Soul music

My mid-life rebellion began back in 2017. Alongside running my first half marathon, I finally realised a childhood ambition to learn how to play the drums.

And as you’ve come to expect from me, serendipity played a part.

As a volunteer at our village community shop, I had the good fortune to work alongside a fabulous 14-year-old called Katy. A gem of a human being, she was 14 going on 40, having wisdom beyond her years. During one of many life exploring discussions, she revealed she had been playing drums for a number of years.

“Oh that is something I’ve wanted to do for so long!” I gasped.

“My teacher, Pete, is based in the town so here’s his number and I’ll let him know you’ll be in touch.”

 It took one lesson for me to be hooked. When you listen to your soul’s true desires, the journey that follows is pure joy. And that’s how it’s been for me with drumming. However, the really interesting and unexpected aspect of learning the drums has been realising the synergy with writing.

Drum and phrase

 To play the drums well, you need a good sense of rhythm, tempo and coordination. What I didn’t expect when I started drumming, was how well this new skill linked with my other passions in life – writing and horse riding.

 The one thing that links writing, horse riding and drumming is rhythm and tempo.

 Think about a really good piece of writing you’ve read. Chances are, you remember this text because the words flowed effortlessly. The writer had varied the length of sentences and used words of differing numbers of syllables to create a rhythmical beat.

 I had the good fortune to see Pam Ayres recently, and her poetry showcases this lyrical ability. In fact, she narrated a poem she’d written about her dog and his love of a bright red football, purposely written so the cadence emulated that of a bouncing ball!

 Some of the witty ditties in my book, Cappuccino, Cake and Chat, came to me while I was riding and running. That steady regularity of my feet striking the ground, or of my horse’s hooves pounding on the turf, lends itself to writing poetry.

 So, next time you read a paragraph that flows, try reading out loud and listening to the “word groove”.