Testimonials
“Thank you again for yesterday. I knew it would be a whole lot of fun, and spirit and soul-nourishing, but I had no idea that it would take me further on my grieving journey. It was so powerful. Thank you for setting the stage so beautifully. It felt really safe.
But then I should have known that, because after all, you are masterful at that!”
- Carol Sartz, Greenfield Community College Professor
"Ellen has a wealth of rhythm knowledge held by a wise woman soul. I recommend her!"
- Christine Stevens, author, Healing Drum Kit.
“For as long as I can remember, I have been magnetically drawn to percussion, but never was able to express it till I joined your drum circle. Drumming makes me go inside and connect mind, body and spirit and then it makes me go outside myself and feel part of all the people that ever were. Playing in our drum circle brings an intimacy to the experience with each woman sharing herself just as she is.There is a magic you bring when you touch an instrument, Ellen, that is transmitted to me and the group which enhances the entire process. It is a rare experience and I feel grateful to have it and thank you and all the drummers for making that happen.”
- Amy Cohen, Writer
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About Ellen Clegg
Ellen Clegg emerges after a semi-sabbatical to raise her daughter and invites you to discover the impressive and inspiring healing power of drumming. Ellen guides our drumming with intention until our minds must give way to our direct experience of co-creation and healing power greater than ourselves. Ellen has 35 years experience integrating knowledge of the drum’s ancient healing traditions with the most current scientific research verifying the neurological, immunological, and socio-psychological healing modality of drumming.
She believes in the power of rhythm and drumming, present in all aspects of the world around us, to develop community, to build communication, to find strength in our differences, to nourish health, and create balance for healthy social change through wellness empowerment.
Born with music in her blood, Ellen Clegg has been immersed in drumming and rhythm since the age of five. Her journey has involved training at Oberlin College and from traditional drummers in rhythmic traditions from across the globe. She began her study in traditional Western drumming, including drum set, timpani, xylophone, marimba, and percussion. Tagging along with her mother and professional concert pianist Christine Clegg, she started private percussion lessons in her elementary school days with percussionists from the Hartford Symphony, including Rosemary Small.
She left the pages of music behind so, in her own way, she could study the heart of music and rhythm more deeply. The Djembe from West Africa opened this world for her. She studied it intensely through the end of her teens years and throughout college, playing for West African Dance Classes in Cleveland, and supplementing this learning with courses in African Thought, Religion, Modern African Politics, and independent projects at Oberlin. During that time, she also immersed herself in the Trinidadian tradition of the Pan (steel drum). She joined Oberlin Steel her first semester in college and performed with the group throughout her college years, becoming Musical Director. She recorded, directed, and taught courses in steel drumming at Oberlin, and toured with Oberlin Steel. Ellen also trained as an experiential educator, facilitator, and certified mediator while earning an MS in Environmental Education from the Audubon Expedition Institute at Lesley University. Ellen continued to study history and traditions of healing and music, the human mind, spirituality, and role of drummers in culture since the birth of rhythm. She earned a BS in psychology while at Oberlin College, and minored in East Asian Studies and Religion. Her studies in Buddhism, Taoism, and Shinto led to her ventures into the drumming tradition of Taiko.
More recently she has collaborated with world re-known Choreographer Rosangela Silvestre from Salvador Bahia Brazil, studying, and leading cultural trips to study, with drummers of the Ballet Folklorica de Brasil, immersing in the Candomble and Samba traditions. She is a trained HealthRHYTHMS Facilitator (Christine Stevens, UpBeat Drum Circles, HealthRHYTHMS) and she is currently studying the Gyil (marimba from Ghana) with Master Drummer Valerie Naranjo (World Percussionist of the Year 2005, 2008).
