Puerto Rican Bomba

G7 Bullet 1 – Keep speaking the strokes. When we speak out a repetitious prayer it's not like God needs to simultaneously hear the prayers of millions of people for the stroke of his own ego. No, in fact it's because WE need it that he commands it. 

2. By praying throughout the day, often and in a repetitious manner, we learn to maintain God's presence in our daily lives. 

3. The alternative: being sucked into the concerns of the worldly, often to the exclusion of God or religious realities. 

4. When we learn to speak a rhythm first, it's not for the benefit of the audience that will ultimately hear our performance. They will never hear the speaking of the rhythm that we do in advance of our performance. The speaking of the rhythm is for us, for our own benefit.

5. As we have learned in prior lessons, if we can speak it we can play it. 

6. Someone could quite possibly stumble into Puerto Rican Bomba, pull up the YOU practice sheet and be utterly confused."What are all of these symbols and letters here?" They might ask. "What language is the instructor speaking here?" "How do I make any sense of all of this?" 

7. Granted, I have now placed seven patterns from seven different lessons on one page and for anyone brave enough to start at Puerto Rican Bomba, which I don't recommend by the way, the material indeed will look quite intimidating, jumbled and and perhaps even nonsensical.  

8. This is exactly where "speaking the rhythm" cuts through the clutter.  Watch the movie below, observing how the rhythm is first spoken before any hand demonstrations occur. Next, go to the YOU practice sheet, find the lesson number of interest, and immediately go to the bottom of the practice box. I've spelled out the way each stroke is to be spoken out.

9. Because Puerto Rican Bomba contains a two measure pattern, the Bomba low drum parts, there are two different teaching boxes.  It just so happens I did not place them consecutively, one to follow the other, and that's okay, each one can be learned and played to stand on its own.  Have you found both Puerto Rican Bomba teaching boxes? Good. Now practice speaking each one before going to the table and playing them with your own hands. Part one of the low Bomba is spoken: Pa        Du    DuDu. Part two of the low Bomba is spoken: Pa       DuDuDuDu. Recall the "Pa" stroke is a "slap" and the "Du" stroke is an "open." See the The Big Calypso and Existence and Middle Calypso and Middle Earth movies to review your slap and open stroke for the table top.

G7 Bullet 2 – Limit your strokes; temperance. When you see the term "on beat" in four, the numbered beats 1, 2, 3, and 4 are being referenced. When you see the term "off beat" in four, the AND's of each of the numbered beats (+) are being referenced. You'll see these numerals and symbols in the teaching boxes contained in the YOU practice sheets. 

11. Notice the space in the Bomba low drum parts. Yes! Breathing room. 

12. Sometimes, what IS NOT said is equally or more important than what IS said. Just like in a real conversation with other people, it can be more difficult to say less, to keep quiet, especially when we are just itching to express ourselves and our own opinions. 

13. Rather than us doing all the talking, some of the best prayers can be those made before the Blessed Sacrament, just listening in silence to our Lord's will for us.  

14. A common mistake of many beginning drummers is to pick up an instrument and to "machine gun" away on it. This too, just like a domineering conversationalist, will surely annoy other drummers, musicians and casual observers within ear-shot of your vicinity. 

15. One must form oneself if one hopes to be an interesting conversationalist or hand drummer alike.  And part of this formation is the art of brevity and discretion. Well-placed tones and rests are the objective. 

G7 Bullets 3 – 5, Learn the Rhythm - The Bomba Low Drum Part.  Puerto Rican Bomba

Author’s Note [04/18/2026]: All but 3 of the original 12 Time for the Table movies have been lost. I will do my best to restore the surviving movies soon. Though I poured lots of time and love into all 12 movies, the production quality was humble and the number of views over the years was meager. Consequently, I will not be recreating the lost movies. My apologies.

 

SPEAK THE RHYTHM: (1) Pa   Du   Du Du (2) Pa   Du Du Du Du

G7 Bullet 6 – Topic A3, Chew On It. God Approaches Us Men: The "Big Reveal." Why did God have to show himself in order for us to be able to know what he is like? (YOUCAT # 7). 

18. You've got to take this question personally - here's why. If indeed it's all true as generation after generation after generation have declared, go ahead then and give it better than a 50-50 chance, choosing today to believe God has indeed revealed himself, meaning you and I (your brother), have been instructed in both the Old Testament: “Only take heed, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children—" (Deuteronomy 4:9) and the New Testament: "Whoever then relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but he who does them and teaches them shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven"  (Matthew 5:19). 

19. We have received our marching orders. We have had something both majestic and noble revealed to us, clearly something awe-inspiring, something that has survived and come to us through the ages, and now, WE are being called to carry the baton forward, to spread the Gospel, to speak the truths of this good news to others, to REVEAL.

20. There was a time in my life where I couldn't be sure God had showed himself at all. I had personally projected this idea of how God, as spirit, should and would "act" – and since I didn't find these self-projected acts of God anywhere in my life, I started to live as if God didn't exist or at most, he probably didn't care how I lived my life. 

21. Yet when things would go wrong in my life I would scream at God, he would always get the blame – he was the stoic taskmaster, the "payback" God, the unforgiving accountant of all the bad things I had ever done, and consequently, the great punisher. Everything Father Robert Spitzer has said God is not, I thought God really was. 

22. In reality, through sin, I had lost my memory and knowledge of this loving Savior, Jesus Christ and thus, any will to form and deepen my relationship with God.  

23. "Christ the new Adam, in the very revelation of the mystery of the Father and of his love, fully reveals man to himself and brings to light his most high calling." -Gaudium et Spes, 22: AAS 58 (1966), 1042. 

24. We are to become like Christ - "predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the first-born among many brethren" (Rom 8:29).

25. But blaming God, is in fact, in itself - a weak form of faith, small as a mustard seed (Matthew 17:20), certainly not the preferred, joyful way to live a Christian life- but faith, none-the-less!  

26. "Jesus uses different images to teach us that the path that leads to life, to holiness, consists in the full development of the spiritual life. He speaks of the tiny mustard seed which grows into a great tree; in its branches the birds of the air come to rest. He speaks of the grain of wheat which reaches maturity and produces rich ears of fruit… That growth, not without its difficulties and sometimes seeming so slow, is in fact the increase of virtue (those good habits acquired through the repetition of good acts, with the help of grace)...[S]o as to grow in the human and supernatural virtues, as well as in grace, we need to make a personal effort to develop the practice of these virtues in our everyday lives until we acquire authentic habits, and not only the appearance of virtue. The façade appears full of strength and resilience. But how much softness and lack of willpower there is within! You must hold to your determination not to let your virtues become fancy dress but clothes that define your character." -St. Josemaria Escriva, Furrow, 777, In Conversation with God, Volume Two, Francis Fernandez

27. I could've just stopped sinning, repented, and made reparations, mending my ways, and God would have manifested himself in my life much sooner.  It happens all the time to others, there's many ways He can accomplish this; certainly not limited to my ideas of how he should "act." 

28. It's a miracle that you and I were born in the first place, that you and I now get to walk this great, beautiful, planet in some semblance of awareness. That breath you just took right now – it's a miracle too, the fact that the sun doesn't just simply burn out like a coal in your charcoal grill, that's an even greater miracle. I simply can't take things like these for granted any longer. How can I know? By exploring faith and reason alike; studying within a mindset of faith and reason have revealed truths I had been ignoring.  

