Intro-

The Little Drummer Boy, is a personal, sad-mirthful saga for I. And I’m not sure why. Some deep psychological trauma, no doubt. It all started with the 1968 Claymation- “The Little Drummer Boy- A Gift of Love”. It was the year I was born, so I have no early recollection of the flick. Was it the music? The climactic, “I Played My Best for Him…”? Dunno. I just know, when that song comes up, anytime, anywhere. I cry. Not known for my tears. I’m rather stoic in that regard. Following me throughout childhood, adulthood and later parenthood. The Little Drummer Boy’s initial and distinguishable “pa rum pa pa pum”, stops me. My two kids used to get a big kick out of me sob-bing! in grocery store Isles, car rides home listening to the radio in late November. Four little eyes and two twisted smiles. “Oh, moooom, it’s your favorite soooooong…” Oh, it was hi-larious. Seeing mom cry, to the same song over and over again like groundhog day. I actually cherish those uncontrolled tears through intermittent smiles at my own children’s laughter. Layers of memories.

Basic-

drum: "to beat rhythmically or regularly" (with the fingers, etc.) is from 1580s. Meaning "force upon the attention by continual iteration" is by 1820. ED

Iteration: “a procedure in which repetition of a sequence of operations yields results successively closer to a desired result.” MW

Proficient-

When The Drummers were Women: Review, “For millennia, the sacred drummers of pre-Christian Mediterranean and western Asia were women. In this inspiring book, Layne Redmond, herself a renowned drummer, tells their history.
Artistic representations reveal that female frame drummers carried the spiritual traditions of many of the earliest recorded civilizations. During those ancient times, the drummer-priestesses held the keys to experience of the divine through rhythm. They were at the center of the goddess worship of matriarchal societies until the ascendance of patriarchal cultures and the loss of drumming as a spiritual technology. With wisdom and passion, Redmond chronicles our species’ deep connection to the drum, our rich heritage of inseparable spirituality and music, and the modern-day women reclaiming it.
This book encourages readers—both women and men—to reestablish rhythmic links with themselves, nature, and other people through the power of drumming. Redmond illustrates her message with an extensive collection of images gathered during ten years of research and travel. Woven throughout the book are strands of ancient ritual and mythology, personal stories, and scientific evidence of the benefits of drumming. It is at once a history, a memoir, and a resounding call for spiritual and social renewal.” When The Drummers Were Women: A Spiritual History of Rhythm.

Advanced-

Listen. Decide for yourself. Think. Think for yourself. Create.

Take what you know #1, Interpret #2, = Build a Life. Dance, Draw, Sing; Create, re-create your Story. The Story of I.

Song #12. Step, by Vampire Weekend.