#handrum

[richarddyorkstudio]

ᏔᏬᏗ (Tawodi) hand drum

Red Tailed Hawk

Oil on Black Walnut dyed Elk rawhide hand drum

16 inch circ. x 2 3/4 inch depth

6/15/2023

©Richard D. York

[fizzigigsimmer]

Moonwood: Part 6

<< Part One

Steve is worried Billy Hargrove may be his soulmate. It consumes his thoughts, and yet he still hasn’t figured out a way forward by the time the bonfire starts. He tries to convince himself that his suspicions are wrong - that maybe he's panicking over nothing and the reason he can't stop thinking about Billy is like pink elephants. The harder he tries not to think about Billy the more he's going to.

Maybe they're not soulmates and Steve is just freaking himself out over a few coincidences. They do go to the same school. Of course they bump into each other. It doesn't have to mean there’s some cosmic influence behind it. Right? The trouble is he has no idea how to go about checking either way. 

He can't just go up and ask Billy - Hey are we soulmates? But the bonfire arrives, the streets fill up with parked cars as people from the neighboring towns flood in and join the families from Moonwood as they amble their way up the trail that leads to the old ranger station at the top of the bluff; and that’s still the best plan Steve’s got. 

Steve trails a step behind his family, bracing himself for the night ahead. If he’s wrong about Billy - which he probably is - and Hargrove decks him, there will be plenty of people around to witness his humiliation.

Some of his worry fades to the background as he takes it all in. The fire built high on a pyre behind a large stone slab that reminds him of that rock in the Lion King. The rich smells of roasting meat hanging heavy in the air from people roasting dogs and turning over kabobs. The sound of many voices raised in conversation, pierced by the occasional shriek of laughter from over excited children, their faces painted with half moons and strange symbols.

A little girl runs past them up the hill with big fluffy wolf ears stitched to her headband and a muzzle painted on her face. Colorful banners decorated with stars and moons, along with paper lanterns have been strung between the tree branches in a wide circle around the gathering. Steve’s nose itches the closer they get because there’s a strange smell emanating from them: minty and sort of green.

He stops just before the ring of lights, uneasy, but his family continues on oblivious to the feeling of unease that suddenly grips him. A few strides ahead his mom seems to sense he’s no longer just behind them and looks back, the concern on her brow melting into a teasing smile as she comes back to take his hand and guide him into the circle.

“Wolfsbane: for the humans.” She whispers in his ear with an apologetic smile. He’s still not used to the idea of them not being entirely human. 

“Even just the vapor is enough to drain our strength, but it doesn’t hurt us.”

He relaxes a little after hearing that, the proof of her words all around him. It’s just like Sasha and the girls said it would be. Like a music festival and a county fair had a baby. Everywhere he looks people are clustered together talking, laughing. A large group of elementary school aged kids are engaged in a tug-of-war contest. Everybody’s having a good time so Steve tries to relax and do the same.

There's a band of sorts with a bunch of people playing guitars, handrums, and some weird elongated flute thing that sounds sultry to his ears and makes him want to dance. He settles for sorta swaying a little bit as he shifts his weight around, only half listening to the conversations going on around him as his family chats with their neighbors about mundane things. Steve’s attention keeps drifting back to Billy Hargrove and the possibility that they might be soulmates.

His grandfather said that he’d know his soulmate when he met him. Them. There’s no reason to assume his soulmate is a boy after all but Steve realizes that he has definitely been picturing a guy since the concept became real to him, despite the fact that he’s never even been with one before.  He doesn’t count the sloppy kisses at parties or the handjob that guy from Minnesota gave him on the beach over the summer. That was just fooling around. The kind of shit everyone gets up to sometimes when they’ve had enough drinks and the feeling is right. 

The weird thing is: Steve’s only ever seriously been with girls, yet he can’t drum up the face of a single one just then strong enough to drive out thoughts of Billy Hargrove. Billy’s sharp smile full of teeth, and his even sharper blue eyes. Billy’s freckled cheeks and dark spiky eyelashes. Billy’s long torso and thick legs, body roped with muscle, standing a head taller than all the townie boys - because he’s not like them. Not normal.