29. In the movie "God's Not Dead" (2014), the protagonist, a talented freshman college student, a Christian, refuses to sign the requisite class statement "God is dead" and is permitted to instruct his indifferent classmates and atheist philosophy professor factual scientific research proving man can know, by reason alone, God exists. Just the scientific facts! 

30. Ok, the contemporary physicist, Dr. Stephen M. Barr does it superbly in his book "Modern Physics and Ancient Faith. "It is the mission of modern-day apologists and scholars alike "in the plethora of words, to make the essential words heard" said Pope Benedict XVI. 

31. Maybe St. Edith Stein (1891-1942, Jewish Christian, philosopher, and Carmelite nun, concentration camp victim), said it the best when she wrote "All that is said about God presupposes something said by God." 

32. And so God, in the fullness of time (Ephesians 1:9), became man: Jesus Christ, God and man, divine and human -becoming one of us to REVEAL certain truths.

33. God could've chose any number of ways to obtain his will - to tell us about himself; but he chose divine revelation to speak to us; by humbling himself and taking on our human form, by becoming one of us.  

34. And this is where faith comes in: believing both the early, oral Christian traditions immediately following the death of Christ and this collections of new books, known as the books of the New Testament, written sometime later by eyewitnesses and inspired followers of the Christian traditions. 

35. Books that were meant to be passed on, books revealing to us a Creator, a Father, the Son of God, the Holy Spirit, and ourselves - now children of God. These are the traditions followed by men and women alike, writings by men inspired by the power and wisdom of the Holy Spirit, and men and women alike going to their deaths for these God given traditions, writings, and fundamental truths.

36. All this so that they may now rest with you and me some 2000 years later. And so the call comes to us as it did to those in the past. 

37. How will we answer?

38. The words "reveal" and "revelation" are related.   Are you really understanding these words?  Probably not if you believe Christ's gospel to be relevant only 2000 years ago but not today. 

39. You're probably making things too easy on yourself just like I did. 

40. Offering just a little work, through a bit of YOUCAT research, I can list 4, of many more, doctrines that have been revealed through Christ:

• The role man plays in God's providence (YOUCAT #50),
• Why an all knowing and all-powerful God does not prevent evil (YOUCAT #51),
• There is heaven (YOUCAT #52) and 
• There is hell (YOUCAT #53). 

41. In the REVEAL..."Our Lord asks us not to seek mere earthly supports which would inevitably lead us to pessimism. He asks us for supernatural trust, for us to be supernaturally realists – to count on him, that is, being aware that Jesus Christ continues to influence our lives." In Conversation with God, Volume Two - Francis Fernandez

42. By showing Himself we know God has given each living person unique talents. Trust me - you have yours too, as does the homeless man down on his luck, as does the person stricken with disabilities since birth. Some are grand talents, most are ordinary talents – but talents they are, unique talents, God-given talents. 

43. Talents are given to the good and sinful alike. The difference, Christians choose and then commit to use their talents to serve Christ's kingdom; modern-day disciples whom now hold and run the baton onward from Christian generations past. We are being called, you and me, to come run this victory race, shouting out along the way: "join us - the battle's already won - let our hope in life everlasting be enlivened!"

44. Find the musician: Giovanni Hidalgo, a master conguero. Considered one of the best conga players in the world, Mr. Hidalgo, from the country of Puerto Rico, has properly formed his talent, technique and playing style over the course of many years with many hours of arduous practice I'm certain. During his entertaining YouTube solo, he takes the creative license to rip "machine gun" like sections into the solo but notice also how he uses well-positioned rests and slower tempos to create interest and variety.  

45. Many musicians will agree that it takes more skill to play slower pieces with notes surrounded by rests; many of the notes occurring on the "off-beat." If because of the rests you struggle with this Bomba low drum part, don't worry - however, do try to master it the best you can. 

46. In an upcoming lesson we will add a technique called"ghost notes" to make this an even easier pattern to play all the while avoiding an, overly busy, "machine gun" effect, that unless you've risen to the ranks of Mr. Hidalgo, just isn't going to cut it.

G7 Bullet 7 - YOU Practice Lesson G7.  If you want measurable results - try to practice both your faith and drumming at least 30 minutes a day. 

a.) Playing simple rhythms on a daily basis can be similar in repetition to (but never used in place of) a prayer routine like morning prayer, done first thing, right after your morning alarm sounds. 

b.) Spend 15 to 30 minutes with your morning coffee, daily bible readings, and a good "virtue building" book. I just received "Unearthing Your Ten Talents: A Thomistic Guide to Spiritual Growth" by Kevin Vost, PSY.D.  So far so good, it's written in clear language (essential quality for me given the word 'Thomistic' appears in the title of the book); this one is going to be a great, virtue building book for my own personal formation and growth and I hope yours too. 

c.) Practice perfects the one undergoing the repetitious movement; either naturally or supernaturally. 

d.) Answered prayers are reminders of God's supernatural order present in our very own lives. The Church teaches the fruitful value of a sound prayer life; my family and I can give personal testimony to the effectiveness of daily prayer. Practice makes perfect! 

G7 Bullet 8 - Table Task: Learn. Make a goal today to never stop learning. Learning involves asking questions. 

a.) Ask another musician to help you today to understand something about music that you find challenging. 

b.) Strive to overcome your difficulties, your frailties, your defects -in all areas of your life. 

c.) Is there some aspect of your faith that causes you difficulty? Ask another person - your priest, your deacon, parents, teacher, a Catholic blogger, or other creature - such as your guardian angel, to help reveal what it is that is currently confusing you. 

d.) Wisely and prudently use the Internet to find additional learning resources in all honest and moral subject matter. This should include locating great books for your personal spiritual formation. 

49. In between all of this busyness, to clear your mind, have a little fun in learning to play the world rhythm patterns I am posting in these lessons. You'll surprise yourself on how the rhythm patterns, persistently practiced over short periods of time, will work to clear your thinking and ability to articulate complex matters of any sort. Then, back to work on becoming a saint: learning more virtues, learning how to better correspond to grace, and learning to make daily prayer an absolute necessity. Be patient and persistent in discovering answers to all of your questions and prayers.

50. "St. John Chrysostom urges us to struggle in our interior life like little children at school. First, says the saint, they learn the shape of the letters. Then they begin to distinguish the strokes; and thus, step-by-step, they learn to read. If we divide up the virtues into different parts, we can learn first, for example, not to speak badly of people. Then, passing to another letter, we can learn not to envy anybody: we can learn never under any circumstances to be a slave to the body: we can learn not to give way to gluttony. Passing on from there to the spiritual letters, we shall study continence, mortification of the senses, chastity, justice, and scorn for vainglory. We should try to be modest and of contrite heart. Let us link virtues together and write them on our souls. We have to do all of this in our own home, with our friends, with our wives, with our children. - St. John Chrysostom, Homilies on the Psalms, 11:8, In Conversation with God, Volume Two, by Francis Fernandez.

G7 Bullet 9 – Basic Notation (1) and (2) handouts: study them.

G7 Bullet 10 – Counting (1) handout: study it.

Gray Level Syllabus

"Time For The Table" The Way and Means

"One" for the Pocket; the Tumbao

G6 Bullet 1 – Tapping your foot. Learning to keep time is essential for any musician. Keeping time can be practiced and perfected just about anytime you're listening to music. But when you're actually playing music, you've got an instrument in your hands, tapping one's foot to the pulse, the 1, 2, 3, and 4 (assuming you are playing a song in 4/4 time) becomes a great way to keep time.  

