- original music and arrangements -

Quarry View - Portland, CT

I had the good fortune to visit Quarry View on a hot summer day in 2021. Now a sculpture park, its a very special place in an abandoned and re-purposed quarry. The owners Dean and Darlene have done an amazing job of not only restoring a neglected yet important historical site; they have also reverently transformed it into a spiritual retreat to connect with nature.

After an engaging talk with Dean that blazing hot 2021 summer day, he suggested I check out the drum circle that meets twice a week in the back "sanctuary" of the quarry. It was an amazing experience. I played theĀ Turkish Doumbek, a Brazilian Pandeiro, a Caxixi and other miscellaneous percussion. Watching the night enfold surrounded by a wall of thunderous djembes was very mystical and spiritual experience, I have returned many times since to join in the communal spirit of drumming and I now often play the Native American flutes as well, spontaneously creating riffs and melodies that sync with the wall of drums around me.

More Quarry View Photos

Learn more about the history of the quarry and its status as a National Historic Landmark.

Drum Circle Tunes

On occasion, I capture some of the drum grooves on my iPhone and build instrumental songs using the drum circle grooves as the foundation of the arrangement. They are listed below:

The Loop Process

What is the process used to create drum circle audio loops?
For anyone interested....

  Expand/Collapse

iPhone > Audacity > Digital Performer

  1. While at the Drum Circle, I capture audio on my iPhone—then when back home, download it to my computer
  2. I first listen carefully to the drum circle audio and pick what I feel are solid grooves and note the time (start and finish)
  3. I then record ALL the drum circle audio into the Audacity app.
  4. Next, I pick out what I think sounds like a solid groove and, using markers and the loop play choice from the transport menu, I listen to see if it provides a steady continuous metrically solid groove. Sometimes it takes a bit of tweaking to the start or finish markers to get it to lock in.

  5. Once I've established the solid groove I was seeking, I copy that selection to a new Audacity file and save it as a wav file.
  6. At this point, I import the drum groove wav files into my DAW1 (Digital Performer), figure out the tempo and then add other instruments accordingly.

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1 - Digital Audio Workstation (DAW)