But well neither is Steve, and holy shit. Steve wonders when he got so turned on by Billy Hargrove, cause he’s half hard in his jeans and in danger of embarrassing himself in front of his mother’s friends. Like she can read his mind Steve’s mom darts a look at him, and gives him a worried look. He shoots her a reassuring smile before excusing himself to go and find his friends from school.

Despite the fact that people seem to be clumping together in groups and sticking to them there’s still so many people packed onto the hill that it’s difficult to find anyone easily. Steve’s feet carry him through the trees. They carry him around families clustered together on picnic blankets and camp chairs, and through a thick crowd of teens that have gathered around something on the northwest side of the firepit. 

Soulmates can always find each other, which is why Steve’s feet carry him right to where Billy Hargrove sits in the center of the trunk of a massive broken tree, feet dangling above the thick roots tangled at the base with a cigarette in his mouth. 

Billy is the something the other teens have gathered around, and Steve doesn’t blame them one bit. Under the setting sun with the fire’s glow red and gold against his skin Billy looks like something not of this world - a fairy king, watching his subjects as they dance and make fools of themselves for his entertainment.

Steve’s mouth goes dry as two things crystalize in his mind. One: Billy’s unfairly hot. He’s struck by the sudden desire to weave flowers through Billy’s hair, shove his hands down Billy’s pants, his tongue down his throat, and raise his babies - in that order. 

Two: Billy is most definitely his soulmate which probably explains both why Steve feels that way, and why he’s felt that way from the moment he first laid eyes on him. He just didn’t realize it. He feels like a giant idiot now for needing his grandfather to spell it out for him. Because who needs their grandpa to explain what a crush feels like at freaking eighteen?! 

It helps a little when he remembers that it’s not just a crush he feels for Billy - supposedly they’re it for each other. The deepest kind of love there is. And Steve’s never felt the kinda love his grandpa described until now. 

But he wants to. Boy does he want to. Steve’s chest feels tight and it feels like there are hands around his throat as he sucks in a breath, but he starts walking forward again - because there’s something inside of him that wants to be Billy’s everything as much as it wants to give Billy everything. He’s used to giving people his whole heart, but no one has ever given it back. 

He feels a little guilty having such thoughts because he knows his mom loves him, and that she’s always tried her best. It just wasn’t enough…

But all of that is in the past. Where he’s going now - Billy - that’s the future. That’s everything.

Only before Steve can get there, one of the guys hanging around Billy sees him coming and nudges Chet. By the time Steve reaches the stump, half the basketball team has formed a wall in front of it. Steve swallows. He��s already accepted the truth, and he’s pretty used to how much bigger people in Moonwood are, but there’s something about having five guys all over six feet tall leering down at him with teeth filled smiles that drives the point home. These guys are wolves.

“Well look who it is!” one of the guys calls out, and the people who have been dancing and chatting nearby stop what they’re doing to look.

“Uh-hey guys.” Steve greets with a small two fingered wave to break the tension, and also because he’d rather control the conversation than see just what might be inspiring the hungry gleam in the eyes of the literal ‘pack of wolves’ standing between him and his soulmate. They’re Billy’s pack… which on a fundamental level he’s always known, but it certainly brings basketball tryouts into sharper focus now. There’s no getting on the team, no getting close to Billy, without going through them.

“Is that you Harrington?!” Billy calls from his seat up on the stump, grinning over their heads at Steve, which is how Steve knows he’s fucking lying when he says. “I can barely see you. Try standing on something.”

Everyone within hearing distance laughs like his height is just hilarious, way more than the joke actually warrants but Steve blames the red cups in their hands. 

“Very funny asshole,” Steve grumbles. Then realizes he probably shouldn’t call his soulmate an asshole - oops - and moderates his tone to something less pissy. “Listen, I need to talk to you.”

