Rhythm faith drumming

Grandma Todd was into faith healers, in the summertime we would go to beautiful Winona Lake and see famous faith healers in front of  thousands of people in a huge corrugated steel domed architectural testament to the “can-do” spirit of post WWII America. Oral Roberts, Billy Sunday, and others filled these types of arenas all over the country. A huge merchandizing area greeted the faithful as they entered; velvet pillows with the Savior painted on them, glow in the dark Jesus magnets to stand up on the steel dashboard in your Packard. These were the rock stars of the Fifties. When the audience started to get antsy the evangelist would turn it over to the band and they would play some great uptempo gospel music. The drummer was good, he got everybody going and clapping their hands together. His big shiny blue pearl Ludwig drumset was on a six foot tall riser in the middle of the stage. The evangelist stood in front so his head was framed right in the middle of the bass drum, like a halo and he would just beam. I figured, being the young erstwhile drum student,  that if you wanted people to believe or heal, a good beat helps. The drum does something different than words. As a result, people feel better. Mysterious clues for a young drummer. But now I realize that everything feeds into who we are. The grooves are inspirational flowing energy patterns that have used us to dance and heal since the beginning of time.