Drumroll, please… A FREE Ethnic Drumming Workshop is coming to town! Get ready to make some noise, connect with new rhythms, and have fun!
Join us for Drum Journeys of Earth’s Open House on Saturday, Jan 10, 2026. This free event will be held at 10am, in Rhythm Hall on the 2nd floor of Building 5 at the Howe Center, Rutland, VT. There will be demonstrations of ethnic drumming including West African music, Latin percussion and Native American frame drumming. The audience will be encouraged to join in. No experience required! Bring your energy, we’ll provide the beats!"
“Anyone can drum,” says Gary Meitrott, founder of Drum Journeys of Earth. “Rhythm is within all of us. It’s inside us as we breathe, as our heart beats, as we walk. It’s on the streets, in the cars we drive. It’s the earth itself. Rhythm is everywhere, and we cannot exist without it.”
Winter classes: Beginning Djembe Wednesdays at 7pm, starting Jan 14th, and
Heart & Ritual of the Medicine Drum on Thursdays at 7pm, starting Sept 12th.
Group drumming improves concentration, reduces stress, alleviates pain and boosts the immune system. What’s more, the mental and physical engagement is exhilarating, making it ideal for young and old alike. There is a multi-sensory engagement involving visual, audio and tactile.
“The idea that drumming can be therapeutic isn’t surprising, given how the brain works,” said Dr. Douglas Scharre, medical director of the Neurobehavior and Memory Disorders Clinics at Ohio State University’s Wexner Medical Center. “The brain is designed to identify music and rhythm patterns readily,” Scharre said. “It triggers frontal and limbic parts of the brain and helps the brain draw specific attention to the sound. In some, it may be therapeutic and calming, just like other forms of music.”
Drum Journeys of Earth and its students are widely known for leading the Rutland Halloween Parade as the Drumming Skeletons. Students have also performed at First Night, at the Northern New York NAACP Fundraising dinner, with Soul Bath Trance Dance, and the Twice Baked Orchestra.
The school offers classes and performances in a variety of ethnic drumming styles, including West African Djembe; Latin; Native American drumming; Middle Eastern Doumbek; Irish Bodhran; and Rhythm, Rubbish, Rush, which is a combination of trash drumming and body percussion. DJE also offers drumming for children. For more information or to join Beginning classes, please call 802-282-2581, email
R2FyeV9NZWl0cm90dCB8IGNvbWNhc3QgISBuZXQ=, or log on to www.GaryMeitrottUnlimited.org.
As a Broadway actor, and founder/director of Drum Journeys of Earth (DJE), Gary Meitrott brings his theatrical talents to drum circles, performances and workshops, in addition to his weekly classes. His vibrations reach out to the community, creating a ripple that touches all ages – invited them to come and play with the drum.
# # #
Also check out other Workshops in Rutland, Music events in Rutland, Arts events in Rutland.
