The Short and Sweet of Things for 2010 Jams continue in 2010 on the third sunday of every month from 2pm-4pm at the usual location (email us for directions or subscribe to our free newsletter). Two special events remain planned for 2010 including our Annual Fall Campfire Drumming. 2010: The Final Year of TCDC The Tri-Cities Drum Circle was started back in 2000 with a 10-year vision to provide the community with a free, monthly scheduled, and facilitated opportunity for hand drumming. In December of 2010, that vision will be fulfilled. Each month, the drum circle has offered a free workshop at its 'jams' on how to play rhythms from around the world, on how to improve one's drumming techniques, and how to record this information in a way that can be remembered for later playing. It has also, on average, hosted 2-4 special events including campfire and candlelight drummings, 2-4 drummings for children and seniors at libraries and senior centers, and promoted roadtrips to various drumming events throughout the state. If you do the math, this means that by December of 2010, the group will have offered 120 workshops and about 50 special events to the public. That's a tremendous amount of preparation, organization and facilitation for any volunteer group. Everything has a lifespan, and drum circles are no exception. The particular vision that founded and maintained this drum circle has been strong enough to keep it going for this long, and its success is due to the efforts of many people who have worked hard and prioritized drumming activity in their lives. A new vision may emerge from the community, following the end of this one, and this too is the way of things. That said, we celebrate the conclusion to the vision of this drum circle, and fully intend to go out with a loud bang. For 9 years, one of the emphasis of this drum circle has been to train people on new rhythms. Starting in January of 2010, the remaining 12 monthly jams will take on a surprise gumbo format in which rhythms from the past 9 years will be played. Three special events remain to be organized for the final year: a summer children's drumming at the Richland Public Library a fall campfire drumming held at a local state park a final indoor candlelight drumming held during the winter holidays. We hope you can join us for all the fun planned in 2010. The jams remain scheduled for the third Sunday of each month from 2-4pm at the usual location (email us if you need directions), and special event details will be published in the newsletter as they develop.