Earth Tones Studio

Drumming Circle

9/1/2024

Ongoing every 1st and 3rd Sunday

Lakeside Community Church
7654 Conservation Road, Guelph
12:30pm-1:30pm
Room B101A
By donation, PWYC
All welcome, no experience necessary
Bring a friend!
Fully accessible, lots of parking!
Bring your own instruments, some will be provided
No need to register, just come and join us!

Questions? contact: [email protected]

John drumming with Celtic Jam on stage at Drumfest 2017

The leader of the parade with John at our booth at Drumfest 2017.

It has been a very busy summer! We have met some new friends and had a chance to catch up with some long time friends. The weather cooperated most of the time. There was that torrential rain incident in June that left us all scrambling in Peterborough at the Yoga Festival though.

I would have to say the highlight of the summer's activities for us was the Drumfest in Haliburton on Labour Day. It is an annual event and they hold it in the park that is located by the Rails End Gallery and Art Centre. Truly an event not to be missed if you are in the area. There are community drumming circles, high energy music and dancing, costumes for all who wish to march in the parade! There were steel pan drums, a celtic band, traditional African music with dancing, calypso music and so much more! Here is a picture of the leader of the parade this year with John at our booth and John playing with Celtic Jam at the band shell in the park. Maybe we will see you there in 2018!

Hello everyone!

Spring weather is here! It has been warm enough to paint drums outside. Such a pleasure to do the work I love and soak up the sun at the same time. This picture is a completed order we recently delivered. PVC pipe drums, thunder tube, soup can shakers painted lovingly with intention to pass on good vibrations to children.
The African Talking Drums are examples of John's upcoming workshop. PVC and wooden. The participants paint the design of their choice on the drum before the rings and ropes are installed.

We are thrilled to have a vendor booth at the Peterborough Yoga Festival this year. The date is June 17. If you attend, please drop by the booth to say hello or maybe we will see you at Kirtan!

If you have not already visited our workshop page on the website please do. We have lots of workshops lined up for the next few months in different locations for your convenience. If for some reason you cannot attend any of these scheduled workshops, perhaps you can design and schedule a workshop of your own with a group of your friends or colleagues. Just get in touch with us to inquire about this option at [email protected].

Thanks for reading our blog! Have a great summer!

Fall Workshop Schedule now finalized

9/11/2016

Hello to everyone! We have had a great summer and sincerely hope that you have also.

We recently participated in the first ever Halibana in Haliburton, Ontario. Rails End Gallery and Art Centre helped pull it all together by hosting a drum making workshop, costume making and drum decorating for the community. John was the official drum maker and consultant for the event. Not only did he make 30 drums, we walked in the procession and participated in a huge drum circle in the park. Below are a few photos, so you can get a peak at the festivities. Maybe you can come next year! The more participants the better!

There has been terrific weather for our outdoor workshops in the courtyard in Lakefield at Celtic Connection and we are optimistic for more sunshine and warm temperatures for the upcoming workshop on September 17, 18 and October 1, 2. If you are interested in participating, please click here to go to our Workshops section of this website.
We have a Workshop coming soon at 9th Vibrations in Guelph and information can be found about that workshop if you click here.
As always, if we can answer any questions you might have about workshops or drum repairs or drum making supplies do not hesitate to email or telephone us. We look forward to meeting you at one of our upcoming workshops!

Summer Workshops

6/3/2016

Repurposed new PVC pipe made into rope tuned drum. Very cool markings and printing on it!

Guelph,Haliburton,Lakefield drum building workshops coming up in June, July, August, 2016

Hello and happy Spring! I have not added any news for awhile. Lately, the days seem to be full of activity and it gets harder and harder to fit in all that I have planned to get accomplished. We sure have been busy with workshops over this past winter. And as you may know, we have a booth at the Guelph Farmer's Market to display our instruments, drums and percussion and hand out information about upcoming workshops.

