Learning to drum: Lisa Braxton's THE TALKING DRUM

HALLIE EPHRON: Several years ago, I rode home from Boston on the subway with a young woman who'd taken my class at Grub Street. The class was on writing suspense, and the woman was Lisa Braxton. Recently Lisa reached out to me and I had the great pleasure of reading her just published first novel, and it's my great pleasure to introduce her to you.

The book, The Talking Drum, feels so current though it's set in 1971, another period of ferment and turmoil. It weaves together the stories of three young couples living in a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, with race and gender politics and economic inequality taking center stage.

One of the characters is a young man from Senegal, a brilliant drummer whose dream is to start a drumming institute.  

The book takes readers into another world, seen through the lens of three young couples. I especally loved the sections about drumming, which are written  with such authority--written more like a musician than a journalist--that I had to ask her how she'd become so knowledgable.

LISA BRAXTON: When I began writing The Talking Drum, I was well into my 40s and assumed that my music lessons were long over, tucked away in the distant memory of my youth. I didn’t imagine that I would resume musical training and it would be on an instrument that I’d been under the assumption was simple to play and didn’t require much technique to perform on well. Five minutes into my first lesson I realized how wrong I was. As I was developing the character Omar, an immigrant from West Africa trained at drumming at his father’s knee to be the drumming ambassador of the world, I felt I should take hand drumming lessons to lend authenticity to the character.

I enrolled in an adult education “Hand Drumming for Beginners” class. I wanted to know the feel of a drum on my palms when played, and the emotional places where the drum could take me. During eight sessions on the goblet-shaped djembe, I learned how to execute Base–Tone–Slap, the three main strokes used to play most large hand drums.

I was curious to learn more and signed up for a drumming circle led by master drummer Mamady Keita. Born in a small village in northeast Guinea, Mamady is an international performer, recording artist and workshop leader. He brought his three-hour intensive to a city hall chambers on Boston’s North Shore.

Grand as it was, the room was a tight squeeze for the 75-plus students who showed up, drums in tow, ready to learn new rhythms from a man they revered. I was surrounded by drumming zealots. The man seated next to me kept grumbling, “People who aren’t serious about this should stay home!” I wondered if he’d figured me out, that I was an imposter, not a real drummer. I could feel my shoulders slumping in an effort to make myself invisible.

Mamady was small in stature, but commanding. The room went silent as he played a combination of rhythms. He beckoned us to repeat them. On the beat, he slowly strutted around the large circle, inspecting our hands closely, nodding and smiling slightly when he was pleased, narrowing his eyes when a tone or slap was made without confidence.

As I feared, Mamady detected my lack of mastery of the instrument. As he was making his rounds, he paused in front of me, raised a hand to get everyone to stop playing and worked with me one-on-one. After he tried again and again to set me on the right path I finally confessed in a weak voice: “I’m not a real drummer. I’m a writer wanting to learn to play to create a drummer for my novel.”

In that moment, the tension left Mamady’s face. I decompressed. He gave me a smile and continued circling the room. When he came back to me, he paused again. Was I hitting the drum wrong? Apparently not. He gave me a flirtatious wink and kept going. 

HALLIE: As Lisa was telling me about drumming, how simple it seems until you try to do it and the nuance that can be wrung from it in the hands of a master, I though it's not unlike writing. Seems easy until you try.

I heartily recommend The Talking Drum. It's a story for our times, one that leaves the reader with a feeling of hope. Which brings me to ask the question: Have you had experienced a musical instrument (in the hands of a master musician) speaking to you?

Lisa will be here today, and I hope she'll tell us more about her title and perhaps the theme of her book, "the talking drum."

Lisa and I talked about her book at a virtual book launch event with Belmont Books. 

ABOUT Lisa Braxton:
Lisa Braxton is an essayist, short story writer, and novelist. She earned her MFA in creative writing from Southern New Hampshire University, her Master of Science in Journalism Broadcasting from Northwestern University and her Bachelor of Arts in Mass Media from Hampton University. Her debut novel, The Talking Drum, is forthcoming from Inanna Publications in spring 2020. She is a fellow of the Kimbilio Fiction Writers Program and a book reviewer for 2040 Review. Her stories and essays have appeared in Vermont Literary Review, Black Lives Have Always Mattered, Chicken Soup for the Soul and The Book of Hope. She received Honorable Mention in Writer’s Digest magazine’s 84th and 86th annual writing contests in the inspirational essay category.