Mickey Hart

Still Drumming at the

Edge of Magic
“Amazing, gratifying, humbling,” is how Mickey Hart
describes the experience of joining the ranks of the PAS
Hall of Fame. “Being with all the greats—Tito
[Puente], Baba [Olatunji], Buddy Rich,
Gene Krupa, Louis Bellson. These are
my teachers, my mentors, the
brother and sisterhood. I ride
on the shoulders of giants,”
he says with surest convic-
tion. “It’s what came be-
fore you that makes you
what you are. All those
legends that came be-
fore me motivated me to
continue and continue and
continue.”

By B. Michael Williams
percussive notes 12 NOVEMBER 2009
 ickey Hart could have been
content being a rock
already in the planning stages for Global Drum
Project II, so stay tuned! Rhythm is at the
star. For nearly thirty
years, he was a driving
Hart’s enthusiasm for world percussion
was a natural outgrowth of his collabora- very center of our lives.
force behind the Grate-
ful Dead. The group was
tion with fellow Grateful Dead drummer Bill
Kreutzmann. Every concert included a half- By acknowledging this fact
inducted into the Rock and
Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
hour drum extravaganza by the duo dubbed
the “Rhythm Devils.” These extended percus- and acting on it, our potential
Throughout his tenure with the Dead, and
even in his earliest formative years, Hart trav-
sion experiences (one cannot call them simply
“drum solos”) introduced countless audiences for preventing illness and
eled his own path, fueled by an indescribably
powerful need to connect with the drumming
(known affectionately as “Dead Heads”) to
an ever-expanding collection of percussion maintaining mental, physical,
ancestry shared by all percussionists.
In his book Drumming at the Edge of Magic,
instruments from every corner of the globe
and fueled Hart’s curiosity and passion for and spiritual well-being
Hart describes his nearly fanatical timeline of
information pertaining to percussion instru-
learning all he could about the origin of his
instruments. is far greater.
ments from around the globe. Made up of Hart composed music for Francis Ford
index cards and photographs, the timeline Coppola’s blockbuster film Apocalypse Now in ways record catalog—over 3,000 LPs,” he said.
grew to over sixty feet long, meandering along 1980. He recalls, “Francis came to see one of “We’re in the process of converting all of them
the walls of The Barn (which housed a record- the [Grateful Dead] shows at Winterland, and into digital media.” In 1999, the Saybrook
ing studio, among other attractions) at his he wanted his movie to sound like the Rhythm Graduate School and Research Center in San
northern California home. Mickey called it his Devils, so he asked me to compose the percus- Francisco awarded Hart an Honorary Doctor-
Anaconda (with a capital A). Researching the sion score. I built special instruments for the ate of Humane Letters for his work in advanc-
world of this latest PAS Hall of Fame inductee, air strike scene and literally played the whole ing the preservation of aural archives.
I discovered another Anaconda: a complex and movie. Francis put the film on a loop and Hart credits Babatunde Olatunji with in-
driven drummer, scholar, author, composer, played it over and over while we put the music spiring his quest into world percussion. “He
recording artist, entertainer, archivist, activ- to it. It was more than fun!” was a pioneer; he set the example,” Mickey
ist, and perennial student named Mickey Since then, Hart has composed scores, remembers. “When I heard Drums of Passion,
Hart. soundtracks, and themes for movies and tele- Nigerian rhythms mixed with city sounds, it
Born September 11, 1943, Mickey received vision. In 1996, he was invited to compose put me on a whole other path of exploring the
a public-school music education grounded music for the opening ceremony of the 26th world’s rhythms. These were sacred rhythmic
in rudimental drumming. “My father was a Summer Olympiad in Atlanta. He remembers, signatures. The talking drum sound from that
drummer,” says Hart in Drumming at the Edge “They had my book, Planet Drum, and they first record was riveting. It opened a whole
of Magic, “my mother, too. They were rudi- said, ‘This is what the Olympics are all about. new world. Baba brought ritual trance music
mental drummers, which means they prac- It’s a gathering of tribes and rhythm. We want to the West. He gave me a rhythmic life that
ticed a type of drumming that evolved out of a to put that spirit into the opening ceremony. was invaluable. I can never repay him.”
military tradition.” We’d like you to compose the first ten minutes Asked about how he got so deeply involved
It seems prophetic that the young man for percussion.’” Hart composed the piece for with music and healing, Hart responded, “Al-
would grow to beat his swords into the plow- more than 100 percussionists playing dozens most thirty years ago, my grandmother was
shares of drumming for health, healing, and of instruments from six continents to create suffering from Alzheimer’s. She was in the
love. In 1991, he appeared before the U.S. “sounds of the Olympic spirits and tribes.” advanced stages and hadn’t spoken in quite
Senate Committee on Aging, speaking on As a Trustee of the American Folklife Cen- some time. I visited her and brought a drum
behalf of the healing value of drumming and ter of the Library of Congress, Hart is deeply to play for her and was astonished when she
rhythm to afflictions associated with aging. invested in the Endangered Music Project to said my name! Rhythm connects people with
A member of the Board of Directors of the preserve the library’s vast collection of sound the resonance of the universe. It’s all about
Institute for Music and Neurologic Function, recordings. “We’ve made lots of progress in vibrations. We’re now finding out what parts
he received that institution’s 2003 Music Has identifying rare and endangered collections,” of the brain light up when we’re ‘on music,’
Power Award, in recognition of his advocacy he said. “The materials on which these great and it’s incredibly exciting. For me, it’s very
and commitment to raising public awareness recordings were imprinted—wax, tin, acetate, personal. Watching my grandmother respond
of the positive effects of music. magnetic tape—are deteriorating. Our goal is so positively to sound and rhythm was a turn-
The author of four books, Hart published to transfer them into a digital medium before ing point.”
his seminal Drumming at the Edge of Magic: A they are no longer retrievable. The Library In his 1991 address to the U.S. Senate Com-
Journey into the Spirit of Percussion in 1990, of Congress houses the largest repository of mittee on Aging, Hart said, “What is true of
followed by Planet Drum in 1991. The compan- indigenous music in the world, and the money our own bodies is true almost everywhere we
ion CD, also titled Planet Drum, featuring Hart raised from the sale of these recordings goes look. We are embedded within a rhythmical
with a host of world-class percussionists, sat back into the culture, so it’s an important universe. Everywhere we see rhythm, pat-
at the number-one position on the Billboard project. The other challenge is to allow access terns moving through time. It is there in the
World Music Chart for 26 weeks and won to people. Some of the music is now available cycles of the seasons, in the migration of birds
the first-ever Grammy Award for Best World on the Internet at the website of the American and animals, in the fruiting and withering
Music Album in 1991. Fittingly, Hart won an- Folklife Center [www.loc.gov/folklife]. Pres- of plants, and in the birth, maturation, and
other Grammy this year, taking the 2009 Best ervation and access, those are the two chal- death of ourselves. Rhythm is at the very
Contemporary World Music Album award for lenges.” center of our lives. By acknowledging this fact
Global Drum Project with Zakir Hussain, Sikiru Hart is also on the Board of Directors of and acting on it, our potential for preventing
Adepoju, Giovanni Hidalgo, and computer the Smithsonian’s American Recorded Sound illness and maintaining mental, physical, and
sound wizard Jonah Sharp. Mickey says he is Project. “The Smithsonian has the entire Folk- spiritual well-being is far greater.”

