Unity With A Beat

In  September 1999 we returned to Unity With A Beat, the brainchild of Barry Bernstein, former Program Director of Rhythm for Life, music therapist, rhythm facilitator and pulse-meister extraordinaire. Along with Randy Crafton (whose parents, Paul and Sue, provided so much support for the event and were just a joy to be around) and our old friend Bob Bloom, Barry has been bringing people together to experience the power of drumming to heal, connect people, and be fun. This event took place at Camp Mariah in Fishkill, NY. Our job was to facilitate a fire circle on Saturday night. This was great because we were free to participate in the rest of the weekend’s program, and, boy, was it good. It opened on Friday night with Babatunde Olatunji leading the 85 attendees in song and rhythm – and time with Baba is always a spiritual high!  The weekend was filled with classes, with such great teachers as Bonnie Devlin and Arthur Hull. Nadine Fiume and Alexandrino Ducarmo offered dance classes. The weather was incredible, warm and sunny days, calm nights, and we appreciated that for the last fire circle of the season. Many of the attendees had never experienced a fire circle before. The drumming was hot, and some folks really let loose to dance. We had a wonderful time, and are looking forward to returning in September 2000.

The 2000 Unity With a Beat Weekend will take place on September 15-17, at Camp Mariah, Fishkill, New York. Returning this year will be Babatunde Olatunji, along with Barry and Randy and Bob, of course. This year, special intensives will be offered on Friday, one by Morwen, and Ubaka Hill will be joining us for the weekend. We are very excited to be spending the weekend with this line-up of great folks, and honored to be offering classes along with facilitating the fire circle on Saturday night. Unity With a Beat offers CEU credits to music therapists and members of the National Board for Certified Counselors. For more information, contact Crafton Percussion Works at 201-653-0986, or E-mail to crafton@earthdrum.com.

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