A piercing winter wind whistles between the buildings at Waubonsee Community College in Sugar Grove. Students scurry for cover on this bleak, starless winter night. But it isn’t just the weather that draws students indoors. It’s the drums.
Even from the parking lot, faint rhythmic drumming can be heard. Inside Van Ohlen Hall, the pulsating beat intensifies. Down the hall, in the building’s black-walled, black-floored performance room, drummers sit on a small, bare stage caught up in the spirit of the drum circle.
Among the dozen or so different drums here this night are small bongos, decorative African drums and tall, glistening red Latin drums. Small percussion instruments, such as tambourines and maracas, are also present. Their music joins together, creating an effect that feels and sounds like collective beating hearts.
Some people merely sit and allow the pulsating sounds to work their magic. But participation is encouraged and hard to resist. A boy of about 11, seated in the audience with his mother, is the first audience member to rise and approach the stage. Someone hands him a tambourine. Soon others from the audience approach. The circle swells from 10 to 16. Although no one actually leads the circle, the sound flows. This is the beauty of a drum circle.
“Drum circles are very loosely organized. It’s a gathering of like-minded people,” says one of the drummers, Dave Seagren, 32, of Geneva. “The only thing remotely official is simply the concept of showing up.”
Seagren, a drum teacher at RPM Creative Music in St. Charles, plays with panache. A soft-spoken man, Seagren finds drum circles calming and restful. Hardly the adjectives most people would use to describe drumming. But, according to Seagren, the description fits.
“Drum circles, in general, have a very spiritual nature. Little is said or discussed because drum circles are (emotion) driven, not beat driven,” he says. “Still, they involve a lot of cooperation.”
During the summer, Seagren is often seen in the forest preserves west of St. Charles, playing in drum circles of up to 30 people. Those drum circles, he says, are more authentic, concentrating on the relationship between a drum circle and Mother Earth through sound. From dusk till nearly 11 p.m., the drummers mimic the ancient rumblings of life.
“Drum circles, without drawing too many references to religion, are sort of an early, pre-religion approach to spirituality,” Seagren says.
But drum circles are not the only way Seagren satisfies his percussive thirst. Drawn to rhythm and sound at an early age, Seagren is interested in drums of all kinds.
“Ever since I was about 7, I’ve been playing drums of some kind. I just liked banging on things, even if it was pots and pans,” he says. “I think one of the things that inspired me to play was thunder. To me, drumming is very much like creating thunder.”
Seagren has played drums in everything from the Waubonsee Jazz Band and Stainless Steel, the college’s steel drum band, to the local rock ‘n’ roll bands Hairball Willy and Heart of Gold. That variety, Seagren says, is one of the joys of being a drummer.
Waubonsee freshman Mike Gerbitz of Batavia, also a member of Stainless Steel, agrees.
“My last year of high school, I got into jazz,” he says. “Since then I’ve had a taste of different styles, like samba, reggae and Latin music. The interesting thing about drumming is that you do create your own sound. That’s important to me because I don’t want to sound like every other drummer.”
While attending college at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Seagren studied percussion under Herbert Brun, a professor known for his work with experimental music. It was there that Seagren further expanded his knowledge of the percussion world. And, like every serious drummer, Seagren has read the popular drummer’s bible: Mickey Hart’s “Planet Drum.”
“Mickey Hart, the Grateful Dead’s drummer, spent 10 years researching drums and drumming for the Smithsonian (Institution’s folk museum),” Seagren says. “His book is so well-written, so inspirational. It really is the best book on the history of drumming around the world. His other book, `Drumming at the Edge of Magic,’ is also a masterpiece.”
Seagren first saw Hart in 1983 at a Poplar Creek concert. Although he always loved drumming, Seagren felt something special that day.
“A lot of rock music is filled with anger and angst,” he said, “but at this concert there was an all-pervading sense of peace. I really feel Hart’s drumming had that effect on the crowd.”
Since that time, Seagren has been to more than 150 Grateful Dead concerts.
“Some of the best drum circles I ever participated in were in those concert parking lots,” he says.
Seagren’s passion and talent for drumming are obvious to anyone who has watched him perform. At a recent performance of Stainless Steel, in the college’s cafeteria, Seagren shared his gift with students and faculty. Fellow band member Mark Whitmill, a freshman from Aurora, was one of them.