2. In our "One" for the Pocket; the Tumbao movie below, I will count time, using my foot and tapping my heel on every first and third beat.  Notice how the tabletop that I'm playing will rise on every first and third beat. In the Tumbao rhythm that we will be playing, the first and third beats are played with the heel; and spoken as "ge" (Speak the rhythm: ge re Pa te ge re Du Du).  If I'm playing this rhythm live and I happen to lose my place, as long as I'm tapping my foot to the first and third beat, I know I can find my place again by putting a heel stroke at either one of these markers.  If I pick it up on the third beat, here's how I will speak it: ge re Du Du, ge re Pa te ge re Du Du.

G6 Bullet 2 – Timekeeping devices; the metronome. A metronome is an invaluable tool for practicing music, especially rhythm patterns.  It is a mechanical or electronic device used to measure beats per minutes.  A metronome marking (m.m.), is notated by using a note value (usually that which is represented in the denominator of the time signature).  The speed of the pulse, the 1, 2, 3, 4 you tap your foot to (assuming your song is in 4/4 time) is called the tempo.  Tempi (plural for tempo) are measured in beats per minute (b.p.m. or bpm).  

3. I use a Seiko Quartz metronome.  It uses two modes: audible and silent.  During the movie Lessons, I use the audible mode.  Do you hear the clicks?  That's the metronome.  Both modes utilize a red flashing light.  The light flashes with each click.  Each click represents one pulse beat.  

4. Even better metronomes will distinguish the "one" of each measure with a distinctive sound different from the rest of the pulse beats.  These make great tools for learning to find the "one."  

5. Nearly all the patterns that I demonstrate in the movies are all played at 116 bpm.  If I was to run a stopwatch and then turn on my Seiko with the dial set to 116 bpm, at the end of one minute I would've counted 116 clicks, or played 116 quarter notes, or tapped my foot to the pulse beat 116 times.  

6. In 4/4 time, after I count or tap four clicks with my foot that's the end of one measure.  

7. Now you can answer the following question: how many measures can I fit in one minute?  

8. Simple math, 116 divided by 4 gives us 29 measures.  

9. These days, one can even find free metronome applications on the Internet or smart phone.  I just downloaded a cool, free metronome application called "Pro Metronome" for my iPad mini.  Maybe I will feature it on a future lesson!

G6 Bullet 3 – Four beats and four pillars. It's structure that gives music it's drive and popularity; the invisible force behind the visible energy that moves people to dance, to memorize the words, to identify a memorable classic.  

10. For most of my own life the music that I've been involved with is good old, four over four, rock 'n roll.  That's four quarter note beats to a measure.  Yes, even the pop music and country pieces I've played along with follow this tried-and-true time signature.  

11. It's only after being introduced to Latin and Afro-Cuban rhythm patterns that I expanded into new time signatures.  The 4/4 has been a pillar to the songwriting success of the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and many others - drawing together millions of fans across the globe.  

12. It's structure that makes our Lord's invisible reality into visible manifestations. 

For 33 years He was fully present in history, fully visible with hundreds of eyewitnesses, fully human  - only his divinity was in question, even to many whom had witnessed miraculous healings and demonic exorcisms.  

13. Our Lord, in his infinite genius, left us the visible Church.  A Church clearly marked with four pillars of visible strength and stature yet remarkably, quite invisible to anyone choosing to remain in a state of ignorance to supernatural realities.  God simply won't impose himself on anyone - he certainly did not with me.  

14. What are those four pillars? 

• the profession of faith,
• the celebration of the Christian  mystery,
• life in Christ and
• Christian prayer. 

15. Maybe, like me, for a good part of your life, you just haven't seen them;  indifferent perhaps as I was, full of scorn for those who would try to direct me down this path.  The world and its ways can be alluring, quite addictive, blinding even.  

16. If God isn't willing to do it, who among us would try to control the ways of another person?  God himself giving each of us undeniable freedom to choose....yet many of us do exactly this, using peer pressure and other manipulative actions.... we try to impose our worldly ways on to others, to fulfill our own selfish desires. 

17. Guys know what I'm talking about. 

Tossed about like a ship without a rudder I had no visible structure during those days opting instead for the changing winds of fad, cultural relevance, the shifting sands of feelings, unbridled sensuality.... the lower passions, if you will.  The rave is hypnotic, the steady beat lulls us into a trance, the visible, our human dignity, soon compromised by the invisible.  We find ourself becoming more animal like - the lower passions aroused -especially if we are drunk or high.  

18. Others are mere objects of our fancy now, there's nothing rational to this any longer.  The environment: dark, dingy, pulsating with light and steady patterns of thud, thud, thud... 

19. People joining together, twisting, gyrating, lusting, drooling, like fall elk in frenzy - far from theirs minds the inherent dignity in every person: the baby the mother once cuddled, the toddler the neighbors babysat, the young Girl Scout leader, mom's little helper in the kitchen, grandma's brilliant letter writer, Dad's exulted princes....soon to be violated...handled in a way frightfully disturbing.  

20. Yes, the invisible is visible here too, from the dark recesses of hell itself...what seemed like fun....a harmless night out....has shown itself in all of its horrid ugliness, with breath like the broken down, overflowing bathroom stall that no longer respects male or female, it has come to rob another precious saint of her very innocence.  

21. Good ole Rave Regular, there he goes again, relieving himself on the floor - this time to the total disgust of the band leader who rebukes him with a lesson on liberty and license. 

22. I professed a belief in myself. 

I celebrated my own freedom and liberty.  

23. Christ was someone who lived a long, long time ago.  I guess I hardly ever prayed all.  

24. It took hitting rock bottom before I finally changed my tune.  

25. What matters most to our Lord is whether you are willing to give him a chance; even a second or third chance.  

26. The four pillars in the Catholic Catechism outline a structured plan, part of the mystical plan of God to help us navigate through this earthly pilgrimage.  God, a Father with open arms, through a loving heart full of mercy, a human heart, the heart of Jesus Christ, takes all of his children back.  

27. What's it like to have such a father so full of love?  

28. Once we recognize this we want to naturally profess our faith, pillar one.  

29. Was I really created for a unique, special purpose unlike any other?  Our dignity revealed, we quite readily join with others to celebrate, this supernatural love between the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and us, the mystical body of Christ, this Christian mystery, pillar two.  

30. As I was born into the world so too was the Savior - God, the Word made flesh - born into the world although, unlike me, without sin and incarnate by the Holy Spirit.  Where else then would I go but to Christ?  A life in Christ, pillar three. 

31. Answered prayers are encouraging, inspirational, and consoling.  And to keep me from slipping back, to keep me in love, to keep me growing in memory and knowledge of what I was really created to be, I practice Christian prayer, pillar four.  

32. There is more freedom in a life like this, a Christian life - ever more aware that I have been chosen by God before creation, a visible action of the invisible Holy Spirit - than I could've ever imagined.  Even when the "bad" days come, as they do, sooner or later for all of us living life on earth, I see even these are full of new and profound meaning, an opportunity to co-redeem with our Lord.  All the "good" I use to seek in night clubs and bars I find now in God, the true source of profound joy, inner peace, and freedom. 

33. "The line between being unable to believe and being unwilling to believe is not clear. The attitude that simply dismisses faith as unimportant, without having examined it more closely, is often worse than well considered atheism." (YOUCAT 357)

G6 Bullets 4–6, Learn the Rhythm - More Tumbao Variations - because it's highly versatile in many settings. "One" for the Pocket; the Tumbao

Author’s Note [04/18/2026]: All but 3 of the original 12 Time for the Table movies have been lost. I will do my best to restore the surviving movies soon. Though I poured lots of time and love into all 12 movies, the production quality was humble and the number of views over the years was meager. Consequently, I will not be recreating the lost movies. My apologies.

