DCM 001 – Inventions for Shamanic Drum – Drum, music, Dm 1 – my first album. Seven pieces to discover performance possibilities with a large American Frame Drum.

In the Summer of 2006 I was invited by the University of Derby, to give a second Drum recital, in the big hall of their Multifaith Centre - ‘A summer Evening’s Drumming.’ Afterwards a man in the audience said that he had a recording studio at Marehay [Derbyshire, UK] and invited me to come and use it, I did not need to be asked twice. These seven inventions were recorded in one session, that afternoon - live to tape, in contiguous takes, no false starts or out takes - as my First Album.

The instrument here is a beautiful American Frame Drum, sometimes called a Shamanic Drum, lent to me for the performance by Pat Duncliffe, Collector/ Maker at Dunwood Drums, run together with Del Woods. At this time I was still performing under the stage name of ‘Perpetuum Mobile,’ and the album was released as ‘Perpetuum Mobile 1.’ To be, I thought, a sideline to my main occupation as a Contemporary Artist. A second album, recorded later [in two further sessions] was left unfinished - but shifting me into music and a break with Art was imminent. I then adopted this new life in music under my own name, and the 2 PM albums were taken up into a new notation - now at my own Studio, the Drum Studio’, as 'Drum music’, Dm 1 & 2'. The Rh catalogue, numbers my works in order of Completion. However the Rh Catalogue, omitted the 15 pieces recorded as Perpetuum Mobile, so they become Rh P1 - 15 preserving the ‘P' in Perpetuum, as the ‘P’ in 'Pre', solving the problem at a stroke.

IFSD Invention 1 – Rh P2. A short, edgy off-beaten rhythm – count along ! The first recording at Marehay – as with all these pieces in one take – no sooner had we got the levels than I was in – my fingers knew exactly what to do – it was a joy. In a real recording studio – only days after the University Recital and the BBC Promo for that [my Very first recording – Rh P1, squeezed in at the end of disc Drum music 2].

IFSD Invention 2 – Rh P3. An intense Invention sustaining the offbeat whilst developing complex counter rhythms – held over for 9 minutes.

IFSD Invention 3 - Rh P4. Focusing on resonance and decay – physically wafting the decay toward the microphone – to give a wave in the decay and stopping the skin on reverse, inside the frame whist playing the other side. Problems with his recording of this piece meant I had to remaster it [ and everything else], when I set up my own studio. There actually two versions of this, the second I kept, as a work in itself, as - Rh P15, track 7 at the end of this disc, the ‘3x’ version.

IFSD Invention 4 – Rh P4. The opening motif persists under a raft more dominant themes rolling over it – right the way through.

IFSD Invention 5 – Rh P5. Singing out – Singing the skin in a rain of thematically complex blows. Very much a concluding piece to the previous four except that my friend the engineer had one more thing to show me.


IFDSD Invention 6 – Rh P7. Not only could I play to an ambiance, but I could also have a colouration to it– an ambient birdsong – so this piece is actually the conclusion to what I thought of as a performance – recorded in six single takes. No false starts and no outtakes, one after the other in a single afternoon – in the order they appear here. What follows is a piece I drew from Invention 3 during my remastering of the session some time later.


IFSD Invention 3x – Rh P15. Not of course a piece from the original session but rather a piece I drew from Invention 3 during my remastering of the session some time later. Rejecting it as my remaster, I nominated it as a work in itself because I thought it was interestingly different and I wanted to save it. So I included it here, giving it the Rh no. P15 – to keep iit in context as belonging before my Rh 1 – the first piece I’d recorded with my own equipment – [then Rhythm 1, naturally, later just Rh].


An early reorganization of my music research interest defined my music into dedicated sets of Albums. This way things of a kin got heard together - as one type of album or another - by Genre - or Tranche as I styled them. In this Case Drum music – Percussion on Drums of various kinds 'Percussion specifically on Drums of many kinds - as a speciality’ – Dm by convention.

Albums 1 - 7, collect together first seven Dm albums, placed in a block, one of 5 blocks, placed like books on a shelf. in an in an overarching 'Group' of my first 27 albums. Five Blocks for the Five Tranches - as they were founded (more of less) - five sets of studies and pieces, as my Foundational Group 'Blue Cherry' [after a friend]. The foundation stone the rest of my music is built on - in four further Groups.

The Seven Dm albums in the Blue Cherry Group are Dm 1 - a set of inventions for an American frame drum: Dm 2 – in a landmark set of the first 5 of my 12 Drum sonatas: Dm 3 - 5 are three volumes of Drum Studies; Dm 6 is in aother landmark set, the first of my 6 sets of Inventions for Djembe; finally Dm 7 is a fourth set of Drum studies.

The DCM album numbers list volumes in a [for the most part] chronological edition.- The DCM Broadhurst Edition - Prepared for the British Library in 2019. The Volumes or Albums themselves were actually released as and when it was possible. The Edition though, was planed from the start to stand on the 'foundation Stone' of the Blue Cherry group.

The Rh catalogue, numbers my works in order of Completion. However the Rh Catalogue, omitted the 15 pieces recorded as PM, so they become Rh P1 - 15 preserving the ‘P' in Perpetuum, as the ‘P’ in 'Pre', solving the problem at a stroke.