Shamanic percussions, theta waves and a new song

Hello good people! :)

This is my first post in this blog, which is meant to provide you with some insights into A Day in Venice: motifs, inspiration, stories and why not - my music production process!

Today I want to explore with you one aspect of my music production and why I often decide to avoid a fast energetic drumming in my songs. I am a rather calm and introverted person, but there is also a technical reason behind this. And a vision.

Let's give some personal considerations about rhythm and drumming first: rhythm means movement. Certain rhythmic sounds motivate us, we move, jump, dance. At a certain speed.

In fact, our hearbeat can range between 50 to 220 beats per minute and when we move our heartbeat increases, speeds up. When we relax, it slows down.

A slower tempo below a certain threshold will inspire you to sleep, either meditation or relaxation.

A good portion of the population prefer faster tempos and faster music, whereas introverts and thinkers will prefer slower tempos or slower beats.

If you do prefer slower tempos yourself, you might be an introvert: a reviewer of my previous album "III" (2019) claimed that the album was too slow, static but sensing he - himself that it was a work aimed to the listeners who want to "research" themselves.

Our subconsciousness is key here. It is commonly associated with mysticism, paganism, sometimes with danger or even evil. Actually, considering the unexplored part of yourself a part you should "worry" about is quite common.

If you are familiar with Jung and his work, theology or meditation, you would agree that exploring our subconscious can help us to find some of the answers. It can even heal us. And this is what shamans aim to do through their drumming.

But what is shamanic drumming and how does it work?

We know that repetitive, rhythmic sound brings on an altered state of consciousness. Some frequencies match electroencephalographic (EEG) theta wave activity in the human brain, therefore practitioners of core shamanism use sonic drivers – drums or rattles – to enter a trance in order to visit the uncounsciousness or spiritual world.

Is all this related to rock music? Not really. At least, usually it's not, but in my case it is.

That's why you will hear shamanic drumming, super slow rhythms and very much of this unconventionality in my forthcoming new song.

And I hope you will like it. :)

It's up to be released very very soon - in August.

Stay safe!

Best wishes,

Andrej