A chorus of ‘oos’ go around the crowd of teens and Billy’s friend Dave leans on Chet’s shoulder and smirks as he taunts, “He can hear you just fine.”

“Where’s your pack Steve?” Chet asks, in a slightly friendlier tone, but it doesn’t sound like a real question. It sounds like he’s asking Steve why he bothered to come at all, which is confusing to say the least. They’re not buddies or anything but Chet has always been cool with him and he stuck up for Steve when those other guys tried to bully him.

“Yeah, pretty sure you can all hear me.” Steve answers Dave before lifting his eyes back up to Billy. He hates that he has to lean forward on his toes a bit to do it, and he can’t quite keep the irritation out of his tone. 

“And my family’s back there.” He jerks his head in the general direction of where he came, “but I need to talk to you alone, Hargrove.”

He tries to impress with his eyes to Billy how important this is. But doubt begins to creep in. Shouldn’t Billy know what they have to talk about? If they’re true mates or whatever, Billy wouldn’t be such a jerk to him all the time. Would he?

Billy doesn’t acknowledge Steve asking to talk to him. He sucks on the cigarette between his teeth and lets the smoke lazyly before he drawls.

“The Dalca’s are good people. Funny they haven’t introduced you yet. I was starting to think I’d never see you at one of these.” 

Steve has no idea what he’s talking about. He’s been in town for months now and met plenty of people. His aunt and his grandparents seem to know everyone and they always stop him to make introductions. 

But clearly Steve’s missing something here because he knows the prying looks and sly smiles that the other teens are suddenly wearing - knows the feeling of being whispered about, and that this time it’s not for a good reason. 

“He’s not talking about saying hi at the grocery store, Steve.” someone comes up and starts to explain gently from behind Steve and he tenses, seeing the dark glare that clouds Billy’s features, before he turns and realizes that it’s just Hank.

“What’s going on? I don’t get it.”

“Of course you don’t.” Billy scoffs, and it stings like a slap. Hank shoots Billy a look that says clearly that Steve’s not the only one who thinks he’s being an asshole for no good reason.

“Bonfire nights have really old traditions. It’s mostly ceremony now but they started in the villages to keep people safe.” Hank goes on explaining. “One of them is that you stick with your people, and you don’t bother any of the other, uh clans,  unless you’ve been introduced to their leader… like officially.”

Now that he knows, Steve realizes how hard the other teen is trying not to say anything too incriminating.

“You mean like in a wolfy way?” Steve asks, and grins when Hank's mouth drops open.

“So you do know.” Billy’s voice growls, almost accusing, tearing Steve’s eyes away from the other boy and he shivers. 

“Hank here thought you were just afraid of moonlight.”

Billy scoffs, and Steve doesn’t know why Billy’s suddenly so angry, but he’s starting to regret not taking his family up on any of their invitations instead of bumming around with tourists all summer. Because he’s betting they would have spilled the truth before now and made all these ‘ceremonial�� introductions; but in his defense he didn’t exactly know what a big deal it was. He wasn’t trying to offend anyone. But it’s in the past now, and Steve’s not willing to give up on the future. Not just yet.

“Yeah. Hi. I’m Steve. I know what you are, and no I’m not afraid of moonlight.” Or anything else, he dares silently, holding Billy’s gaze. “So can we talk now, or what?”

|Part 7|

Friendly tags for those who have asked in the past:

@darleenjade @sweetwaterangel @dragonflylady77 @natchula @tip-tap-tired @sparklingsprinkles @adelacreations @bluetree76 @deadfromtheneckdown @heavensfinest @marklee-blackmore @slightlydepressedmelon @percabeth-trashcan @a-lovely-craziness

[roamin-bison]

A handrum painting commission for a fellow Lenape guy who is a firefighter :) Acrylics on drumhead

[mugenloopdalove]

📚🎶 for theil?

📚 BOOKS — what level of education has your oc most recently completed/is currently in (GED, undergraduate, grad school, phd, etc)?

