Rhythm Harvest:
Community Music & Drumming in Boulder & Beyond

Rhythm Harvest is the Community Music Aspect of Cheri's work! Rhythm Harvest events and programs are designed to bring people together to share in the joy of making music together, drumming, dancing and celebrating life thru the Creative Expressive Muse Arts!

Rhythm Harvest sponsors a variety of Community Events, Educational Workshops, Community Building Workshops, Drumming and Rhythm Workshops, Concerts, and Community Celebrations. RH is committed to working with other presenters, facilitators, educators and community leaders to co-create experiences that bring people of many walks of life together to share, learn and expand!

As a percussionist, Cheri uses the drum as the primary tool for Community Music Making Events, and also offers educational workshops to teach the basics of rhythm and music making. Drumming and rhythm are well known to be the most accessible entry ways into the world of making music! Cheri's book, "Muse Power: How Recreational Music Making Heals us from Depression and the Symptoms of Modern Culture" offers many insights into the value of this kind of sharing for a community to grow and the individuals in it to be whole human beings.

Community Music Making, also known as "Recreational Music Making," is and has been happening all over the country and world in many forms from traditional/tribal cultures and rituals to group therapy sessions, open jams of all kinds and even drum circles in Corporate America.   It is considered the original community connection, and one that is irreplaceable for it’s benefits to the individual, the community and the whole human race.  

There is truly nothing that can replace the experience of being a part of making the music. It empowers us to participate fully, teaches communication and relationship skills and unifies groups in a way that nothing else does. Music making also provides a very direct and powerful way to help build and cohesify communities.

The American Music Conference defines Recreational Music Making as encompassing enjoyable, accessible and fulfilling music-based activities that unite people of all ages regardless of their challenges, backgrounds, ethnicity, ability or prior experience.

Community Music Making is not as much about inspiring great music making as it is about inspiring successful living and experiencing the joy of making one's own music.

Community Music Making seeks to benefit the WHOLE PERSON and provides access to all those who never thought of themselves as musical and to those who just want to learn and play in a non-pressured environment.

Community Music Making does not seek to compete with traditional music instruction. There will always be those who wish to aspire to musical competency and there are the resources already out there that provide these learning opportunities. Recreational Music Making is not about "formal" instruction - it seeks to give people other reasons to make music.

Community Music Making is not about exceptional performance. It's about fun, personal expression and satisfaction. Recreational Music Making philosophy emphasizes that the student is not expected to become proficient on their instrument, but to relax and enjoy the experience of making music. It's about enjoying the process, wherever it takes you. Each of us shares a basic need to belong, to share interests with others who come together for a common purpose. This sense of bonding and community is as important to children and teens as it is to all ages. Establishing a meaningful connection with others may be one of the most important factors contributing to health, happiness and quality of life.

As music education expert Karl T. Bruhn said, "The benefits of Recreational Music Making extend far beyond music. It ultimately affords unparalleled creative expression that unites our bodies, minds and spirits."

The benefits include:

• Fun
• Avenue of self-expression
• Unites body, mind and spirit
• Provides intellectual stimulation
• Enhances capacity to cope with challenges
• Reduces stress
• Opportunities for social interaction and bonding in the group setting
• Advances interpersonal communication
• Enhances self respect
• Allows creativity to shine
• Builds community
• A great form of exercise
• Creative fitness for the mind and body
• A unique relaxation & team building strategy

Drumming & Rhythm Workshops

Drumming has been proven to be a highly effective way to entrain groups and is the most accessible way to introduce someone to music making! Drumming has also been proven to reduce stress levels, improve immune function, and increase vitality in clinical studies. Drumming is not only fun, it's good for you too!

Drums commonly used in Rhythm Harvest workshops are the djembe, conga, djun djun, and the frame drum. Cheri also offers private instruction on each of these instruments.

In addition to the workshops Cheri teaches, Rhythm Harvest sponsors other teachers in the Boulder, CO area. If you are an instructor and want to organize an event in Boulder, please be in touch and Rhythm Harvest can help you promote!

Here's what participants have had to say:

"Super fun and great space. I loved the combination of different rhythms and felt as if I learned a lot in a short period of time! Great comraderie and ease in the group created by Cheri's openness and ability to share!"

Aimee

"Very supportive environment to take a risk in, even though I've never drummed before, I felt at ease."

Bev

"Wonderful experience, thanks for providing the opportunity."