 

SPEAK THE RHYTHM: ge re Pa te ge re Du Du...ge re Pa te ge re Du Du

G6 Bullet 7 – Topic A3, Sound Check.  God Approaches Us Men: The "Big Reveal." My stepson is off to Austin, Texas this weekend to see the musical Wicked with some friends.   This modern day production is somehow tied to the wicked witch best known from the movie the Wizard of Oz.  Talk about a family favorite!  Growing up, we would eagerly wait for it and then watch it, year after year, what a great tradition we had.  How surprising to finally learn the great and all powerful wizard was really just a small man behind a very big microphone and special-effects console.  We are calling this today - the "Big Reveal."  (YOUCAT Study Guide, pg. 7)

36. Indeed I have had varying ideas about God throughout my own life. 

Some of the wildest ideas about God came during those times when I was grossly misinformed.  

37. Just because I was becoming smarter in certain other areas like engineering and science, I concluded that I was also becoming smarter in the area of the supernatural.  What I was really doing though is making God out to be what I wanted him to be rather than coming to know him as he is.  

38. He was the all accepting supporter of what ever felt good in my life - whether or not someone else might be getting hurt in the process. 

39. "Everyone will be saved and go to heaven, there is really no sin" I told myself.  I thought God was far too grand and omnipotent for any one person or institution to define; agnosticism at its best.  

40. "Just do good to others and God will do good to you" I believed.  But something wasn't right - I kept getting hurt and it seemed that I was never satisfied or at lasting peace.  

41. After reading 1 Corinthians Chapter 11 verse 31 through 32 - it makes sense why we need not oversimplify God's Will and sense of Justice. "If we were to examine ourselves, we would not be falling under judgment in this way (sickness and infirmity); but since it is the Lord who judges us, he chastens us to keep us from being condemned with the rest of the world." 

42. Even after partially straightening out my life, getting an engineering degree at age 35, marrying and settling down, something was still missing.  Like Dorothy and her companions I kept asking spiritual questions, except instead of a good-witch looking over me, it was God, responding to the intercession of my guardian angel and prayers of family members I'm sure, showering me with unmerited grace, grace that enabled me to slowly move forward, becoming a new creature in the process. 

43. Amazingly, come to find out, God was always drawing me closer - always moving me forward - toward this invisible something I found gnawing in my heart.  

Jesus Christ is the "Big Reveal."  

44. Not until I learned who Jesus Christ really was and is could I then come to know who God really is and the Holy Spirit too.  

45. "The supernatural is not to be understood as an entity or a place that begins where the natural ends, but as the raising of the natural to a higher plane. In this way nothing of the created or the human order is foreign to or excluded from the supernatural or theological order of faith and grace, rather it is found within it, taken on and elevated by it.  "In Jesus Christ the visible world which God created for man (cf. Gen 1:26-30) - the world that, when sin entered, 'was subjected to futility' (Rom 8:20; cf. Rom 8:19-22) - recovers again it's original link with the divine source of Wisdom and Love.  Indeed, 'God so loved the world that he gave his only Son' (Jn 3:16). As this link was broken in the man Adam, so in the man Christ it was reforged (cf. Rom 5:12-21)." (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, #64, Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace)

46. As bearer of the Gospel's message of Incarnation and Redemption, the Church (the invisible made visible; the "Big Reveal") can follow no other path: with her social doctrine and the effective action that springs from it, not only does she not hide her face or tone down her mission, but she is faithful to Christ and shows herself to men and women as "the universal sacrament of salvation." (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, #65, Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace) 

47. "In each Mass Christ offers himself up completely, together with the Church, which is his Mystical Body, made up of all the baptized (the invisible made a visible, the "Big Reveal").  By reason of their union with Christ to the Church, the faithful offer the sacrifice together with him.  They also offer themselves with him.  They take part in the mass, therefore, as those who offer and are offered." (In Conversation with God: Daily Meditations, Volume 3 by Francis Fernandez)

G6 Bullet 8 – YOU Practice Lesson G6. If you want measurable results try to practice both your faith and drumming at least 30 minutes a day.  

a.) Playing simple rhythms on a daily basis can be similar in repetition to (but never used in place of) daily reading of an uplifting spiritual book.  Just read a few pages a day, not more than thirty minutes at a time. Recognize God's presence during this period of reading.  

b.) "The world and the culture cannot answer our deepest questions or bring profound meaning to our lives. For answers to our deepest questions we must turn to God.  Only then, through those answers and with an open heart, will our lives be flooded with meaning and purpose... One of the best things about Catholicism is that there are answers.  Let's start to fill our hearts and minds with the truth and goodness of those answers.  How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." (The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic by Matthew Kelly ")

c.) Gradually, your memory and understanding of sacred things will improve and your formation into the Christian disciple our Lord desires of you will be well on its way.  What was once invisible becomes visible soon enough!  

d.) You will begin to recognize the fruit in inspirations and consolations that gently answer questions or concerns regarding your spiritual growth and God's will for you.  

e.) Keep up your spiritual reading, every day if possible.  Practice perfects the one undergoing the repetitious movement; either naturally or supernaturally.  

f.) Answered prayers are reminders of God's supernatural order present in our very own lives.  The Church teaches the fruitful value of a sound prayer life with Scripture reading.  My family and I can give personal testimony to the effectiveness of daily prayer.  Practice makes perfect!

G6 Bullet 9 – Table Task: Pray. Pray. If you don't know how to pray, read about others who are accustomed to praying.  You'll soon learn that these people, like you, have a taste for the truth.  Even if it's just a few pages a day, say 4 or 5 pages, reading like this over time will amount to a tremendous spiritual formation.  You will indeed learn how to pray better. If reading isn't your thing, then download podcasts.  Go to the iTunes store or YouTube and find free Catholic Answers podcasts.  Try to listen to at least one a day and then take a moment to reflect or pray on what you just listened to.  

50. Go to a quiet place and contemplate the following reality regarding the visibility of sin in our modern world: "That Christ takes away the sins of the world is the greatest cause for jubilation, but it is a joy that can only be known by someone who has acknowledged the reality of sin. The denial of sin creates a dull and ugly world where sin reigns unacknowledged. The recognition of sin, and the reality of the Redeemer, brings joy even to those who still fight the battle against sin and the devil."  (Inside the Mass: A Spiritual Reflection on the New Translation by Rev. Theodore Book, SLL)

51. God speaks to us through our reading; the coincidences of the day; very few will hear "a voice" so to speak.  

52. Apparitions approved through the Church are rare but nonetheless many of these have been recognized.  

53. Most of us are gently urged through our daily circumstances; I have been.  

54. This makes one's whole life the subject of a fruitful re-inspection.  "How has God been speaking to me all of these years?" we should all ask ourselves.  "Yes, even when I was steeped in sin!" Yes!  Even then.  Indeed this is a loving God, the "Big Reveal!" 

G6 Bullet 10 – Basic Notation (1) and (2) handouts: study them.

G6 Bullet 11 – Counting (1) handout: study it.

Gray Level Syllabus

"Time For The Table" The Way and Means

Rumba for Two

G5 Bullet 1 – Eighth note beats and rests. The truth is out there.  

2. Can a finite mind like ours really apprehend infinite realities?  

3. I don't think so - which is why it makes so much sense for God to reveal it to us through human language and deeds.  

4. Short of learning through verbal tradition like the early Christians, you've got to first understand the symbols and characters of language if you hope to get anywhere near the truth.  The same is true with world rhythms and patterns. 

