| JANUARY 29, 2011 -- Growing up, Randy Brody never expected to march to the beat of a different drum. But when he turned 50, Mr. Brody turned his back on the corporate world, and did just that.
For the past decade, he has devoted his life to drumming. But not just any kind of drumming — hand drumming in particular.
Mr. Brody, now 59, lives on Maple Street, and is well-known for leading community drum circles in Weston, Monroe and Westport, where people of all ages and abilities create and share rhythms on djembe drums, congas and bongos.
His other musical endeavors include playing hand drums for yoga classes at Blackbird Yoga in Georgetown and playing at Kirtan responsive chanting events. He also teaches music at the TESS Suzuki Music School in Norwalk and at an after-school program at Hurlbutt Elementary School.
This year marks Mr. Brody’s 10th anniversary as a professional music instructor, and 20th anniversary as a drum circle facilitator. “It’s been a very long path to get here. But it’s been very rewarding, and this is a special year for me,” Mr. Brody said.
Pots and pansWhile Mr. Brody always loved music, he almost didn’t go in that direction.
His first experience with percussion “instruments” started when he was a child growing up in Brooklyn, where he would spend hours beating on his mother’s pots and pans. At age 10, he bought his first drum set and taught himself how to play.
“My mother loved music and dance and forced me to take ballroom dancing lessons and attend big band concerts. At the time, I wasn’t happy about it. But when I look back now, I realize it was a good thing,” Mr. Brody said.
An experience he had as a teenager totally changed his perception of music. “I was walking along the boardwalk at Coney Island when I heard an incredible drumming noise coming from underneath. Some Cuban guys were playing bongos and maracas and invited me to play with them. Right then I fell in love with hand drums, so I traded in my drum set for congas,” he said.
Passion
Mr. Brody has had a passion for hand drums ever since, but for years considered it merely a hobby.
He went to college at the School of Visual Arts in New York, where he got a bachelor’s degree in film production.
He then spent several years working as a special effects consultant in the film industry and produced low-budget TV commercials for local New York businesses. He also produced psychedelic light shows for famous rock acts, including Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin and Joe Cocker.
For a brief time he moved to Tucson, Ariz., where he worked as a freelance photographer and enjoyed driving hot rods as a semi-professional drag racer.
Randy Brody of Weston is celebrating his 10th year as a professional music instructor and 20th year as a drum circle facilitator.
He came back to New York in the 1970s, and taught for three years at his alma mater, the School of Visual Arts.
In the mid ’70s, Mr. Brody was part of the animation crew for the children’s TV series Make A Wish, hosted by Tom Chapin. The show was produced by Weston resident Al Brodax, who also produced the animated Beatles film, Yellow Submarine.
Mr. Brody spent several years freelancing as an animation cameraman for the Forox Company, which sent him around the world teaching people how to use the company’s animation cameras. “I basically lived out of a suitcase. But I got to visit 46 states and travel abroad to China and England,” he said.
In 1977, he parted ways with Forox and moved to Connecticut to work for the audiovisual department of Q Photolabs in Norwalk.
“Once, in 1978, I was working in a darkroom in the lab for several hours, and when I came out, no one was there. It turned out everyone had left because it was snowing heavily. They forgot I was in the darkroom. The snow got worse and turned into the famous Blizzard of ’78. Someone in a Jeep had to come rescue me so I could get home,” Mr. Brody said.
Dipping his toeGradually, Mr. Brody started dipping his toe into musical waters. He wrote a jazz column for the Fairfield Advocate and was a copywriter for the Yamaha music company.
As a hobby, he played in the SoNo drum circle in Norwalk, and when the circle’s leader left, he was handed the key to the building and the job became his.
“That was a significant turning point in my life, because I got more involved professionally with music,” Mr. Brody said.
He started leading drum circles in Westport as well as Weston, where he introduced people to a variety of hand instruments including timbales (played with sticks), maracas, claves (rhythm sticks), cowbells, and guiros (scraped with a stick). Some of the more whimsical pieces were wooden frogs from Thailand that emitted a croaking noise when scraped.
Mr. Brody appreciated the soothing therapeutic effects people got when they played in drum circles so he became a certified recreational therapist for Remo Health Rhythms, a health-based, hand drumming program.
Full circle
When Mr. Brody turned 50, he decided to bring his life full circle, and he now works exclusively in the music field. “It took me a long time to get here, but I’m very happy about I did it,” he said.
In addition to leading drum circles, he is also a Health Rhythms recreational therapist, and provides hand drum programs to Alzheimer’s patients and others in memory care units.
“It’s very rewarding working with the patients. Something magical happens when they hear a tambourine or hand drum. They wake up, start smiling, and those who can, enjoy playing the instruments. I guide them with certain rhythms and also let them create their own. Some like the experience so much they start dancing,” he said.
Mr. Brody also works with children with special needs in Southport on a regular basis and says they light up when the drums come out. “It’s an interesting career, because half my work is with the elderly population and the other half is with kids. Drums and music are a universal language,” he said.
Goal
Mr. Brody’s goal for 2011 is to bring the drum circle experience into the corporate world. “There is a need for drumming programs in the workplace because they are good for stress management, boosting employee morale, and team building. In California, drumming programs are a regular part of corporate life. The East Coast hasn’t caught on to its benefits yet,” he said.
On Saturday, Jan. 29, Mr. Brody will be featured at a special Drum and Chant event at the Norfield Grange. He will also be featured in the upcoming book, The Healing Power of the Drum II, by Robert Lawrence Freedman.
For more information on drum circles and events in the area, contact Mr. Brody at 203-544-7085 or rbdrumguy@sbcglobal.net. |
