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5 - "guerilla drum circles" ( : Sift through the buried treasure of your past) 2017 - Commun...ity Drum collection My drums are all loaded up and ready to go back into my mini-van after the event. I couldn't resist but to ask for someone to take my photo. Someone will always ask, "are all those your drums". Well, I said, I am their caretaker. I love looking at all the colours, shapes and sizes, some hand painted by myself, some hand carved in Africa, other's made in modern factories. So many different shapes and sizes, sounds, and tones, each with their own song. It wasn't always like this. Twelve years ago when the first drums arrived by mail, they were all the same sizes, and all the same shapes. It was Tanya Schur a Indigenous Cree woman and, my friend and teacher who helped me to understand how important the symbolism was. How can you make a case for unity and diversity with all the same kinds of drums? Slowly I began stewarding a collection that reflected the beautiful diversity of all the people I would get to work with eventually. It was with the help of my community and a credit card I was able to raise the money to buy my first working set. I had just finished my short career playing in music bands, and decided I wanted nothing more with loading equipment in my van. I said, from now on, it'll be me, my guitar, and my voice, and I will share the power that singing has to bring people together. No more loading equipment. How I found the courage to open my own voice is another story for another time. It was one day in Hawrelak Park, one of North America's largest multi-cultural food and music festivals called Heritage Days, was my mind changed. Cathy, one of Tanya's colleagues held a "guerilla drum circle". It was an unauthorized circle of impromptu music that happened in the festival. You have to imagine the place a buzz with Chinese Lion Dancing, dancers from the Carribean, folk ensembles from the Middle East etc. I remember helping to sneak in the drums and percussion with a whole host of volunteers. Imagine in a large park milling with over 300,000 people. What I noticed there, would shape the next 12 years of my life. As the drums started playing, people from all directions, started gathering around. First with their arms crossed, guarded and unsure of what was happening. Then more and more people started coming. What I witnessed was like animals coming to drink at a well in the Sahara, or like people to come warm themselves at a central fire. People were hesitant to join in, and I found myself naturally running around, handing out instruments, smiling, encouraging people to play. I realized that all the years I had been in attendance of this festival since I was a child, there had never been an opportunity like this. People found themselves in a moment with the opportunity to create with one another. People in attendance from different cultures, and backgrounds. Normally you might be lucky if someone smiled at you in the line up for some Hungarian pig ear pastries, or other favourites like a mango on a stick covered in cayenne pepper over at Mexico's pavillion. Never had I experienced the magic and potential of what I was feeling and sensing. Shortly after we got kicked out by security, Cathy came up to me and said, why aren't you doing this? Not too long after I found myself, in Tanya's training learning the art of facilitating drumming circles. That day I realized that people were hungry, starved for an opportunity to come together, let their guard down and create something. Over the next 12 years I would realize that it was the language of simple rhythm, the shape of a circle that at first sound cacauphonous, would grow richer and slowly come all together. Often with the help of a facilitator, a deep pulsing sense of unity began to emerge, and inbetween rounds of drumming, the crowd would errupt with applause and cheer for themselves. Nods of approval, and wonder that helped to nurture the innate connection between strangers, who had just met in the music. I remember someone saying in my own community, why would I pay for a drum circle, we already do that naturally? I felt so discouraged by that comment though I'm glad I didn't let that go to heart. Over the years, I've realized how valuable a sensitive and experienced facilitator is. Someone who works in service to the group to help the group more easily find and express their collective potential. This story is just one of many stories of the rise and fall of my own career as a drumming facilitator. Thanks for reading, as I reflect, sifting through the clues in my own life to understand what the future holds for me. Find a photo, Tell a short story about the clues to your highest calling. Need some support getting started? # in the . Finding Our Voices: A Virtual Village https://www.facebook.com/groups/222284889167718/ Upcoming Workshops/Gatherings: : Friday - 6:00-7:15pm MST https://www.facebook.com/events/322259182181284/ : Sundays 7:30pm-8:45pm MST https://www.facebook.com/events/324117135340769/

NEED A LIFT ? - We Are Saying Thank You - All Ages Sing-a-Long Whether I'm beginning my day, or ending it. I've found that GRATITUDE always helps to lift me u...p. You can hum or sing along or just enjoy! I first learned this song through the Dances of Universal Peace - author unknown. Hi I'm Marcus, I wear many hats. I'm a re-generative culture artist. One of my weekly projects is called "NEED A LIFT?" It aims to bring a little bit of wholesome nutrition to your screen-time, for children and adults a like. To help keep the world a kind and magical place. Throughout the ages, song has always helped us overcome difficulty. May the simple joy of singing a song lift up your spirit today whatever you're up to. A GREAT BIG SPECIAL THANK YOU! To everybody who has supported these projects. Casey Doss Andrew Turanyik Angèle Beaudoin Loren Marsden Katrina HillyerKatrina Todd Samantha Gotlib Neveya Rising Kai Wu Mark Kerwin Naomi Legg Anna Thomsen Amy Wong Solanna Anderson Priscilla Cortes Ginette Vallières-D'Silva Ashley Johnson Sarosh Anwar Sara Hastings Morris Gail Matheson Carmen Kurjata Christina Parkhurst Cassandra Zziz Raven Lee If you enjoyed this project! Feel free to check out my other projects Thank you for all the Support: You can Share, this video, Buy me a Coffee! https://ko-fi.com/marcusworldbridger Or Become my monthly Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=33657591 EFT: [email protected] YT: ( more videos from this series) https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeD9F-7iFdwkS8ELNVgMIBA? view_as=subscriber My weekly FB Livestream music class for Families: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2690943631028309/

If you are following the Uplifting our Collective Human Potential project: Journey 4 - The Soul is released today! Thanks for following! Full details on YT link.

NEED A LIFT TODAY ? Everybody needs some love! - A Puppet Sing A Long I really had so much fun making this. It's a tribute to the L-O-V-E song from Plum Villa...ge Buddhist Sangha, The Wake Up Movement, and Thicht Nhat Hanhs students. I've watched the original video on YT many many times till I was ready to make my own. Hey if this brightened up your day, You can support me by SHARING this video to some friends! Buying me A Coffee: https://ko-fi.com/marcusworldbridger Check out my other projects: Become my monthly Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=33657591 Check out other videos like this on my YT channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeD9F-7iFdwkS8ELNVgMIBA Anna Thomsen Naomi Legg Kai Wu Roylin Ld Picou Moe Clark Orest Zwozdesky Ginette Vallières-D'Silva Martin Vu Mark Kerwin Solanna Anderson Amy Wong Angèle Beaudoin Brad Curtis Andrew Turanyik Neveya Rising Casey Doss Lucy LGMichelle Michelle Johnston Prissy Cortes Surrey Kim Kim Charles Kay Tamira Cousett Yael Schonzeit Lindsay Sudeikis Marlene Chapman Matthew Nord Melita Silberstein

A few summers ago, a friend of mine Anaya Jean-Webb called me to be part of a project. To sing with the plants using the devices called "Music of the Plants". ... I just remembered that I had these. Anaya is a fierce lover of the natural world and friend of the plants. My own journey with the plants has been a remarkable one and tender one. It's good to watch these videos and be reminded of the possibility of intimate connection with other than human beings Pt.1 - Introduction, Anaya & Basalm Poplar Pt.2 - Marcus & Goldenrod Pt.3 - Marcus & Plantain Pt.4 - Interview with Marcus & Anaya