5. In The Two-Slap Tumbao, we learned about whole, half, and quarter notes and rests.  In Rumba for Two we will add to this eighth note beats and rests.  Here again you can access your Basic Notation (1) and Basic Notation (5) and read through these carefully.  

6. In the Rumba for Two rhythm below, you will witness and get to play a pattern with rests.  
7. The rhythm spans two measures (you remember what a measure is?) and uses quarter notes, eighth notes, and eighth rests.  

8. If you've been with me from the beginning, The Big Calypso and Existence on forward, then you already know how to play eighth notes.  

9. In every lesson thus far, I have used notation boxes containing two part counting; see Counting (1), "Two Part Counting."  

G5 Bullet 2 – Everybody's got a pulse. Do you ever tap your foot or hand to music? Chances are you are tapping along with the pulse.  When people dance, more than likely, they are moving their feet to the pulse.  The pulse is the underlying steady rhythm people feel when music is played.  You should get in the habit of keeping a pulse going in your body while you play on listen to music.  You can tap your foot, nod your head, move your shoulder, rock your midsection, or bring your hand down on the table.  I like to tap my foot on the "1" and "3" of each 4/4 measure.  Another way to express the pulse here is to tap your foot on the "1", "2", "3", and "4."  You will notice in the "YOU Practice" sheets, courtesy of dancinghands.com, the "1", "2", "3", and "4" are all highlighted gray.  This is to signify the pulse.  However you do it, try to express your internal awareness of the pulse as an external body movement.

G5 Bullet 3 – Dance grooves. Dance grooves are organized around the pulse/time signature.  It is important to know where the pulse is whatever pattern you're playing at all times.  Go-ahead and play some of your favorite music now.  Can you find the "one"?  Pray always and learn to tap to music – always.  By the way, did you know that work well done including practice well done can be something offered to our Lord as prayer?  Yes, it is true and there is one very famous saint to back this up: St. Josémaria Escriva, founder of the Catholic prelature known as Opus Dei.

G5 Bullet 4 – Time signatures in music. In The Two-Slap Tumbao we learned about a vertical rectangle at the beginning of each staff (staff: the arrangement of five horizontal lines) and we call this symbol a Percussion Clef; the notes to follow are to be played on percussion instruments.  Usually we will see a fraction immediately after the percussion clef, typically 4/4 meaning four-four time: four beats per measure and the quarter note or rest gets one beat.  

13. In Encyclopedia of Reading Rhythms by Gary Hess, Mr. Hess teaches "Time signatures are fractions used in music to establish a mathematical framework upon which to notate pulse and rhythm.  The numerator (upper numeral) establishes the number of beats per measure. The denominator (lower numeral) establishes the note or rest value receiving one beat. The numerator of a time signature can conceivably be any number.  The denominator, however, must represent a specific note value."   Math!  Yes Math.  Another way that math rocks!

14. In 4/4 time, there's  4 quarter notes allowed to each measure.  A "measure" is a space divided by "bar lines" a space to place notes and rests.  So if I have a 4/4 time signature that tells me each measure gets 4 notes, each quarter note or quarter rest getting one beat or one count "1,2,3,4" whereas an eighth note or eighth rest tells me each measure gets eight notes, or eight rests and is counted "1 an 2 an 3 an 4 an."  In our "YOU Practice" sheet the "an" appears as a plus symbol (+).  

G5 Bullet 5 – 7, Learn the Rhythm - Rumba and Heel-Toe Pattern.  Rumba for Two 

 Author’s Note [04/18/2026]: All but 3 of the original 12 Time for the Table movies have been lost. I will do my best to restore the surviving movies soon. Though I poured lots of time and love into all 12 movies, the production quality was humble and the number of views over the years was meager. Consequently, I will not be recreating the lost movies. My apologies.

 

SPEAK THE RHYTHM: Ge   Ge   Du   ge re ge re ge re ge re... Rumba for Two 


G5 Bullet 8 – Topic A2, Tradition and Word. Man Is Receptive to God: Cravings, Desires, and Lattes. 

1.) From 1 John 3:2 complete the sentence.  "We shall see him as ____________."

2.) Our goal is heaven.  Describe heaven according to 1 Corinthians 2:9.

3.) It's a fact.  The lower impulses of our creaturely body often dominate our good sense and lead us into choosing bad things.  Read Galatians 5:16 – 24. List the "works of the flesh" that St. Paul lists in Galatians 5:19 – 21.

4.) From 1 Corinthians 13:8 complete the sentence.  "________ never ends."

5.) In Galatians 5:22 – 23, St. Paul describes the "fruit of the Spirit" in nine words.  List these.

6.) Read Psalm 37:4.  What does it say about the desires of our hearts?

G5 Bullet 9 – YOU Practice Lesson G5. If you want measurable results try to practice both your faith and drumming at least 30 minutes a day.  

a.) Playing simple rhythms on a daily basis can be similar in repetition to (but never used in place of) daily reading of Scripture.  I can't tell you why it took me so long to make this commitment, but I finally decided to read the Bible from start to finish when I was 46 years old.  By the grace of God, once I made up my mind, I've been able to stick with a routine of daily Scripture reading.  

b.) I simply open up the Bible every morning and read for about 20-30 minutes.  I started with the first chapter of the Old Testament and the first chapter of the New Testament at the same time. Being that the New Testament is much shorter, I've already been through it, from start to finish, about four or five times - I've lost count.  However, as of today, I have yet to finish the Old Testament – but I will, trust me, I'm almost done (I'm in the book of Ezekiel right now.)  

c.) Practice perfects the one undergoing the repetitious movement; either naturally or supernaturally.  

d.) Answered prayers are reminders of God's supernatural order present in our very own lives.  The Church teaches the fruitful value of a sound prayer life with Scripture reading.  My family and I can give personal testimony to the effectiveness of daily prayer.  Practice makes perfect!

G5 Bullet 10 – Table Task: Ask and Seek. Go before a Tabernacle or better yet, the Blessed Sacrament.  Kneel down before our Lord and gently talk to him about the deepest desires of your heart.  Ask him, according to his will for your life, to fulfill those most cherished desires.  Ask him to help reveal any bad habit of yours that only temporarily fulfills a desire.  Ask him to lead you to virtues in place of your vices, replacing bad habits with good habits.

G5 Bullet 11 – Basic Notation (1) and (2) handouts: study them.

G5 Bullet 12 – Counting (1) handout: study it.

Gray Level Syllabus

"Time For The Table" The Way and Means

The Two-Slap Tumbao

G4 Bullet 1 - Forming or joining a YOUCAT study group.  Pope Francis explains to us in Evangelii Gaudium (EG), The Joy of the Gospel, we, that's you and me, are not isolated islands. "God has found a way to unite himself to every human being in every age. He has chosen to call them together as a people and not as isolated individuals." (EG #112-quoting Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium, 9.)  

2. Doing our own thing, playing our own rhythms all alone isn't the final straw; we are part of something much bigger, the kingdom of God.  

3. Thank God, we are part of Christ's reign going on right now, Christ's church.  We need one another - I need each one of you; your prayers, your love.  

4. The virtual world can be a start, we enter into it from the privacy of our own home, we learn about the other, we are at ease with one another, and through this knowledge we come to safety and trust.  Eventually we become less virtual, less anonymous.  Maybe we join a live online session, or we arrange a live chat session with our YOUCAT study group.
  