In the main verse, they have very little, basically know education. They were taught to read infernal and learned a bit from their parents books but that's about it. They can't even really read common til the others in the party teach them

In the modern au they also START the same, but end up getting their GED and starting college before failing out after a year and a half of fighting w their ADHD and lack of a proper education

🎶 MUSICAL NOTES — what type of music does your oc like? do they listen to music very often?

Regular Theil loves folk legend songs mostly!! Songs that tell stories of heroes... They end up writing a LOT themself.

Durge Theil finds joy in... Songs about Bhaal and that's about it LMAO. They play the handrum and spread the word.

Modern Theil likes anime and vocaloid stuff!!! When they make a music group with the others they mostly do covers of those kind of songs.

All three LOVE music though, and listen/play it as much as they can!!!

[aworldofyou]

      Fun fact about me, I made a handrum when I was like 13, and it still works today. i call it my ‘broken drum’ because a teacher made a mistake in telling me how to do something and she waited until after the fact when the deer hide was almost dried before she told me that hide underneath was crooked. It still works like a charm, but - the way she said it was ‘that drum is no good! it’s broken!’ hence, my broken drum.

[yohomeboijuliusc]

The djembe instrument you hear in the song “Elemental War” was recorded by me on that day. Playing the djembe on this song was a great idea and it went so well with the track. I enjoyed recording it on my home studio. • • • #Homegrown #homestudio #music #musicsynthesis #audiorecording #musicrecording #ElementalWar #handrum #percussion #handpercussion #djembe #yohomeboijuliusc #DJRemixedEntertainment #musicproduction #musicproducer #jackofalltrades (at Massachusetts) https://www.instagram.com/p/CZ8eSlNMpz0/?utm_medium=tumblr

[philprax]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Leo Hemetsberger (@leo_hemetsberger)

#handrum #gig #ottakring #kirtag #concert #leohemetsberger #panart https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn0c0fBnCGw/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1e0gy75vl8ddm

[mjolnirismydildo]

Drumming to hold space with my ancestors, disir, and guides. Just a part of my regular practice. #nordic #drums #handrums #handmade #pagan #heathen #volva #vitki #seidr #galdr #norse (at Missoula, Montana) https://www.instagram.com/p/CEGKeeoBgyK/?igshid=i46ph79c88ne

[ericblackmonmusic]

How To Play Congas LOW RIDER War EricBlackmonGuitar Hand Drums Lesson @...

[moviesandmania]

ASTRO LOCO (2021) Preview of sci-fi comedy

ASTRO LOCO (2021) Preview of sci-fi comedy

Astro Loco is a 2021 American comedy horror film about the outbreak of long voyage cabin fever on a spaceship. An inquisitive spaceship computer tasked with overseeing a safe trip must cultivate a deeper sense of humanity in order to be effective amidst the pandemonium. Written and directed by Aaron McJames making his feature debut. Produced by Craig A. Kocinski, Kris Maric, Aaron McJames and…

[germaphrodite]

my 12 roommates got into an argument about the eArThSoNg hippie festival they all paid several 10s to get into (if u look it up it's literally just...white ppl singing songs over handrums, chimes frOm their soul.. For several days camping..............) and the 1 normie dude with an Nsync haircut who just like speaks in poetic vocabulary ("sorry I'm so evanescent today❤️") was mad about the festival ppl asking to keep food in the fridge and everyone was really mad that he would be mad about this...

[dotomtom]

パラリンピック開会式に続き、閉会式演出も関わらせて頂きました。ドキドキかつ幸せな現場でした。写真はシシドカフカさん率いるel tempoの皆さんと楽屋にて。送り出した直後から涙腺にきました。TOKYO2020で何度泣いてるのだろう。 #tokyo2020 #パラリンピック　#閉会式 #HanDrum #ハンドラム https://t.co/n34vl9j3xo AtsushiOtaki さんのツイートから

[djembehandrum-blog]

An Introduction To The Djembe Drum

The Djembe Drum is a skin covered drum which resembles the shape of a large goblet and is made to be played best with bare hands and a lot of force behind it. Most Djembe Drums are traditionally carved, and each has their meanings and even stories behind them if you were to translate them.

