Interview:

As Buddy Rich famously said, “Music is love.” Encoded in that deceptively simple statement from one of the great drum masters of all time are many subtle messages about the drum as the heartbeat of life, and rhythm as the heart and soul of music. As a drummer and percussionist, I am constantly reminded in the reactions of my live audiences and in the correspondence I receive from listeners to my recorded work that music—particularly the genre of rhythm-sensitive global native fusion music in which I specialise—has a very real capacity to transform suffering, trauma, and illness into love, forgiveness, and healing. This is accomplished through the skilful application of positive, harmonious vibrations of acoustic percussion instruments to bodies, minds, and spirits that have been knocked out of harmony with themselves and with the universe. I know this is true—it happens without fail every time I play!

Music is a discipline. No professional musician has ever been successful over a substantial span of time without self-sacrifice, commitment, passion, patience, and perseverance. If everyone in the world applied these positive values to whatever it is they do, can you imagine how much more peaceful, abundant, and functional our world would be? No one would have time for greed, violence, or thoughtlessness! Musicians make this an attractive paradigm in the general culture because we appear to be having so much fun doing what we do— everybody wants to be near that, to experience that, to find a way to have that much fun and still be productive and make a living, don’t they? So musicians—I daresay percussionists in particular—are living instruments of the positive values to which all people consciously or unconsciously aspire, and communicate these values in a universal language beyond the politics of the spoken word.

I started playing drums and piano when I was three years old. I went downstairs into the basement of our family home, climbed up on the throne of my father’s drum set, and hit the ride tom. That vibration went through my body and rearranged my molecular structure. I knew at that moment that I wanted to have that feeling for the rest of my life! The task then became to cultivate a skill set and a value system that would empower me to work through many years of struggle to get to the point where I could begin making a living doing what I love and sharing my passion with the world. I played my first professional gig at fourteen, and a half-century later I am still learning my craft and refining my skill set and value system to continue to move forward in a good way along my chosen path.

© Will Clipman 2013

“[Music] has a very real capacity to transform suffering, trauma, and illness into love, forgiveness, and healing.”
– Will Clipman, Artist, Poet & Musician