The Return of Hot August Music

I say yes to Hot August Music because of this:

Come join me August 15, 2015 at Oregon Ridge Park to do it for our 3rd year.

Lineup and ticket info riiight....here :)

MPT Feature Airing Tonight!

The above feature airs tonight at 7:30 on MPT's Your Money and Business.

In August, their production crew visited two of my groups, a Beatwell Group Therapy with adults with chronic mental illness and a Beatwell Playshop with seniors at a residential complex.

Baltimore Book Festival 2014 Recap

Effective libraries serve numerous functions. Books are important and what most of us associate with the local library.

Baltimore's Enoch Pratt Free Library has plenty of books with over 20 branch locations.

They also realize they serve their city by building community.

I began working with Enoch Pratt earlier this year when I was asked to share a few programs at their Federal Hill branch. The success of these events awarded me the opportunity to kick off the Baltimore Book Festival. 

For an hour, my team and I welcomed infants, a preschool, parents and that monster from Where The Wild Things Are to drum joyfully and in community. We did it on the entrance to the Maryland Science Center in the Inner Harbor--a perfect location.

Maryland Public TV Preview

This is cool...

Last month I shared a couple unique Beatwell Playshops with some familiar friends.

Unique in that Maryland Public Television producers were on site to film!

I returned to Weinberg Village, an independent senior living community in Owings Mills, and also shared my largest drum circle group therapy at my "day job" with over 40 adults with chronic mental illness.

Both shoots were memorable, and I look forward to sharing the upcoming MPT air date and video link with you soon!

-Jordan

Hot August Music Festival 2014

Beatwell returned for our second year to the Hot August Music Festival. The sold out event took over Oregon Ridge Park. We shared three Beatwell Drum Circles including one just for the kids!

The world has 40 new Drum Circle Facilitators!

Over the past two weeks, I trained the 40 kids above (ages 4-9) to become drum circle facilitators.

This was part of a performing arts camp at the Owings Mills JCC. I have worked with many groups of kids, but I used this residency as an opportunity to empower the children as leaders.

This is now the mission of all of my programs.

I was inspired by Jim Donovan's 4-day Drum Circle Leadership training in Loretto, PA at the end of June. I highly recommend one of Jim's many trainings.

Today I began with a new group of campers and at the end of next week we'll be debuting another stage full of leaders!

Coming Full Circle

In three hours I will return to The Auburn School to share an end of the year, celebratory drum circle. They gave me the amazing opportunity to share Beatwell Playshops, twice a week, for the first few months of the school year. I'm pumped to finish the year with them just as strong as we started it.

The Calm Before the Beatwell Playshop

These bookend bookings at Auburn seemed fitting as some commitments have ended for the summer and new ones begin. My consultation sessions and drum therapy groups at the Hannah More School have come to an end. These experiences helped me continue to grow as a clinician, educator and leader in therapeutic drumming. I look forward to continuing my work at Hannah More in September!

I'm excited to begin working with Greater Allegany Counseling, a private psychotherapy practice out of Catonsville, MD as a therapist. This will allow me to introduce therapeutic drumming to various populations and will provide for me the experience needed to become an independently licensed psychotherapist.

Facilitating a Family Beatwell Playshop

In May, I shared a few unique Beatwell Playshops. I spent an evening in northwest Baltimore drumming with 25 seniors at the Bristol House. The organizers shared with me their joy of seeing the participants light up with drumming, dancing and laughter.

Beatwell Playshop at the Bristol House in Baltimore

In another first, I brought Beatwell to Goodwill Industries International in Baltimore. They host weekly groups aiding adults in search of steady employment. I was asked to lead a Playshop focused on team-building and engagement. About 20 of us drummed for an hour, creating possibly the most enjoyable music I've experienced in this work yet!

When I began this path of therapeutic and community drumming a few years ago, I could not have envisioned some of the opportunities that would come. My work consistently surprises, challenges and inspires me. I'm looking forward to a summer full of meaningful drumming!