5. It doesn't matter if we are all thousands of miles from one another; what matters is that we pray for one another, see the body of Christ in one another, be there for one another- even if, at best, it's through a group chat or online session; plain old-fashioned e-mail; text - and if not immediately, then sometime later on at a mutually agreeable time. 

6. God only knows, one day, you may be squeezing the hand of your virtual friend, embracing one another in a big hug, recognizing the warmth of Christ in your friend only now, face to face, one on one!  But you have to start somewhere.  Here's how: 

• Go to YOUCAT's Facebook page,
• check out the FAQ's section first, 
• scroll through the existing groups, 
• open up some group's pages - there my be one all ready for you to join.  
• No?  Then be brave!  Hit the "start new button."  Go on, YOU CAN do it!

G4 Bullet 2 -  Finding the "one" and counting, counting when you play.  This is where a real 'live' music teacher comes in handy, really - beyond the written word of this blog; at least to start this "one" off, pun intended.  Knowing where the "one" is, in any music, is fundamental to playing an instrument or even singing in time.  Sorry - I can't sugar coat this reality.  We CAN start counting now as we play our patterns.

G4 Bullet 3 - Clap on "one" exercise.  We could spend an entire half-hour session just listening to music and simply clapping every time we heard the "one."   Can you do this on your own, finding the "one" to your favorite songs?  Maybe, but not likely (speaking from my own experiences).  It takes someone with a bit of experience, who knows how to show and lead you to the "one" and then, through your own diligent effort, practicing until you have internalized the finding of the "one" on your own.  

9. Very same reason we go to church - we need each other in our search for a greater union with God.

10. Does anyone in your family play an instrument?  Yes?  Pick about 20 minutes of your favorite songs, better yet, 20 minutes of their favorite songs, and ask them to help you clap the "one" in each measure of the song.  How about a friend or someone who plays music in your church?  Turn on the radio for them and ask them to help you clap the "one."  

11. Pulling out all stops here - if there is absolutely no-one in your family, friends, or church that can help you - do you have an electronic keyboard in your house?  One with pre-set demo tracks?  Great.  Play those demo tracks and watch the LED display window - I'll bet the piece is being counted out: 1,2,3,4 - 1,2,3,4- 1,2,3,4 just watch inside the LED window.  Now clap every time use see the "one" come up in the 1,2,3,4 - 1,2,3,4 - 1,2,3,4 sequence going on in the instruments LED window.  

12. This takes practice.   Clapping the "one" is a great, low key exercise and before long, you will actually begin to feel the "one," effortlessly; any song you listen to; a certain pull, a mysterious tug - that's how it will feel. 

G4 Bullet 4 - Whole, half, and quarter notes and rests. We learn what God reveals to us through the man Jesus Christ, written down in words according to eye witness accounts, shared through the Gospels of the Bible.  Isn't this astounding?  God is using human language to teach supernatural lessons!  

14. We too can learn what a songwriter or a rhythm maker is revealing through feelings, written down in music notation, the "words" of music.  We'll use internationally accepted symbols of note heads, rests, staff, measures and bar lines.  

15. Access your Basic Notation (1) and read through it carefully.  I've also posted a new sheet called Basic Notation (5) copied from the Encyclopedia of Reading Rhythms by Gary Hess to help you visualize how the whole, half, and quarter notes are related to one another.  

16. You can see how a whole note is equivalent to two half notes and a half note is equivalent to four quarter notes.  We see a vertical rectangle at the beginning of each staff (the arrangement of five horizontal lines) and we call this symbol a "percussion clef;" the notes to follow are to be played on percussion instruments. 

17. Of these three notes, tabletop players and nearly every conga player I've ever watched, can really only be concerned with the playing of quarter notes.  You won't play a whole note or a half note on the tabletop.  Besides, you're not going to find a pattern for drum or tabletop where the note is expected to be held out to resonate or sustain for a period longer than one quarter note.  Try it yourself.  Strike your tabletop and notice how quickly the sound dissipates.   Now strike a guitar string or a piano key and you've got a totally different story altogether- the note sustains - it continues to resonate, sounding off.   Melodic instruments are designed to sustain whereas the majority of rhythm instruments are not. 

18. Sometimes we just need to rest.

RESTS are a different story.  Go to the bottom of Basic Notation (1) where I illustrate notes and rests.  Take the "half" rest.   Now doing the math - in one measure, a "measure" is a space on the staff divided by "bar lines;" a space to place notes and rests, I could play two quarter notes and then rest for two quarter rests, or for that matter, one half rest.  Either way, they add up to the same thing - we are resting, not playing any notes, while we count the remaining two quarter notes in silence.   

19. Or, in one measure, we could play 4 quarter notes in a row counting 1,2,3,4, as we strike the tabletop four times and then in the next measure, we could observe a "whole" rest, remaining silent - not striking the tabletop at all while we count out 1,2,3,4.   Instead of looking at a "whole" rest symbol we could get the same desired outcome by writing four quarter rests in the measure.  Either way, they add up to the same thing - we are resting, not playing any notes, while we count four quarter notes.

G4 Bullets 5-7, Learn the Rhythm - Tumbao: The Two-Slap Tumbao

Author’s Note [04/18/2026]: All but 3 of the original 12 Time for the Table movies have been lost. I will do my best to restore the surviving movies soon. Though I poured lots of time and love into all 12 movies, the production quality was humble and the number of views over the years was meager. Consequently, I will not be recreating the lost movies. My apologies.

 

SPEAK THE RHYTHM: te re Pa Pa te re Du Du...te re Pa Pa te re Du Du

21. Work both hands:  Remember;  when working on technique, whatever is true for the right hand is true for the left hand.  You will find that if you are right handed, the patterns  starting with the right hand will be easier to play than when starting the same pattern with the left hand (and vice versa).   Switch hands: If you are right handed, use your left hand now to start playing the pattern.  It helps me to go to the practice sheet (see YOU Practice) and write out L,R,L,R,L,R,L,R below the R,L,R,L,R,L,R,L line so that I can clearly see the strokes my left hand is supposed to be playing at a particular moment (beat) in time.  Start slowly and work up your speed as your accuracy improves; this exercise develops dexterity.

G4 Bullet 8 - Topic A2, Chew On It. Man Is Receptive to God:  Cravings, Desires, and Lattes.    Why do we yearn for happiness? (YOUCAT 281) 

23. Douglas McManaman in Introduction to Philosophy for Young People writes "Most people tend to associate happiness with feeling good, that is, with a life that offers a variety of pleasures and comforts.  Some tend to associate happiness with being able to do whatever they want to do, still others associate it with achieving everything they have set out to achieve in life.  But ask yourself whether it is possible to have many and frequent pleasures in life, yet remain unhappy.  And is it possible to have a few pleasures in life, yet be happy?  Moreover, is it possible to be able to do whatever you want, yet still be unhappy?  Finally, is it possible to achieve everything you have set out to achieve in life, yet remain profoundly unhappy?"

24. In 1987, at the young age of 23, I obtained my first dream car, a brand new black, Jaguar four-door sedan.  I was on top of the world - for a few days anyway.  It seemed I was happiest when I was in it and people I knew (or didn't know) saw me in it.  I had so identified with this car that when I was in it I was happy and when I wasn't in it I had to keep reminding myself (and probably others too) that I had it so that I could be happy again.  I may have heard the choir of angels singing when I drove it into the front, valet parking area of some trendy night club, in full view of a long line of fashionable people waiting to get in.  But once inside, when it came right down to it, there was no sign around my neck that read "The guy driving the black Jaguar" and there certainly wasn't a wallet in my back pocket with an unlimited amount of cash inside that might have otherwise drawn the kind of attention I must have been seeking.  After only a few months, and many, many car washes later, the black Jaguar felt like any other car I had owned - it no longer was the summit of my happiness.

