Norway Report

This was our forth Annual Scandinavian Facilitator Playshop Training. There were 33 Participants from 7 countries; Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Switzerland, and the UK. The UK participant, John Hewitt, came to the Scandinavian facilitator playshop because there was not a DCFacilitators Training in England. It was a FRAP= Facilitators Rhythmical Alchemy PLayshop. (Which he also attended)

This facilitator Playshop training was populated by the usual subjects; school teachers, music teachers, recreational drummers, drum teachers, music therapist, special needs servers and corporate facilitators. This is quite a difference from the first VMC Scandinavian training which was populated almost exclusively with personal growth facilitators.

For this years Scandinavia VMC FAC Playshop training, Mikael, our regional coordinator, secured a beautiful venue situated on a small island called Mako, just off the coast of Norway. The program was held on a farm that occupied a small island in the Norway archipelagos island system. The playshop drumming room at the site has a beautiful ocean view, and we cans see both the Norway and Sweden coast line.

Just like in Hawaii our group met at a staging area and played drums until we were picked up by the buss that takes to our Playshop site.

EXCEPT ! Our buss was a flat top ferryboat that took us to the island of Mako.

So we had a moving drum circle on the ferry boat deck, complete with chairs.

The ferry company not only supported our drum circle, but provided us with a larger ferry that the regular one for this trip. They did so, so we could play on the outside deck as we floated past the beautiful fjords and coastal islands of Norway to our playshop. We entertained a lot of islands as well as the passengers on passing ferry boats along the way.

The weather was bright warm and sunny for the ferry trip and our whole Scandinavia program. At the end of the program , we also held a drum circle on the ferry trip back to the mainland of Norway

This was the first VMC training program since the 6 day Hawaii training and so it was my first opportunity to try out our new curriculum and see how it would work with a shorter weekend training.

I am very pleased with the result. The students walked away with a maximum amount of learning and experience and a minimum amount of stress and overwhelm.

Designing the curriculum around my new book was the key to the VMC DC- Facilitation trainings successes. The 260 page book is now the Facilitator Playshop workbook and is published and is owned fully by Village Music circles

There has been a lot of progress in the growth and development of the recreational drumming movement in Scandinavian over the last four years, but most of it has been "Under the radar." Meaning that there lots of school teachers and special need facilitators supporting their specific populations with rhythm based events, but only a few "Public family friendly drum circle events being facilitated.

Makial Khei (one of our Mentor trainers at last years Hawaii) has made a public commitment to work with all the VMC graduates in the Scandinavian countries who want to start a recreational drumming community in their area. He is doing out reach into the Scandinavian VMC graduate community to let them know that he is willing to travel with his van full of drums, help them organize, promote, co- facilitate and Mentor them in a DC event that will help kick start their recreational DC community building project.

This is similar to what some of our other VMC Regional Promoters, Kaoru in Japan, and Mathias in Germany have been doing.

 

Right on Makial. Keep up the good work.