Published: July 30, 2009 09:13 pm      

Jaqui MacMillan will share love of drumming

Accomplished musician

CUMBERLAND — Jaqui MacMillan’s drumming quest began in the early 1980s, when she started playing sessions with D.C. area musicians. Jaqui had an awakening while in art school. “I don’t know what happened,” she said with a laugh, “but drums came into my life, and I got into world music. In my wildest dreams, I never imagined the music would take over.”

Since then, she has studied with many masters including: Babatunde Olatunji, Mamady Keita, Shina DurosinmiEtti, Carlos Moore, Sam Turner and at the Tam Tam Mandingue School, with Mahiri Fadjimba Keita.

She is also a graduate of the 1999 Drum Facilitators Playshop and the 2001 Drum Facilitators Mentor Program in Hawaii with Arthur Hull. Her main focus is the djembe drum from West Africa, although she is also interested in and has studied congas and Afro-Cuban drumming. She suffuses her teaching and playing with great respect for the traditions and with the joy of drumming.

Jaqui wil be sharing her talents on Aug. 15, as she supports One Tree Productions’ Many Branches of Expression Cultural Arts Series with two outdoor offerings at The Shuman Life Center on the east side of Cumberland. Because Jaqui believes that healing happens through the arts and music, One Tree Productions is offering a Saturday afternoon workshop from 2 to 5 p.m., with a Drum for Joy Orchestra performance from 7 to 9 p.m.  

The workshop will focus on helping individuals and groups of friends participate in drumming together. Special discounted rates are available for groups. Children and adults are welcome. Jaqui loves being with people of all ages, “I can see being a student of the drums for as long as my body can move! I will definitely drum forever. I really believe in excellence and I want to get there. I want to inspire people and be a strong role model for kids.”

Workshop participants are invited to the evening Drum for Joy Orchestra Performance at no extra charge. There are also separate evening discounts available.

Jaqui won the Washington Area Music Association’s “World Music Instrumentalist Award” every year from 1995 through 2002 and the “World Music Female Vocalist Award” for 2001. She is a Mountain Rythym endorsee and facilitator and has facilitated drum circles for corporate team building events, national conferences, elementary and high schools, summer programs for children, hospitals, with “at risk” children, juvenile detention centers and centers for homeless and battered women. She is a founding and board member of the Drum Circle Facilitators Guild, a non-profit organization based in Washington. Jaqui has taught privately and given workshops around the country for for more than 15 years through her program, “Drum For Joy!!!.” She is also the co-founder and co-facilitator of the Village Tree, a drum, dance and “building community through rhythm” event held in Maryland.

Workshop and concert tickets are available at Allegany Arts Council, 9 N. Centre St., in Cumberland.

The concert is sponsored by CSX Transportation. For a full two-page flier, which includes directions to The Shuman Life Center, stop by The Allegany Arts Council or access: www.onetreeproductions.org. More informational also may be obtained at (301) 777-9234.