Speaking of workshops.....we have some great ones coming up in different areas in the hopes that one location may be the best one for you! Please click on our workshops lab to see details and locations.

John is excited to offer PVC Pipe Ashiko Drum, repurposed new pipe from construction sites. They have very cool marks, abrasions and printing on them. Check it out!

Winter workshops coming up at the 9th Vibration in Guelph. 497 Woolwich Street.
You can visit the store to see examples, or call to register. 519.265.9099

Saturday, February 6, 7
1 pm - 5 pm or when done. Native American Style Frame Drum and Beater. 18" - $155, 20" - $175, 22" - $195.

The next weekend you will have another opportunity to make the Native American Frame Drum or your choice of Ocean Drum 14" - $125, or Brazilian Pandeiro 10" - $100.

Look under the workshops tab for photos and workshop details.

It is an intimate room so spaces are limited!

October Workshops on Thanksgiving Weekend and until the end of the month

10/6/2015

I am thrilled to say that our workshops schedule is heating up for the month of October! 9th Vibration in Guelph will be hosting a workshop on Thanksgiving Weekend and Visible Voices Open Art Studio in Haliburton are hosting drum and instrument making the weekend after that. Then it is off to Sudbury , well Chelmsford actually just outside of Sudbury, for a two day workshop making instruments of all kinds, all materials.

If any of these workshops interest you click on our workshops tab to see more details and pictures.

The Ocean Drum is a percussion instrument that can produce soothing sounds which sound just like the ocean. The drum is held by the frame with the heads horizontal and play by rolling the wrists so the drum gently tilts in all directions. Different speeds produce different sounds. Starting and stopping suddenly creates crashing wave sounds.

I thought you might like to see a picture of the Ocean Drum. My friend Wanda took this picture. Didn't she do a great job? Many workshop participants at the Sudbury workshop will be making ocean drums. It sounds like the ocean! Really!

The latest creations available for sale are these super cool long rattles made from hard shelled gourds. They make quite the statement. Both rattles have a gentle and very pleasant che, che, swoosh, swoosh sound to them. You know what I mean right?

Lizard Height - 26"

There are other workshops coming up and you can find them on our workshops page. If you would like to book a workshop for class, yourself, your group or your friends get in touch and we can talk about the details. Thanks for reading our blog and Happy Thanksgiving!

Black Grouse height - 33"

9th Vibration Store, Guelph will be hosting workshops in September and October 2015! Check out our upcoming Workshops in Haliburton, Lakefield and Guelph!

7/5/2015

Hello to everyone! How has your summer been so far?

Ours has been good, very busy and that is a good thing. We are pleased to announce that we have connected with a very cool store here in Guelph called 9th Vibration. www.vibration.com If you are in the area be sure to drop in to see all of their offerings. If you are wondering about registering for one of the workshops, John has left samples there for you to see.

The third week of August we will be on the road again teaching workshops in Haliburton at the Visible Voices Open Art Studio and Lakefield at Celtic Connection. For more information you can see details of these workshops posted on the Workshop tab.

On the last weekend of August we will be at the Peterborough Folk Festival. If you are there, be sure to drop by the booth to say hi!

Hope the rest of your summer is great!

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I thought you might like to see some hand painted drums that are on display and for sale at the Rails End Gallery and Art Centre in Haliburton. www.RailsEndGallery.com

Below are some pictures of our latest road trip. It was full of activity! We met new friends and hugged old friends. The activity started with our friends in Sudbury, then to the Fairy Fest in Lakefield, and Haliburton.

Here is John welcoming everyone to the workshop and saying thank you for being invited. It was lots of work, fun and so great to meet everyone.

Here are some people working hard, cleaning gourds, putting skins on drum frames, it was such a nice day some went outside to clean their gourds.

Busy cleaning gourds. Everyone is wearing a mask so they do not inhale too much gourd dust.

Here Joanne is sanding her ocean drum skin edges to prepare it for decorating.

