eons yet we still try to lock up to the ever increasing speed of
technology, thus creating dis-ease. Art always reflects the era's technological
rhythms.It can also reinforce the era's anxieties.
We experience anxiety when these rhythms
are used to manipulate us. We feel frustration at not being in synch with
these demanding tempos of commercials and technology.
Programming Ourselves
We can take control of this entrainment tendency
and use it for healing; releasing trauma and creating a new belief system.
Survival Mind
Our Survival Mind uses rhythm to decide if
the environment is safe. A fast tempo suggests that there is danger in the
environment and a slow tempo gives us a feeling of safety. A tempo that
slows down gradually creates release and relaxation.
Opening the Subconscious
When the tempo is gradually reduced to about
forty beats a minute we settle down into a trance. This self induced trance
can be used for reprogramming our belief systems.
Just the Downbeats
This process uses two drummers. One drummer
to control the slowing down and the other drummer to hit JUST the downbeats,
following the lead of the other drummer's tempo reduction. When these two
drummers descend from a tempo of over sixty beats a minute to under forty
beats a minute in a gradual and gentle way, the subconscious opens up like
a blooming Lotus flower and it shows us its belief system.
Manic Distractions
Many people's Survival Mind fear this opening
as a risk to personal safety so it attempts to fill up the empty space between
the downbeats with neurotic drumming. This is an attempt to cover up the
voice of the Belief System.
Just the Anchor Downbeat
The focused meditation of hitting only the
big downbeat in the middle of the drumhead in a relaxed manner is where
we start to get in control of our Survival Mind. The silence in between
the downbeats is where our belief system talks to us.
Programming Reality
We use the entrainment process to slow our
overexcited Survival Mind. The slowing tempo soothes us into a feeling of
safety and this is where we can take a look at what is really bothering
us. This becomes a psychotheraputic process so we must respect the power
that is opened up.
Downbeat as Lifeline
In psychotherapy, the patient is passive.
They are not physically doing anything so their mind gets stuck in the issues.
There is no working through on the physical level of experience. By hitting
just the downbeat while this therapy is evolving, the patient does not get
stuck in the usual intellectual dead ends of psychotherapy. Hitting the
downbeat and nothing else keeps the patient's mind occupied just enough
to stay out of the emotional morass that accompanies self insight. The downbeat
becomes the pathway through the emotional swamp. Conversely if the patient
insists on hitting the drum too much and speeding up, that is a signal that
they are close to an emotionally charged issue. Then slowing the tempo down
will ease the anxiety.
Slowing Down the Groove
This anxiety is common when we get close
to sensitive issues. The Downbeat is comforting if it is played in a relaxed
way. But more importantly, when the tempo slows down, the emotional charge
is reduced and released. This is the Survival Mind reacting to the comforting
beat and then assigning that safe feeling to the emotional issue that is
being discussed. The emotional charge is changed on the issue as the tempo
slows down. The feeling becomes one of empowerment instead of victimization.
Changing our Belief System
After releasing the emotional charge on an
issue by slowing the tempo down, the patient can actually speak. While they
are hitting just the downbeat with alternating hands, the patient can repeat
a simple phrase. Finding the simple phrase is the dicovery process for the
patient. These will be rhythmic mantras for the person to use whenever they
get into uncomfortable surroundings.
"I release"
"I release anger, or fear, or sickness",
or whatever the person comes up with becomes a fun yet profound process
for changing our belief systems. Repeating the spoken phrase while remembering
to slow the tempo down will create a purging of emotions. Most importantly,
the spoken phrase must be repeated exactly the same way for at least a minute,
preferably for at least five minutes. Major releases may need up to an hour
of relaxed, laid back drumming with the same phrase being repeated with
calm acceptance while the hands hit back and forth. Slowing down eventually
to a full relaxed stop. The powerful quiet that ensues is a sacred experience
of acceptance and empowerment.
Negatives don't apply
In affirmation research there is a belief
that the mind does not understand negative statements; I want to be rich,
etc...
This is a place to start though. So drumming
on a negative will many times be a beginning to finding the appropriate
positive affirmation. That is what singing "the Blues" is all
about. In this therapy we use the simplified ancient rhythms and change
the Blues lyrics to affirmations.
Below Thirty Beats a Minute
The reprogramming of our reality can happen
in the blink of an eye. It happens quite often in our lives. By dropping
the tempo to a very slow speed the patient concentrates fully on hitting
the downbeat evenly and also speaking the simple affirmation. If this process
is consistently repeated for several minutes, the belief system will adopt
the phrase as part of its belief system. It will become part of the working
belief system of the patient. The statement of the phrase is very, very
important and must be consistent, clear and life enhancing. The phrase could
also be a code and have a meaning that only the patient will know.
Laid Back
By repeating the phrase and slowing down
the beat, the positive experience of being "in control" will reinforce
the new concept in the Survival Mind. The physical charge will also be a
factor. This physical belief is based on "the Feel". The groove
needs to be funky and inviting for the affirmation to really work. That
is why the old Rhythm and Blues phrase, "Play it Laid Back, man"
is so very profound.
Russell Buddy Helm
Santa Monica
Dec.26, 2003
contact us for a printing of "Drum Therapies Healing
Grooves" on HelmTone Publications
toll free 1-888-400-5405
Two new books by Russell S. Buddy Helm
"The Way of the Drum"
with
CD included
A comprehensive approach to rhythm theory that is understandable
for all people. The CD shows basic rhythm patterns that are easily played
by even the beginning drummer. More advanced drummers can benifit from the
psychological studies of relaxation while drumming. Also improvisation theory
and personal stories of the music experiences from his lifetime as a professional
and spiritual drummer.
"Drumming the Spirit to Life"
with CD included
entitled
"Let the Goddess Dance"
This book was titled "let theGoddess
Dance"
Audio samples :
DRUM DANCE
A CD of hand drums performed by Buddy Helm using dombeqs,
congas, finger cymbals, claves, tingshas, Peruvian jaguar flute and various
shakers.Produced by Buddy Helm and Steve Sanzo at Bungalow Studios in Eagle
Rock, CA.
This CD has a deep environment of sound texture but is transparent
and not overwhelming. The grooves and improvisations are not too intensive.
Intended for meditations, yoga, driving, background , working and sleep.
DRUM WORKSHOP 1-10-98
This CD is a compilation of the wondferful music and people
that have been coming into our store. The first track is a Didjeridoo performance
by Kai Phelps with a multitracked drum part underneath her excellent performance
right in the store on her large didj she calls "Big Cat". This
was a piece intended for a CD promoting Kay Rosaire's award winning endangered
big cat breeding program in Sarasota ,Florida
There are also two tracks recorded live in the store on
a Saturday afternoon including some very talented neighborhood players who
stopped in to just play.
Also included on this CD are three drumming "lessons"
where I talk and explain certain accent notes.
This whole CD was recorded in the store.