Aoife Brown

Hello, I’m Aoife.

I’m a Sound Therapist, Drum maker and tutor based in East Sussex.

My journey with sound began in 2008, when I trained as a Sound Therapy Practitioner with the British Academy of Sound Therapy. In 2012, I followed the call to the drum and trained as a Sacred Drumming Practitioner with my dear teachers, Steven and Renata Ash. I later trained as a tutor with them, and those years became an important foundation for my own practice and relationship with the drum.

I now teach the Sound Healing with the Drum Practitioner Diploma Course with my lovely friend and co-tutor Sandra Alderman, bringing together my experience as a sound therapist, drum practitioner, teacher and drum maker.

I’m originally from Ireland and have always had a strong connection with music, rhythm and the natural world. For me, the drum is much more than an instrument. Rhythm is woven through our lives from the very beginning - from our mother’s heartbeat before we are born, to the rhythms of our bodies, the seasons, the moon and the turning of the year.

Drumming gives us a way to reconnect with those rhythms.

I love taking my drum outside - into the woods, the garden, the beach or around a fire. Something changes when we drum in nature. The sound travels differently, the landscape becomes part of the experience, and there is a feeling of communicating rather than simply making music. That connection with nature is at the heart of my work.

My teaching draws on sound healing, drumming, the Medicine Wheel, journeying and connection with the natural world. I share the teachings and practices that have guided me, while encouraging students to develop their own relationship with the drum and their own way of working with it.

Between Worlds

I also teach Between Worlds: The Art of Shamanic Drum Creation with my friend and fellow drum maker, Eva Greenslade. This course teaches students how to facilitate drum-making workshops, and it grew from our shared love of making drums and our desire to share the process from the very beginning.

We are incredibly fortunate to work with hides from Knepp Estate, whose pioneering rewilding project is very close to my heart. We scrape and prepare the hides from scratch before beginning the drum-making process. It gives students a much deeper connection with the materials, the animal, the land and the process of bringing a drum into being.

For me, making a drum is about much more than creating a beautiful instrument. It is a process of transformation, patience, relationship and listening. Every drum has its own character, and I’ve found that the drum often has much to teach us.

My own experience of living with chronic illness has also taught me the importance of listening - to the body, to energy and to our own limitations. This has influenced my desire to create learning spaces where people can arrive exactly as they are, without having to prove themselves or keep up with anyone else.

Over the years, I have also trained in Emotion and Body Code, Reiki, Shamanic Healing and Touch Drawing. These experiences have all influenced my understanding of healing, creativity and embodied practice, but the drum continues to hold a particularly special place for me.

I feel very fortunate to share this work with others. I hope that students leave not only with new skills and knowledge, but with a deeper connection to their own drum, their intuition and their own path… as well as having fun and laughter along the way!