Celtic Connection store in Lakefield, Ontario held it's first annual Fairy and Dragon Fest. It was a very warm day, so the fairies and their friends came out in full force. A success! Next year's date is already set for Saturday, June 11, 2016!

Children blowing gigantic bubbles with fairy attendants to oversee their work.

This dragon spent the day greeting the children. As you can see they loved him! It must have been so hot in there!

The Gourd Hand Drum Workshop at the Visible Voices Art Studio was an all day affair. That same day it was drop in art day, so much creativity happening on that day! Below are some pictures of the day's events.

John is explaining how to put rope on the drum between the upper and lower ring, before tightening.

Working outside to clean the gourds and wrap the rings with colourful fabric. Just after this picture was taken it started to rain and we had to move everything inside.

So many beautiful gourds to choose from. The green tape is used to draw on to mark the holes to be drilled for the noise makers in a rain gourd.

Hope you enjoyed reading about our recent road trip. We had fun and are looking forward to our next on the road adventure!

We are excited!

5/18/2015

If you are looking for us in May or June you will find us on the road! We are very excited about our upcoming workshops. They are happening right now!

John is in Lakefield this May 24th weekend at Celtic Connection teaching outdoors. What luck to have such good weather! He took pictures and I will post them very soon. Meanwhile below are some pictures of instrument that participants will be making in upcoming workshops. You can see these pictures and others on our Gallery page.

Next weekend on Saturday, May 23 there will be a Junk Percussion workshop in Haliburton at Sir Sanford Fleming College. There is still room in the workshop, so if you are interested you can find out more information from our Workshops page.

Our friend is generously opening up her studio on the next day Sunday, May 24 for a Gourd Hand Drum Workshop. Visible Voices Open Arts Studio on Facebook

After that the "On the road" workshops will take us further north to Sudbury where a new format of making multiple instruments in one workshop will provide both excitement and challenge for all. We are up for it! Those Sudbury folks are into the instruments that bring to us Mother Earths Water Sounds. Rain, thunder and waves in the ocean. If you are going to be in the area, you can participate by contacting us to register. Instruments we are making are 18" frame drum with beater, a thunder gourd, a rain gourd, or an ocean drum. For those of you who are not familiar with an ocean drum it is a drum with skin on both sides that sounds like the ocean when played. Yes, that's right - like the ocean.

Thunder Gourd sitting on a table with skin side down. Look closely you can see the spring on the left hand side.

Thunder Gourd. You can hang it in a tree to hear the booming sound when the wind blows. If you like thunder and lightening, this is the instrument for you!

John demonstrating how to use a rain gourd. Sounds like rain! Very cool!

That is all the news for now, with so many workshops coming up we are very busy gathering supplies to make sure we have enough for everyone who wants to participate.

Maybe we will see you On The Road!

Spring Workshops at Earth Tones Studio

4/14/2015

Before I share with you about our upcoming spring workshops and events, I thought I would show you this picture of John assembling a practice Taiko drum during the March Break demonstration day at Silence. Silencesounds.ca

This is the other demonstration. It is called a Jingling Johnny. It is a souped up wooden crutch with a bell on top, jingles on the cross pieces and a kids sneaker on the tip for banging on the floor in order to get those cool sounds. For added percussion you can hit the crutch anywhere with a drum stick. This sneaker is particularly cool because it has strobe lights that blink when the Jingling Johnny is hits the floor! I ask you how cool is that?

Now on to what's coming up next! If you click on the Workshops tab you will see our upcoming workshops for April. The first one is a Junk Percussion workshop using PVC pipe and other "found" materials. A 6 hour workshop on April 26. This workshop is great to take if you have a need for inexpensive, durable, easy and not expensive to make instruments. Don't be afraid! John is a great teacher. It is being taught at our studio so space is limited.
Next workshops to be held at our studio will be African Djembe and Frame Drum. Check the workshops tab for details and dates.

