Beijing China, Again This Year – NOV 2018

Hello My Friends,

I have been behind the Chinese-internet-firewall-iron curtin for the last few weeks, so this On-The-Road report is a little late.

Also a note to all those on this list who has written me recently, after cleaning up my dumped E-mail, I will get back to you ASAP. {]]’;-)

First of all: Nellie Hill’s and Arthur’s Co-authored book Drum Circle Facilitators Handbook has now been translated and published in Chinese by a major China music industry distribution company KHS. Yippy!! Watch this space  {]]’;-)

I have now visited this wonderfully mysterious land for 5 years in a row. We have been doing 3-day VMC Playshops in four cities on each of these annual Drum-About tours in China. I say ‘we' because it takes a team of local dedicated rhythmical evangelists to pull off such a feat. Although I have been in China many times before, these last five back-to-back China Drum-About visits has definitely helped build a national community of rhythm event facilitators.

Every China tour starts with a Playshop in Beijing, but this is my second Beijing visit this year. We did our first China 6-day in Beijing this Spring.

Our unique Chinese three level Playshop training system is showing positive results. So now in Beijing, there is a strong community of returnee graduates who are doing, either their Level #2 Challenge course or their Level #3 mini-mentor program.

With the Level 2 and 3 students dedicated support of the training processes, it is a lot easier to input the deeper “Presence” Concepts into the hearts and minds of the basic Level 1 Beijing students.

“Create Small Successes – Work With What They Give You – Respect and Use the Transition Points – Get Out of Their Way (GOOW) – Constantly UseYour Radar – There Are No Mistakes – Teaching without Teaching – KISS, Keep It Stupidly Simple – What Can I Do to Serve This Circle?”

The REMO distributor in China, KHS, has assembled a fully balanced “Orchestra” kit for our trainings and for use at conferences. The kit consists of 100 mixed drum types and pitched interments, plus the same amount of mixed percussion. The kit is waiting for us to use at every Playshop training. We have banged on the same kit for the last five years during all our trainings and it is holding up very well.

I now have the wonderful privilege of making essential connections here in China, while creating camaraderie with the mission dedicated protégés who follow me around the country, to participate and support whatever Playshop that I am doing in the many smaller cities scattered throughout this vast land.

It is a wonderful and humbling privilege, that while I am able to support and mentor this ever growing international recreational drumming community, I still find myself in a position of doing pioneering rhythmical evangelist mission into new countries and regions.

My next and last stop on this China Drum-About is an interior city that I have never visited before, called Nanchang. What new pioneering adventures await me there?

Share your Spirit, Uncle Arthur

arthurian@drumcircle.com