percussive notes 13 NOVEMBER 2009

Hart went on to suggest that forming mention rock star), Mickey Hart has given of wholly emotional. Your emotions seem to
therapeutic drumming activities for the el- himself to his community. And his community stream down your arms and legs and out the
derly should be an integral part of any music reaches the world over. In Drumming at the mouth of the drum; you feel light, gravity-less,
therapy program. “The object is not public per- Edge of Magic, Mickey quotes an African prov- your arms feel like feathers.
formance,” he said. “Because, when we speak erb, “A village without music is a dead place.” “You fly like a bird.”
of this type of drumming, we are speaking of Thanks to the passion of this Grateful Dead
a deeper realm in which there is no better or drummer, our percussive world is very much Books by Mickey Hart
worse, no modern or primitive, no distinc- alive. “In the beginning was noise,” he wrote, Drumming at the Edge of Magic: A Journey into the
tions at all, but rather an almost organic “and noise begat rhythm, and rhythm begat Spirit of Percussion, Harper Collins, 1990
compulsion to translate the emotional fact everything else. When the rhythm is right you Planet Drum, Harper Collins, 1991
of being alive into sound, into rhythm, into feel it with all your senses. The head of the Spirit into Sound: The Magic of Music, Grateful Dead
something you can dance to.” drum vibrates as the stick strikes it. The physi- Books, 1999
Rudimental drummer, author, composer, cal feedback is almost instantaneous, rushing Songcatchers: In Search of the World’s Music, National
archivist, activist for the healing capacity of along your arms, filling your ears. Geographic, 2003
music, percussive Renaissance Man (not to “Your mind is turned off, your judgment
Mickey Hart Discography
Rolling Thunder, Warner Bros, 1972 (re-released on
Grateful Dead Records, 2005)
Diga Rhythm Band, Rykodisc, 1976
The Apocalypse Now Sessions: The Rhythm Devils Play
River Music, Passport Records, 1979 (Re-released
on Rykodisc, 1990)
Yamantaka, Celestial Harmonies Records, 1983 (re-
released 1992)
At the Edge, Rykodisc, 1990
Music to Be Born By, Rykodisc, 1990
Däfos, Rykodisc, 1990
Planet Drum, Rykodisc, 1991 (Re-released on Shout!
Factory Records, 2008) [1991 Grammy winner,
Best World Music Album]
Mickey Hart’s Mystery Box, Rykodisc, 1996 (re-re-
leased on Shout! Factory Records, 2008)
Superlingua, Rykodisc, 1998 (re-released on Shout!
Factory Records, 2008)
Spirit into Sound, Arista Records, 2000
The Best of Mickey Hart: Over the Edge and Back,
Rykodisc, 2002
The Rhythm Devils Concert Experience, RED Distribu-
tion DVD, 2009
Global Drum Project, Shout! Factory Records, 2007
[2009 Grammy winner, Best Contemporary
World Music Album]

For Further Reading

Hart, Mickey, www.mickeyhart.net/enthusi-
asms/rhythm.html
www.mickeyhart.net/enthusiasms/pres-
ervation.html
Kupfer, David, “Rhythms of the Planet: An
Interview with Mickey Hart,” ©2003 Talk-
ing Leaves, Fall/Winter 2003/2004, Volume
13, Numbers 3 & 4, Voices of the Earth:
People in Harmony (at www.talkingleaves.
org/node/186).
Ward, Eric, “Mickey Hart: Rhythmic Science,”
© 2006 Glide Magazine (at www.glidemaga-
zine.com/articles/51460/mickey-hart-
rhythmic-science.html).

B. Michael Williams, Associate Editor for Per-

cussive Notes, teaches percussion at Winthrop
University. Visit him at www.bmichaelwil-
liams.com. PN

percussive notes 14 NOVEMBER 2009

percussive notes 15 NOVEMBER 2009