Djembe Drums are named after their original wood source, the Djem tree, which is mostly found in Mali, which is in West Africa and was at one time used in the making of Djembe shells. Dating back to the 13th Century, the djembe is the drum of the Mandinka people and the great Mali Empire.

For musicians with a strong interest in percussion instruments, djembe drums can be one of the most fascinating and versatile forms of personal expression. You can learn all about djembe drums and the joys of music by enrolling in one of many drumming workshops.

Learning to play Djembe Drums has many benefits which are discussed below.

Musical expression.

Participating in playing the Djembe Drums will first and foremost help you build a substantive repertoire of musical individuality. As you build your skills in the art and craft of percussion playing, you'll begin to develop confidence and pride you never had before. Because there's so much to learn in a drumming workshop, your potential for learning beautiful and heightened forms of musical expression are limited only by your creative drive and imagination. Expressing yourself can be a way to become more outgoing and to also connect better with your innermost feelings.

Socialization skill builder.

These Djembe Drums will provide you with extensive social interaction. They'll teach you how to best get along with people of many different age groups, cultures, and nationalities. You'll learn all about the many interests and other skills of all the people in your workshop as you engage in verbal communication between practice sessions. This socialization skill building training will prove to be invaluable to you in all other areas of your future life, including in family and personal relationships, as well as in the workplace.

Seriously develop your talent.

You can push your percussive talent as far as you wish. If you become skilled enough, you may even consider a professional career as a drummer in a band. You'll have some of the best teachers in these workshops there to help you go as far as you want. These workshops can be a life changing choice for you if you're dedicated to practicing hard and frequently.

Become more cultured.

As you learn how to perform well on your djembe drums, you'll be exposed to all different forms of music from around the world. This will greatly benefit you as it will open your eyes to the many different sounds and drumming patterns and styles you may not as yet be familiar with. When you've finished a drumming workshop, you can be extremely confident that you're now able to be fully in touch with all types of percussive, ethnic musical diversity.

Conclusion.

Djembe drums are enjoyed now in many nations with African people who wish to learn something of their ancestry and spreading widely to include people from over the planet; many drum groups now take place in many countries. Djembe Drums have successfully made it into pop culture, and who knows where they will go next? Perhaps cinema and TV will give them a mention or two and the next thing you know, you'll be playing a Djembe in high school band or buy one at your local music shop. The future is limitless for the Djembe Drum.

To know more about us click here : djembe instruments online

[loverofpiggies]

themightydozen (A comment on one of my posts)

OMFG YOU HAVE A HANDRUM?! I didn't think I could possibly love you even moreCAN WE HAVE A VIDEO OF YOU PERFORMING ON IT PLZZZno stress tho take your time broski CQ’s Response: Omg, you want to see me play my handrum? Oh my gosh, I’d love to! Maybe I could make a Youtube video, my problem is I just don’t have a good enough mic to really show how beautiful a handrum can sound. I called my handrum ‘ladybug’ because it looks like it has a ladybug imprinted on the top. Most of the time I just, ‘play how I feel’ so I haven’t written anything permanent, but I would love to get people to know about handrums <3 They’re so rare in the US. Its a small handheld one too! For anyone interested-- this is the video that got me to fall in love with the handrum. Mine is a small handmade one from Maine, but maybe, just maybe, one day I’ll get one of the big ones. ;_;

[philprax]

Neuer Podcast #linkinbio👆 JETZT ONLINE: „Hingabe_2“; #Podcast auf #spotify; #Hingabe, #philosophie, #devotion, #lecture, #handrum, #leohemetsberger https://www.instagram.com/p/CNMnaU1l44z/?igshid=3sg6y1ohd8j8

[vampireintraining]

❤❤❤❤