25. "Happiness is not in us, nor is happiness outside of us.  Happiness is in God alone.  And if we have found him, then it is everywhere."  Blaise Pascal (1588-1651)

26. Can you think of any material thing that in itself has made you happy for years on end.  Ok, maybe your home - but were you really happy with it after it became infested with termites? When a storm blew off half its shingles?  After being invited to your lifelong friends house, a much bigger and fancier home?  And what about the fleeting happiness that comes with technology purchases?  The laptop I'm typing on today was at one time my pride and joy, state-of-the art, fast as they come, computing powerhouse; not any longer I'm afraid.  Ok, I'm still grateful to have it and you know what?  It's this kind of simple gratitude that makes me happy now, not the device.

27. Man is receptive to God: Cravings, Desires & Lattes (YOUCAT Study Guide, pg 5)

28. This is reasonable.  If God created human beings, and if he created people in his image, then it's reasonable to conclude he also knows what will make us the happiest.  Yet, fallen like we are, we seem to come equipped with cravings and desires that often lead us completely off the mark as to what really makes us happy.  

29. We start worshipping things other than God.  Things like Jaguars, technology, members of the opposite-sex (or same-sex for some), money, eating out at fine restaurants, ourselves, the attention and adoration others give us when we start climbing the rungs in society, ourselves, participating in activities that elevate us to celebrity like status, and oh yeah - ourselves.

30. Thank God we always have some help - even when we are the farthest away, at the opposite end of where the kingdom of God should be (at least in our own mind).  We have an advocate, working on our behalf, yes always, whether we give him credit or not.  It's true.  

31.Unregulated desires, passions, our heads too often buried in our gadgets, and sensualities lead us to sin against our Creator, our most merciful God and so he pulls us back to himself anyway because of the love he has for his poor creatures. 

32. Silence first, just allowing oneself to simply think.  

Like we learned above in using rests; silence is part of making music.  Silence has its place.  Take thirty minutes rest from all electronics…to think…to ponder over higher truths maybe…can you do it?  If God really is our Creator...if God really became man…the Word made flesh…our flesh…communicating in human words, this Jesus Christ.  If Christ was a real historical figure...really walked this earth, the same one I'm walking now...wait a minute, the very Creator of the earth we are all walking now…the man that was crucified and rose from the dead…forever defeating the hold death had on people before He came. 

33. Be silent enough to even think about the alternative…if there is no God then everything I am part of is just a random, chance occurrence of events…absolutely no meaning...absent any higher intelligence...cold...loveless...and so better do whatever feels good now because soon it's ALL over…blackness…

34. No way, I conclude at this point, usually way before this point, stopping the deluge of nonsense….this lure of the "strictly material" world.  The engineer in me, the quasi academic side, having studied probabilities - wins out in the end and using reason, I come to trust in God over the alternative.  I make a renewed assent to higher, transcendental realities, cognizant that even our best secular scientists must also press against limits too, and then make decisions how to treat what lies beyond those limits; the unknown and mysterious.  What lies beyond?  A matter of speculation or a matter of faith? 

35. I will for stronger faith in God, a greater hope in God, a love for God and the faith in God that has been granted by grace and revealed to me throughout my lifetime, even when I wasn't paying attention.  Today, for the most part, I am at peace, joyful.  Ordinary events take on new meaning, a joyful radiance that wasn't there before.  But none of this happens without silence.  Rests.  Allowing oneself time to think daily.  I'm convinced that I too must see for myself what this man named Jesus Christ really taught - using the human mind, memory, and understanding - finding and concluding the relevance of what He taught and finding it to be just as poignant today as it was when He preached it over 2000 years ago.

36. The Beatitudes are the heart of Jesus' preaching.

The Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12) respond to our natural desire for happiness.

"They take up the promises made to the chosen people since Abraham.  The Beatitudes fulfill the promises by ordering them no longer merely to possession of a territory, but to the Kingdom of heaven." (Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC) #1716)

• Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
• Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
• Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
• Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
• Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.
• Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
• Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
• Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
• Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.  Rejoice and be glad, for  your reward is great in heaven. (Mt. 5:3-12)

37. Find out what each of these sentences means for you in silence.  If you need some help - go to the early Church Fathers - what did these sentences mean to them?  Read a few philosophers and theologians - what did these sentences mean to them?  Contemplate again in silence and slowly but surely, in a few days, in a few months, in a few years, at your deathbed….the Beatitudes will have meaning, the meaning Christ Himself had when He spoke them for your benefit and for my benefit.  Hopefully, it’s the journey itself, towards understanding, that brings you the most joy and happiness.

38. "The Beatitudes respond to the natural desire for happiness.  This desire is of divine origin:  God has placed it in the human heart in order to draw man to the one who alone can fulfil it.   We all want to live happily; in the whole human race there is no one who does not assent to this proposition, even before it is fully articulated."  -St. Augustine, De morribus eccl. 1,3,4: PL 32,1312.

39. "How is it, then, that I seek you Lord?  Since in seeking you, my God, I seek a happy life, let me seek you so that my soul may live, for my body draws life from my soul and my soul draws life from you."  -St. Augustine, Conf. 10,20: PL 32, 791

40. God has placed….God has put…God has created... in all of us, these cravings and desires.

At the end of every craving, of every desire, of every longing, in all of them is "...an infinite desire for happiness." (YOUCAT 281) and "….a longing to seek and find him." (YOUCAT 3)

41. But as a result of sin, human sin, original sin, we can be tricked fooled, misled, enticed to take the wrong path; not all desires or feelings can be acted upon without harming us.  Even good things, taken without moderation, can soon become a problem for us.

42. Raw emotions without the screen of thinking and reasoning to sift through them can cause disorders, discord, and depression in our lives.  Water is good for us but too much of it all at once can be destructive, even deadly.  Raw emotions can be likened to the wave of water that floods the city downstream.  Thinking and reasoning is like the well designed drainage ditch that safely channels the potentially destructive force of the stormwater (emotions) below the city and out to the other side.   

43. Go to God and pray to God, listening, accepting God's will.  

"Sort out my longings Lord.  Put me on the path toward complete fulfillment."

44. Fortunately, when we get off the mark, we can still go and make a good confession before a priest.  In the interests of justice we practice acts of reparation to make good, to repair harm caused by our transgressions, our sinfulness, to respond in gratitude for the unmerited act of redemption done for us by our loving Father.  To begin again, and again, and again, and again, increasing virtue bit by bit while decreasing vice bit by bit.

45. "Man plunges into the depths of reality whenever he enters into his own heart; God, who probes the heart, awaits him there; there he discerns his proper destiny beneath the eyes of God."  (The Church in the Modern World, no 14 - Second Vatican Council)

46. The importance of regular housecleaning of the heart is more than just a catchy metaphor.   Try to prepare somewhere nice for the Master, the chief Physician; our God - who waits for us here in the innermost spaces of our heart, where nothing is hidden.  No this task can't be underestimated.  

47. God understands the cravings, desires, and longings found here, the true purpose - exactly because he became man and lived among men.  God wills us to organize our interior life, keeping the craving that longs for the finish line - keeping the desire for living our true purpose in life according to the will of God - keeping the longing to love God and to love our neighbor for God's sake.  All the rest can be thrown out with the trash.  Create a mental picture of nuns with power washers spraying the interior of your heart clean...all the gunk laced liquid just draining out of your body.  Yes we are clean again!  Exactly the way it feels after making a good, contrite confession.