Linda

The Evolution of the Drum Circle:

Applications and Teachings for Magical Music Making Anywhere, Anytime

An indepth look at drum circle dynamics, technology and more. Here we discuss what works and what doesn't work in drum circles, past paradigms and models. We will disucss pertinent and personal experiences and then explore new possibilties, ancient methodologies, current situations and shared experiences in the evolution of drum circles that is happening now across the country.   You will learn tools and techniques that you can practice invisibly at the circle and discover ways to help improve upon your own circles in your own communities.   In addition, you will learn the 10 Conscious Considerations that when applied to the drum circle have the ability to open up more powerful portals of creativity, support and magic, as well as 4 basics of circle technology that when applied with consistency will change the experience dramatically for your community circles.

Foundational Grooves

An empowering and complete introduction to the world of hand drumming and rhythm basics. Perfect for the total beginner, or anyone who wants to learn the basics of hand drumming and rhythm. These rhythms are perfect for helping to unify a circle, as well as helping to unify circles across the country by providing more drummers with very essential foundations which can be expanded upon and added to easily by others. These rhythms are based on the elements and so provide grooves that can be played at any speed and interwoven to create more complexity when desired.

Rhythm Ride: Levels 1-3

The Rhythm Ride Series takes the student from the basic 101's of drumming in groups all the way into creating their own parts and ensembles with the drum, song and rhythmical interplay. Hand technique, rhythmical foundations, ensemble parts, auxillary parts such as bell, clave, etc and creative play exploration will all be explored here!

Group Empowerment Drumming

This program utilizes the concepts of community drum work with Health Rhythms to provide an empowering and cohesive experience of making music together as a group, allowing and providing for each individual to be empowered within the group and by the group.

Fun with Frames

The frame drum is one of the most delicate and intimate of the hand drums, offering a unique "soft" and sophisticated approach to drumming. Because of it's small size and portability, it makes it a wonderful tool to explore movement with rhythm. Cheri uses elements of Glen Velez's techniques in her approach and invites vocal play and movement into her frame drum workshops.

Cultural Specific Workshops

Rhythm Harvest sponsors teachers from other traditions and can organize cultural specific drum classes or events upon request. African, Samba, Mid-East, etc. are available. 6 Weeks Notice Required to organize these events!

Community Building Workshops

Before bars, nightclubs, and techno there was the art of Making Music together as a community. Drummers, with hands on skin, played all night long with dancers sweating, singing, chanting and grooving for ceremonies, celebrations and even the “normal” days in between. People gathered where the music was, and celebrated the human experience together humbly as a participatory experience where everyone was part of the magic. Each person’s contribution was part of creating something greater for everyone and everyone was invited to be active in the dance, in the music, and in the experience. Rhythm Harvest holds a vision of bringing music back "For the People, By the People!"

Rebirthing Community

A Music Making Practice that actively builds community relationships thru dialogue, interplay, conflict resolution skills, communication skills and sacred play. Rebirthing Community offers an alternative to the “club” scenes by providing a regular meeting place for music sharing, dance and socialzing! This practice builds community by instilling feelings of solidarity, trust and respect between people. Rebirthing Community offers opportunities for deep and transformative connections between neighbors, strangers and friends. Cheri will teach you how to hold it together for the long haul to keep your community alive and thriving! A regular community space, home or meeting place is all that is needed!

Muse Facilitators Training & Internships

Learn how to facilitate community music gatherings in your own world and life with this intensive enriching 6 month program. Gain valuable skills in listening, holding space, communication, community networking and empowerment while cultivating a craft that changes not only your life but the lives of your community members.

The Magical Mystical Muse Experience - Awareness thru Music

The Magical Mystical Muse is a transformational process where each individual is empowered to bring their own voice and offering to a circle of others who are committed to supporting each other through artistic expressions of the muse in all it's forms: drumming, dancing, singing, poetry, storytelling and more.

Cheri created the Muse as an awareness practice that allows us to see ourselves in each other in an unlimited amount of ways thru our expressions. It is encouraged for each participant to express themselves AND be aware of how that expression affects the group dynamics. The Muse came out of years of studying the drum culture evolution and combining the things learned from different communities across the country, and the globe.

The Muse is about being witnessed, and being heard, listening, and observing while allowing each other individual there to have their own experience. Being witnessed is a very powerful conscious experience when we are willing to be seen in all of our aspects. It is about empowering as you are being empowered, healing and ultimately finding compassion for each other thru these experiences.

Musers are conscious co-creators of this transformational container consisting of sound, movement, spoken word, art, magic, and more. The muse lives through us as the human instrument of the divine.

The Muse is great for festivals, as well as corporate retreats or community building projects. It can be tailor made for each unique situation. It is an awareness practice like no other.