“Dave has the ability to work out all the bugs in a piece of music,” Whitmill says. “He’s very good on all kinds of percussion instruments. I’ve played with him in the college jazz band, where he plays everything from drum set to vibes. He’s really talented.”
From a cafeteria table, the shy Seagren looks up sheepishly and grins. Next to him sits Stephen Sweigart of Aurora, leader of Stainless Steel. Sweigart, 48, is the mastermind behind the melodic Caribbean sounds of Stainless Steel. Like Seagren, Sweigart has been fascinated with drums since he was a child.
“I had lessons in trumpet and piano, but my heart has always been in drumming,” he says. “As a child I banged on pots, pans, lampshades, whatever I could get my hands on.”
By the time Sweigart was in junior high, he had defined himself as a drummer in a number of school and neighborhood bands. In the 1960s, during his years at West Aurora High, Sweigart played drums for local rock ‘n’ roll bands like the Xaviers and Hearts of Darkness. Later, during his college years, he played drums for bands with names like Ohm and Devil’s Kitchen.
After graduating from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale with a music degree, Sweigart worked on a master’s degree in percussion performance at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. While there, Sweigart heard the NIU steel drum band and became fascinated with that sound. He joined the band in 1978. In 1980, he began teaching steel drum band at Waubonsee Community College.
Sweigart’s drumming also has classical roots. Since 1980, he has been principal timpanist for the Fox Valley Symphony, but his students know him best as the steely haired leader of Stainless Steel. Whitmill is one of his biggest fans.
” Steve can sight read any piece of music, then sit down and play to it. He’s amazing,” Whitmill says.
Like all drummers, Sweigart admits drumming’s draw has a lot to do with the instrument’s powerful presence, but he insists that drummers also bind a band. People don’t give drummers enough credit for this, he says. “Drummers really are the focal point in a band. They set the tone and send musical cues to the band. A group is really no better than its drummer,” he says.
Unfortunately, drummers often develop back trouble. Sweigart remembers the first time he was unloading his trap drum set and his back went out. Changing to lighter drums has helped. Sweigart swims three times a week, to keep in good physical health. A good diet is also necessary. Even going to the dentist regularly is important.
“Playing the drums is a very physical pursuit that requires a certain level of endurance,” he says. “If you’re not in good shape, you can get things like carpal (tunnel) syndrome. And believe me, playing the drums with an untreated cavity is painful.”
But, ah, the payoffs.
“Drumming is an incredible tension releaser. It increases your energy, leaving you with a kind of high after you’re done,” Sweigart says. “I like the tranquility it produces.”
Sandra Hallmann, 33, a drum teacher in Carol Stream, knows the feeling. A drummer since she was a child, Hallmann also loves the way drumming relieves tension, though she doesn’t play in drum circles. Of course, not everyone enjoys the sound.
“Wherever I lived, I told people I was a drummer. I always tried to be considerate when I practiced. Still, I remember my brother putting towels over my drums to muffle them,” she says.
Currently, Hallmann has 33 private students, ranging in age from 4 to roughly 50. But no matter what the age, Hallmann can recognize drumming aptitude when she sees it. That doesn’t mean a natural ability eliminates practice, however. What may surprise people about drumming, Hallmann says, is that it requires just as much dedication and work as any other instrument.
“Some people think they can master the drums after about a month,” Hallmann says, “but it takes that long just to start getting used to them. For one thing, you need time to develop the same agility and strength in your left hand as you already have in your right hand, if you’re right-handed.”
Like Seagren and Sweigart, Hallmann likes the diversity of musical styles that she can move in and out of as a drummer. That means she can play with a rock ‘n’ roll band on Saturday night and the church band on Sunday morning.
“Playing the drums is exhilarating, and unlike some people who call themselves percussionists who happen to play the drums, I call myself a drummer,” she says, “and I’m proud of it.”
Outside Waubonsee’s Van Ohlen Hall, two female students take a break from the drum circle. One of the students talks excitedly about the trips she has taken to Grateful Dead concerts with her constant companion: a tall, pure white Latin drum. To her, drumming is life. It is, she claims, reminiscent of the first sounds of life on the planet.
“Think of it. Drumming is the sound of animals, running across the plains,” she says with a distant look in her eye. “It’s the sound of a heartbeat.”
Inside Van Ohlen Hall, the boy who started out playing the tambourine is on his third drum now. Head back, eyes closed, he is clearly a convert.
And the beat goes on.
