Product Description

The Healing Power of the Drum is an authoritative yet easy to read book that shows how everyone can achieve health benefits from the increasingly popular activity of hand drumming. The raison d'etre for the book is to raise awareness of the hand drum from merely a musical instrument to a tool that can be used by individuals to attain psychological, physiological and spiritual well-being.

The book explores the drum from a multidimensional perspective, explaining the drum's ability to release anger, create joy, alter brain rhythms, induce trance, and create empowerment. Research and anecdotal reports provide validation of the benefits of personal drumming.

The Healing Power of the Drum provides a springboard for readers to use the drum in exciting and innovative ways to enhance their own wellness. The book reflects the very qualities of drumming. It is easy to read and non-technical, fun, and yet it provides depth, meaning and purpose for the reader. As the drum provides seemingly limitless ranges of emotions from deep relaxation to extraordinary aliveness, the book accordingly explores the vast range of experiences offered by drumming, from its ability to create euphoria to its deep and sacred power to heal.

Contributors of world renown include:

Dr. Michael Thaut, Director, Center for Biomedical Research and Music, Colorado State University.

Dr. Kenneth Aigen, Co-Director of Research for the Nordoff-Robbins Center for Music Therapy at New York University. Dr. Connie Tomaino, Director of the Department of Music Therapy, Institute for Music and Neurologic Function, affiliated with Albert Einstein Medical Hospital, Bronx, New York.

Barry Bernstein, Music Therapist.

Christine Stevens, Music Therapist.

Jim Greiner, Latin Percussion™ artist and drum facilitator, who shares some of the most eloquent stories of the hand drumming experience ever written.

Heather MacTavish, founder of New Rhythms Foundation, who discusses how hand drumming helped her survive and heal from Parkinson's disease.

Arthur Hull, leading drum circle facilitator.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #299271 in Books
• Published on: 2000-09
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 208 pages

—Dan Cavicchio, author of Gardens From The Sand and founder of SpiritSite.com.
"Robert Lawrence Friedman demonstrates that drumming can have a profound effect on one's emotional and spiritual well-being. A wonderful book."

From the Publisher
Drums and their rhythms have brought joy and self-expression to mankind since the dawn of time. In The Healing Power of the Drum psychotherapist and drum facilitator Robert Lawrence Friedman weaves an extraordinary tapestry of personal experience, fascinating anecdotes and compelling research, demonstrating the hand drum's capacity to provide significant health benefits for everyone. This breakthrough book examines the use of hand drums in treating at-risk adolescents, stressed-out employees, Vietnam veterans, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Multiple Sclerosis and more. Find joy and self-expression in the Healing Power of the Drum.

About the Author
Robert Lawrence Friedman, MA, Remo Artist, drumming facilitator, psychotherapist, Certified Psychosynthesis Practitioner, is affiliated with the St. Mary's Hospital Complementary Therapy Department in New Jersey. He has provided his programs to major corporations, hospitals, nursing homes, detention enters and conferences and has appeared on numerous radio and television shows.

Customer Reviews

An Insightful Look at Drumming for Health and Wellness
This is a must have book in any person interested in the field of percussion, music therapy, or wellness. As a drummer and psychotherapist Robert Friedman guides the reader through the experience of using the drum as a tool for therapy and healing. What has been known for centuries by other cultures of the world comes to life in Friemdman's book. He uses stories from expert percussionists such as Layne Redmond and Babatunde Olatunji as well as noted music therapists Barry Bernstein and Christine Stevens among many others to convey that the drum is a powerful and useful tool in therapy. Friedman inculded many helpful sections such as drumming with specific populations such as At-Risk Adolescents, Senior Citizens, Autism, Down Syndrome, and many others. A section on specific drumming activities is included as well as an extensive list of drum related resources. This book is a pleasure to read and learn from. On a personal level I appreciate that several times in the book Friedman recommends consulting a music therapist to assist with therapeutic drumming interventions. He clearly recognizes and supports the use of music as a vital part of the therapeutic process and guides the reader to many sources where they can explore their rhythmic spirit. This book should be required reading for anyone entering the healthcare field. I personally recommend this book to my percussion students and fellow music therapists and know that many more would benefit from reading this wonderful work.

Excellent Resource
At a time when the concept of rhythm and drumming is being embraced as a health strategy, Robert Lawrence Freidman captures the current landscape of who's who in developing both the science and practice of drumming for healing purposes.

From music therapists and professional percussionists to scientific researchers and medical doctors, Robert has interviewed them all and highlights their work in this excellent book. Also included are Robert's ideas about using drumming for stress reduction and a wonderful resources in the back of the book on activities using rhythm and percussion for health and wellness.

Excellent Excellent Excellent.

Boom - Ba - Boom - Ba - Boom - Boom - Boom. Makes you want to play and helps you understand why.

Excellent
I have read "The Healing Power of the Drum" and highly recommend it!
Let me also interject- I am very discriminating with regard to the books I recommend; to be perfectly honest, this is the first time I have ever posted one of these online reviews... but I really wanted to let people know -- this book is an absolute must-read.

The Healing Power of the Drum has taught me so much about how drumming can benefit one's health. It helped me with my father (who has been suffering from Parkinson's disease for 18 years) and it also supplied the tools I needed to get through the recent death of a close friend.

As a Rehabilitation Trainer, I deal with a lot of people who are trying to recover from what are often devastating circumstances. Many are trying to regain not only their physical, but also their mental strength. To help my patients understand the benefits of the mind/body connection, I give each of them a copy of Friedman's book. I would be hard-pressed to find a single one of them who has not benefitted from this book in some way.

I recently saw Mr. Friedman on a Discovery Channel Health series, as an expert on drumming and wellness. I found his ideas, as in his book, to be not only extremely inspiring... but also very easy to implement. The bottom line, Mr. Friedman provides innovative ideas and solutions in the arena of complementary medicine and rhythm that real people can use in the real world.