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A FREE VIDEO EVENT

With Composer, Musician & CEO of the Frame Drum Academy
Marla Leigh
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Discover the magic and mind-body medicine of frame drumming.

Participate in a joyful, guided musical experience built on simple, uplifting rhythms designed to calm your nervous system, support neuroplasticity, and anchor your attention in the present moment.

Are you feeling stressed, overwhelmed, or disconnected from your body...

... longing for a simple way to reconnect with yourself and cultivate more ease and genuine self-expression?

Many of us are instinctively drawn to rhythm, or once dreamed of playing a musical instrument — but assume we’re not “musical,” or that it’s too late and too complicated to start now.

Frame drumming offers an accessible entry point — using simple playing techniques and calming rhythms that, when practiced regularly, can lower cortisol (stress hormone), stimulate endorphins, and boost immunity and brain function, while improving overall vitality.

Join frame drum specialist Marla Leigh, founder of the Frame Drum Academy, for a free online event where you’ll experience the power of drumming as deeply nourishing and uplifting.

During this immersive workshop, Marla will lead you through a shamanic-inspired drum meditation, using steady rhythm as a grounding tool to help regulate your nervous system and heighten awareness of your physical body. As your focus stabilizes, you’ll slip naturally into a relaxed and creative flow-like state.

You’ll also be guided through simple hands-on drumming techniques and rhythms that you can play on a drum, box, or even your lap. Through the practice of these repetitions, you’ll begin to feel stress soften and energy lighten, restoring a sense of ease and balance, while rediscovering rhythm as something natural, accessible, and healing.

Playing the frame drum with both hands engages the right and left hemispheres of your brain. This kind of practice can support focus and mental flexibility, while rhythmic repetition can cultivate neuroplasticity and memory retention.

One of the world’s most ancient instruments, rooted in thousands of years of communal and healing traditions, frame drumming has been used to mark transitions, support holistic healing, and strengthen connection within self and community.

By learning rhythms through hands-on step-by-step practices, you can experience benefits immediately. Even a few minutes of drumming a day can spark a positive shift in mood and energy.

Marla’s decades of teaching her craft has inspired her mantra: “Pick up a drum, lift up your life!” This event is open to all levels — techniques are easy to follow, intuitive, and surprisingly satisfying to play.

Even if you’ve studied drumming, you’re encouraged to join us and discover a rhythmic journey that weaves creative play and emotional regulation with embodied presence.

By the end of the hour, you can expect to feel calmer.You’ll experience the deep sense of connection that drumming brings — and leave with simple tools you can return to anytime for centering or mind-body recalibration.

In this soulful hour-long free online event, you’ll:

  • Experience how even a few minutes of drumming helps regulate the nervous system
  • Participate in a joyful, shamanic-inspired drum meditation designed to ground your energy and calm the mind
  • Learn beginner-friendly frame drum techniques and foundational rhythms that can support neuroplasticity, mind-body coordination, and build musical confidence
  • Discover how using both hands engages the brain, improving focus, attention, and coordination
  • Explore listening as a skill that deepens presence — in drumming and in everyday life
  • Leave feeling more confident, uplifted, and connected to the joy of playing music

Sign Up Now

FREE VIDEO EVENT

Join this FREE video event with Marla Leigh and learn frame drumming as a practical tool for strengthening mental flexibility and mind-body awareness and coordination.

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What People Are Saying About Marla Leigh ...

— Music Therapist and Shift Faculty Christine Stevens:
“I Really Value How Empowering and Encouraging Marla Is”

“[Marla] is well known in the community for her virtuosity...”
I consider Marla to be one of the very top percussion performers in the U.S. today. She is well known in the community for her virtuosity and artful skill with hand drums.
Glen Velez

4-time Grammy Award-winning percussionist and Marla’s mentor

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“Marla Leigh’s work is where music, meditation, and healing meet.”
Marla Leigh’s work is where music, meditation, and healing meet. Studying frame drum with her and joining her in online workshop spaces showed me how profoundly she understands the drum as a tool for transformation. Marla teaches rhythm not just as technique, but as a pathway to embodiment, grounding, and emotional clarity. Her presence is gentle and powerful at once, and she creates learning environments where people feel safe to open, explore, and reconnect with their inner voice. Marla’s teachings are medicine. Anyone drawn to sound as a healing practice will find in her a gifted guide and a deeply intuitive teacher.
Kara Johnstad

Founder of the School of Voice and host of the Voice Rising podcast

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“We are enhanced by [Marla’s] example of high standards of musical talent and accomplishment...”
Cooperman Drums has been aware of Marla Leigh’s significant talents since she was a student at CalArts. We have now worked directly with her for over 20 years as an endorsing artist and have collaborated with her as part of our Artist Innovation Series of signature drums. Marla’s participation in a broad range of festivals, clinics, and concerts, both here in the U.S. and internationally, has solidified her position as a sought-after teacher. She offers an approachable introduction for novices, as well as more challenging workshops for the professional percussionist. Her approach works for yoga classes; it works for women’s groups. Cooperman is pleased and proud to have a working relationship with Marla. We are enhanced by her example of high standards of musical talent and accomplishment, combined with a commitment to educational outreach and lifelong learning. I have no doubt that her work will further contribute to the growth of this emerging field in the percussive arts.
Patrick M. Cooperman

VP of Cooperman Frame Drums

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“Marla makes a significant contribution to world music...”
With her background and dedication, Marla makes a significant contribution to world music and frame drumming.
John Bergamo

Percussion director at CalArts and Marla’s first mentor

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About Marla Leigh

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Marla Leigh is an internationally recognized frame drummer, flautist, composer, and founder of the Frame Drum Academy (est. 2015), the first online school for frame drum education.

Drawn to music from early childhood, she began studying piano at age three and flute at eight, later earning a BFA in Flute and an MFA in Percussion from The California Institute of the Arts. She studied extensively with master percussionists, including in-depth frame drum training with Glen Velez and John Bergamo, and North Indian tabla with Pandit Swapan Chaudhuri.

With more than three decades of teaching experience, Marla’s approach blends technical clarity with creative freedom, guiding students toward confident musicianship and expressive artistry. Her work centers on drumming as a foundation for listening, mind-body coordination, and musical expression.

As a composer, Marla creates globally inspired music that weaves ancient instrumental voices with contemporary textures. Her debut album, Rhythms of Tof Miriam (2020), was praised for its earthy grooves and evocative melodic textures. Her forthcoming 2026 release, Rhythms of Illumination, expands this vision, blending Eastern and Western instrumentation with subtle electronic elements.

Marla’s compositions have reached beyond the stage, with commissioned scores for the film Bold Native (2010), the documentary The Kid Officer (2026), and the ballet Sounds of the Sun for Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. She also developed a signature line of frame drums in collaboration with Cooperman Drum Co.

At the heart of her work is a simple conviction: music is a universal language for peace.

Awaken Your Joy With Frame Drumming
Marla Leigh
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