48. God alone satisfies. -St. Thomas Aquinas, Expos. insymb.apost.I.

49. "To will all that God wills and always to will it, on all occasions and without reservations, is the Kingdom of God that is completely within."  Francois Fenelon (1651-1715)

50. "The Beatitudes reveal the face of Jesus Christ and his deep love for humanity.  In light of Christ's glorious Passion and Resurrection; the Beatitudes spell out the mission of those faithful to Christ; reveal actions and attitudes that mark the Christian life; make promises for hope in the middle of trials and suffering; however dimly for Christ's disciples; [yes, that's you and me!]  They have begun in the lives of the Virgin Mary and all the saints." (CCC 1717)

51. I have come to recognize a stark contrast between my wealth and the meager possessions of the countless poor; many industrious but still completely impoverished people.  I have witnessed the shanty and squatter areas of a "third world" (developing  country) where many of the poor live and work.  My solidarity with them is in the Beatitudes.  

52. In light of the Beatitudes, Christ doesn't ask us to form a system of social justice that would elevate the "poor" on a par with the "wealthy," for example, increasing the number of material items the poor owned, so that all people at all times simply owned a lot of stuff.  No, this isn't the Beatitude that leads to happiness.  

53. Granted, a more uniform material consumption of goods among people is desired, but this in itself is not the end all, be all source of happiness.  In practicing the Beatitudes, rich and poor alike can participate now, without waiting for such material parity, living joyfully, in the kingdom of heaven on earth established by Christ for all.  

54. Rich or poor alike can practice the Beatitudes.  If one group over the other could be said to be better disposed, according to Jesus Christ, the keys to the kingdom of heaven on earth lie with the poor.

55. "The Beatitudes reveal the goal of human existence, the ultimate end of human acts: God calls us to his own beatitude. This vocation is addressed to each individual personally, but also to the Church as a whole, the new people made up of those who have accepted the promise and live from it in faith." (CCC 1719)

56. "The Beatitudes take up and fulfill God's promises from Abraham on by ordering them to the Kingdom of heaven.  They respond to the desire for happiness that God has placed in the human heart." (CCC 1725)

57. Despite the political difficulties and great suffering, African and Cuban people alike long for happiness and still more, for the kingdom of heaven now.

58. Cuba appears to be the country where the Tumbao, our Lesson G4 pattern, originated.  The Tumbao - the staple - is the tried and true favorite pattern for me to accompany standard, 4/4 pop rock songs.  Variations like the "Two-Slap Tumbao" abound. 

59. "Under Spain, Cuba became the most profitable sugar-producing region in the world.  Sugar was an enormously valuable commodity in the 17th and 18th centuries; individual fortunes and national economies were founded on the sugar trade.  Thousands of African slaves were brought in to work the vast cane plantations.  These slaves were controlled by the Spanish in various ways.  Among other things, they were forced to speak Spanish and accept Christianity.  In defiance, slaves gave their African gods the names of Christian saints and continued to worship them in their native languages.  This form of worship, known as Santeria, preserved many African religious, ritual and musical traditions, and is still practiced today.  [In] it's ceremonies we can hear West African rhythms in their nearly-original state." Afro-Cuban Rhythms for Drumset by Frank Malabe and Bob Weiner

60. OK - forcing people to adopt one's religious belief isn't a Beatitude and the Catholic Church, for it's part, most recently under Pope John Paul II, has made apologies regarding the injustices of Catholics during slave trading.  Being a blessing to those who are poor in spirit is a Beatitude and today, Christianity is seeing unprecedented growth on the continent of Africa.

61. Last but not least, here's what others are saying about the Tumbao:

"Tumbao is the most popular conga pattern in contemporary Latin music.  But it's also a versatile groove that fits well with rock, funk, and jazz.  Once you learn it, you'll find plenty of opportunities to play it."  Hip Grooves for Hand Drums by Alan Dworsky and Betsy Sansby

62. The Tumbao, it's a pattern "…used in Latin, jazz, and contemporary pop-rock music today.  You should know that in the 1940s, the conga drummer in a traditional Cuban dance group used only one drum.  Thus the player's role was to play a constant tumbao rhythm with slight variations and little or no soloing." Play Congas Now - The Basics and Beyond by Richie Gajate-Garcia

63. "The Tumbao is a popular conga rhythm and the nucleus of many other rhythms including the Bolero, Cha-Cha-Cha, Mambo, and Guajira to name a few." Afro-Cuban Drumming: A Comprehensive Guide to Traditional & Contemporary Styles by Glen Caruba

64. "In a few days it will be Christmas, a great feast for us Christians, but also for the whole human race, which, without knowing it, is looking for Christ.  Christmas is coming, and God wants us to be joyful, like the shepherds, like the wise men, like Mary and Joseph.  We shall be full of joy if Our Lord is really present in our life, if we have not lost him, if we have not allowed our sight to be clouded by tepidity or lack of generosity.  

65. When our attempts to discover happiness along other paths which lead away from God, all one finds in fact is sorrow and misery.  All those who, in one way or another, ever turned their backs on God have had the same experience: they have proved that apart from God there is no true happiness.  There can be none.  To find Christ, and to remain in his company, is to possess a deep happiness which is new every day." (In Conversation with God by Francis Fernandez)

G4 Bullet 9 - Assignment ONE.  The completion of this assignment, is a requisite for Gray Level graduation.  Throughout this course, I will assign rhythm practice exercises from the Encyclopedia of Reading Rhythms: Text and Workbook for All Instruments by Gary Hess.  It's less than $15 on Amazon and might even be available free, via download through eBook readers.  Part of the assignment is a one page rhythm training from Hess' workbook.  There's also an opportunity to record and play along with a few of your favorite songs as well as a written section responding to the text sections of Lessons G1-G4. Regarding the assignment's written portion, read the questions carefully - several have more than one question to answer.  You can do it!

G4 Bullets 10 - YOU Practice Lesson G4.   If you want measurable results - try to practice both your faith and drumming at least 30 minutes a day.  

a.) Playing simple rhythms on a daily basis can be similar in repetition to (but never used in place of) making a daily examination of conscience at the end of the day.  

b.) When you first start doing this you can use the Ten Commandments as a guideline for your examination.  When you have thoroughly examined your conscience, fostering a spirit of contrition in the process, you can end with an Act of Contrition prayer.  Now you're ready to go have your confession heard.  

c.) Did you know that frequent confession is the best way to turn human "frailties" and "defects" into more virtuous behavior?  

d.) Practice perfects the one undergoing the repetitious movement; either naturally or supernaturally.  Stick always to a daily rhythm of prayer.  And don't forget to practice the "rests" in your patterns; seek periods of silence to simply think about higher ordered mysteries.  

e.) Answered prayers are reminders of God's supernatural order present in our very own lives.  The Church teaches the fruitful value of a sound prayer life; my family and I, can give personal testimony to the effectiveness of daily prayer.  Practice makes perfect!

G4 Bullet 11 - Table Task:  Thank.  "Like" a Christian organization on FaceBook, for example: St Paul Street Evangelization and "Share" an Internet meme with a timely message about abortion or some other issue important to your faith.  Involvement and support like this is a way of showing your thanks and gratitude to the many men and women whom are active, today, right now on the behalf of Christ's kingdom ...thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven....

G4 Bullet 12 - Basic Notation (1) and (2) handouts: study them.

G4 Bullet 13 - Counting (1) handout: study it.

Gray Level Syllabus

"Time For The Table" The Way and Means