Exciting news for us is once again this year we will be working with the Expressive Arts Course at Sir Sanford Fleming College, Haliburton. For more information contact us or call the college to register. They love our instruments!
www.hsta.ca
[email protected]
705-457-1680 / 1-866-353-6464 ext. 3

Also we are scheduling a workshop at Visible Voices Open Arts Studio in Haliburton. Check out their Facebook page.

To top it all off John is holding a two day workshop in Lakefield (one hour from Haliburton) at Celtic Connection in the courtyard. Celtic Connection.ca Therewill be African Djembe and 18" Frame Drum. Call John for details.

Here is a list of our upcoming workshops and where they are
being held. Go to the Workshops tab for more information
or contact us at:
[email protected]. Everyone is welcome to attend!

May2,3 1:30 pm - 4:30 pm 18" Frame Drum ETS, Guelph
May 10 9:00 am - 5:00 pm African Djembe ETS, Guelph
May 16, 17 African Djembe and Frame Drum Celtic Conn. Lakefield (call for details)

May 23 9:00 am - 5 pm Junk Percussion 101 To register: Sir Sanford Fleming College, Haliburton
www.hsta.ca [email protected]
Course Code: ARTS2163
705-457-1680 / 1-866-353-6464 ext. 3

May 24 9:00 until done Gourd Hand Drum Visible Voices Art Studio, Haliburton
June 6, 7 Different workshops running simultaneously over two days. In Sudbury. For more information contact us.

That's all for this time. Maybe we will see you at one of these great workshops!

March Break 2015 Activities and Events in Guelph

2/24/2015

Announcement

Our drum building workshops are for everyone! If you work with children or youth at school, or at camp, scouts or guides. If you teach adults or facilitate cross age gatherings and are searching for a fun, interactive activity, our demonstrations and displays of drum building and percussion throughout the March Break Week may be of interest to you or your group. Come to one of the locations throughout the week to see drum making and percussion demonstrations and displays and ask questions, play a drum or try your hand at decorating a soup can rattle! (full schedule on our workshop page)

Commencing Monday, March 16 in the afternoon from 1 pm until 4 pm at Earth Tones Studio, 123 Woolwich Street, Trafalgar Building, Second Floor, with the exception of Wednesday, March 18, there will be ongoing demonstrations of drum making and displays of instruments of interest and for sale during the hours of 10 am - 4 pm at Silence on 46 Essex Street silencesounds.ca and on Saturday, march 21 we will have a booth at the Guelph Resilience Festival, Eco Market at the Old Quebec Street Mall. transitionguelph.org Also on Saturday from 12:30pm 0 1:00 pm we will be hosting a Community Drumming Circle at Transition Guelph. No experience necessary, all are welcome!

Our workshops consist of materials such as recycled PVC pipe, as well as other recycled materials, wooden drum shells and drums and percussion made from hard shelled gourds. If you would like more information about this upcoming educational and informative event call or email us with your questions.

2015

1/10/2015

Earth Tones display table during a December sale in Guelph

2015 has arrived and we are looking forward to holding our first workshops of the new Year. If you look under our Workshops page you will see the dates for the upcoming drum building experiences. If you have questions or need directions to our studio don't hesitate to email us.

Open House and February 2015 Workshops

12/5/2014

Top: Waldorf School, Cranberry Market Guelph, December 2014 Drum: My latest creation Bottom: Soup can rattles, take home to decorate from our open house

We are excited about our open house! Above is a photo of the soup can rattle which we are giving away to take home to decorate when you attend our open house this weekend, December 6 and 7 at our studio in the Trafalgar Building at 123 Woolwich Street, Second floor, Guelph. Hope to see you there!

December has been a very busy month for us in our new town.We have attended shows and Christmas sales getting to know everyone. Here is a photo of me at the Waldorf School in Guelph. The 2014 Cranberry Market was lovely with so many talented and creative vendors.

The first of our 2015 Drum Building workshops scheduled for February are on the Workshop page of this website. As always, if you have any questions or concerns just email us at: [email protected]

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