Rebecca's Interview with Layne Redmond

Author of
When the Drummers Were Women

Rebecca :
From your story & your book When the Drummers Were Women it is obvious tht the drums took you by your earlobe & said: “follow me!” - what were the saddest & the most inspiring moments for you as you wrote this book.

Layne :
Well, my adventures have gotten the upper hand leaving me exhaused and trying to actually understand what I need to do for myself next! Getting my book out was a 15 year affair with the last three years of writing being the tops in terms of deadline and editing stress. I was just supremely confident that I could write that book. If I had known what it was actually going to be like, I probably would never have tried to do it.

Although I LOVE researching, I did it all: the research; the permissions for the photos that I didn't take (that's a whole job that people get paid to do); creating the structure for the photo layouts into the text (I did have a great designer who put it all together afterwards); all the subtitles and I was going to do all the drawings but the book still wouldn't be finished. My wonderfully talented partner did the those for me. My editor was too busy to edit, just kept telling me to redo it and hire someone to help me.

Then the book came out and I was in the whirlwind of promotion, traveling all over ever since although now I have slacked off. My publisher never supported me with advertising and after my two week book tour, they were off to their next gazillion new books. I've never made any royalties from it, which I'm sure you are not surprised to hear but it was very satisfying to present a lost history of a time when women were the primary drummers and religious leaders. And I'm managing to keep it in print. Maybe someday Oprah will notice. Enough people like you are noticing and that's what is really helping.

I'd only written magazine articles and given the slide lectures. Leslie Meredith, who was with Bantam at the time, bought the book based on those lectures. The most inspiring moments are when women and men ask me to sign their copies of When The Drummers Were Women!

Rebecca :
For a woman who has never thought of herself as a drummer much less handled a drum, what would you say to encourage her?

Layne :
If you want to play the drum, what reason could be important enough to keep you from doing what you want? My mother died in her sixties from cancer and felt that she had never done anything that she really wanted to do. Either she thought she would get to it someday or she would have been pushing the boundaries of what those around her thought she should be doing. She died angry and bitter and regretful. This further encouraged me to do what I want to do as much as possible no matter if it makes sense or whether or not people around me think it's a good idea.

Rebecca :
In researching the statuary, artifacts & shards & photos held in museums all over the World did you experience any prejudices toward yourself as a woman drummer or is the drum a medium of inclusivity? Which places were the hardest to get access, why?

Layne :
If I understand your question correctly I didn't experience any prejudice towards myself from the museum officials, they are generally unconcerned with why people are requesting photos, most had no idea I was a drummer. The only exception was the Vatican Museum in Italy who refused to let me reproduce any images from their collections based on the title of my book. I was shocked!

Rebecca :
I noticed that women drum differently than men. What would you say are the most obvious & most subtle differences & is it biology & history?

Layne :
Probably upper body strength. Personally I'm involved with weight training and recommend that my serious students pursue muscle strengthening routines. Also women have been told that “they are to be seen and not heard” so they generally don't feel as free as men to make as much noise. Within a musical conservatory educational situation I don't believe that there is as much difference between women and men percussionists as you might see at a drum circle where most of the drummers have not studied percussion since they were children.

Rebecca :
Would you say that as in America during slavery when slaves were prohibited drums, the same was meted upon women after andro-monotheism was invented & why do you think this was done?

Layne :
Drumming was prohibited in the United States after the only successful slave revolution in this hemisphere was organized by drumming and the blowing of conch shells in Haiti at the end of the 1700s. Women were prohibited from playing the frame drum after the rise of the Roman Catholic Church beginning in 400 ad. For thousands of years the frame drum had symbolized women's spiritual authority as priestesses of various goddesses. With the rise of the Catholic Church women were barred from the profession of Priest and the frame drum was banned.

Rebecca :
How do you deal with the rage about the silencing of the female voice in things spiritual in Western culture?

Layne :
I just focus on reclaiming and playing the drum. From direct experience I've found being angry isn't very healthy or very productive unless I use it to inspire myself and others in the direction of positive change.

Rebecca :
Are there any all-women drum festivals that you know about? If I didn't know anyone in town where would be the likeliest place a woman mind find a drum circle?

Layne :
So far I don't know of any all-women drum festivals. There has been talk of organizing such but nothing has come to fruition yet. Every month Drum! Magazine lists many drum circles throughout the U.S. under their events listings.

Rebecca :
What are the most expressed comments women say to you after they hear the drums for the first time?

Layne :
That they don't know why, but they love the sounds of the frame drum and feel their ancient connection to it.

Rebecca :
As a midwife of personal hand drums, I have been blessed & have enjoyed helping dozens of people make their own drums which is a long & tough task, how would a person make a bought drum their own?

Layne :
Purify it with sage, cedar or some similar incense and play it a lot!

Rebecca :
Do you have a line of drums & where might they be heard & bought?

Layne :
I have a line of tambourines with Remo, Inc. They are for sale in drum stores around the country and also through my website: LayneRedmond.Com

Rebecca :
What are your next projects & where might we hear you perform? What CDs do you have on the market?

Layne :
My newest project which is a collaboration with my partner, Tommy Brunjes, is a drumming CD: Trance Union available through my website. We will release it at the Percussive Arts International Conference - November 15-18 in Dallas, Texas - www.pas.org. We're giving a presentation on Ancient Egyptian Percussion Instruments (most of the percussionists were female!) and a clinic called Frame Drums in Performance.

Next year I'm releasing a project with Sounds True tentatively titled: Andava Tandava, The Dance of Bliss, which will be a combination of traditional mantras from India with dance rhythms.

From February 23 through March 8, 2001, we will be leading a trip through the sacred sites of Egypt in which we will focus on the drum and be able to see contemporary drummers there. That's organized by Hathor Rising at hathor@blissnet.com.

We will be teaching our six month training program, Giving Birth To Ourselves, in Asheville, North Carolina and a more advanced four month training program at Cybele's in northern Michigan.

We have a number of other recordings and instructional videos which are all available through my website: www.LayneRedmond.com.

What I'd really like to tell your readers is that at the end of October, Drum! Magazine is releasing the first issue ever devoted solely to women drummers. This is a magazine geared to young male rock and jazz drummers. They really took a chance on putting out an issue devoted to covering contemporary women drummers.

I would love for this issue to completely sell out! And if a large number of women then subscribed to Drum! and told them that they subscribed because they covered women drummers, we would really have an impact on the industry. More women would be covered and then more women would gain endorsements from drum manufacturers. Also during the year the reader's poll of favorite drummers is taken from subscribers and this will be our chance to vote for deserving women drummers. I have been one of the very few women to show up in their polls so far so I don't need any more support but there are great women drummers out there who do. It is not often that for a minimum amount of money we can impact an entire industry and many women's lives.

Rebecca :
Thank you, Layne, I dearly loved reading your book & having the time to know you a little.

Do check out my review of When the Drummers Were Women.

Rebecca
(Published October 15, 2000)