Mickey Hart and the Rhythm of Us

Mickey Hart, best known as a drummer for the Grateful Dead, has spent his artistic life testing the boundaries of music and sound. Through the realms of art and science, Hart continues to capture the rhythm of life.

Written by Joseph Gonzalez

One could say that Mickey Hart’s drums speak the language of the universe. He strives to infuse every strike of his drum with the profundity of the cosmos. “Vibration is the basis of all life,” Hart said to Relix Magazine in 2023, explaining that vibrations are part of the very fabric of our being because they underlie everything that composes us. Through his lifetime of dedication to sonic exploration, Hart has redefined what music can be and do. He has stepped into the artistic and scientific realms of what constitutes the essence of rhythm and music — vibration.

Hart is famously known for his career as one of the drummers of the Grateful Dead, a pioneering improvisational rock band that emerged from the psychedelic scene of the 1960s. The band blended rock, folk, blues, and jazz influences, creating extended jams and encouraging a countercultural spirit that fostered a devoted following known as “Deadheads.” Hart and his drumming partner Bill Kreutzmann often performed a show segment where they would simultaneously solo while the rest of the band rested backstage. This portion of the show was the most unscripted part of already unpredictable performances, with the drummers pounding away instinctively.

Hart and Kreutzmann each have their own rhythm, but their parts fit perfectly together, creating a complex and powerful percussive symphony. Kreutzmann, the more traditional drummer, usually sets the beat from behind his drum set while Hart sits behind his own set and adds his own flourishes, supporting Kreutzmann’s part when necessary. Hart often makes use of auxiliary instruments like wood blocks or cowbells, and will venture outside his drum set to play the vast assortment of different drums he has set up behind him.

Kreutzmann and Hart became known as the Rhythm Devils, reflecting each drummer’s chaotic and mischievous style. Their freeform approach to percussion caught the attention of director Francis Ford Coppola, who recruited them to create music for the soundtrack of his film “Apocalypse Now.” It was during these sessions where Hart played his earliest version of The Beam. The instrument is based on the blaster beam, first created by Craig Huxley in the early ‘70s. Its unearthly tones and stunningly low sound made it a fit for the soundtrack of the first Star Trek movie in 1979. The Beam is a long, rectangular instrument featuring 13 bass piano strings strung over multiple guitar pickups, all tuned to D. Its low, sustained frequencies produce a haunting resonance, inspired by the Pythagorean monochord — an ancient instrument consisting of a single string stretched over a resonant wooden box with a movable bridge. Pythagoras used the monochord as a tool to explore the relations of different pitches and the mathematical relationship between the sound of a string and its length, resulting in his own system of tuning. The Beam is based on the Pythagorean monochord. Hart tunes the strings of the instrument to various octaves of D.

Hart holds Pythagoras in great esteem. Pythagoras, an ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician, was one of the earliest figures to see the connection between music, mathematics, and the cosmos. Like how strings change their tone based on length, Pythagoras thought that planets and all celestial bodies emitted sounds based on their relationship to each other. The different sounds would blend together in a perfect harmony he called the “harmony of the spheres.” He saw all elements of life through the prism of sound and harmony. The philosopher believed that listening to music had medicinal qualities and he would often arrange sessions for people where they’d be played a certain composition, usually on the lyre, to cure their ailments or lift their mood. Like everything else, he believed the body had its own harmony and that certain sounds could make a person’s body become in tune with the universe.

“Pythagoras found the secrets of the universe, the rhythm of the universe, the mathematics of the universe through just a long string which vibrated. If I had any guru, it would have to be Pythagoras, and of course rhythm is the god,” Hart told PBS in 2015.

A person may play The Beam by striking or plucking the strings with either a cylindrical beam or one’s hands though, in moments of passion, Hart may play it with his teeth.

The Beam is a fixture in Dead shows, always played during a segment called “Space.” “Space” comes directly after an extended drum solo played by Hart and Kreutzmann, and is the most atonal and improvised part of the concert. During this time, every band member creates their own world through their instrument, weaving intricate notes over the cosmically low rumblings of The Beam. The sound is strong enough to shake the room and sonically penetrate the audience’s tranced bodies. Hart aims to make his music feel like the universe’s ancient rumblings. Listening to The Beam can feel like an out-of-body experience, transmitting the listener into the limitless ends of the cosmos. The Beam radiates a low, primal sound one could associate with deep space, a symphonic section of bassy strings that leave behind an eerie atonal hum.

Hart believes that certain vibrations and rhythms have the ability to heal, and he has worked with scientists to prove it. Hart calls the brain, “rhythm central.” In 2013, Hart assisted researchers at the University of California, San Francisco, with research into cognitive disorders like Alzheimer’s disease.Hart worked with these researchers to find different rhythms that stimulated different parts of the brain, which may be able to shift the brain’s internal syncopation, offering temporary relief from impairment. . Hart once played the drums for his grandmother when she was in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's disease. "She hadn't spoken in over a year,” Hart told CBS in 2013.“I played the drum for her, and she spoke my name."

The drummer consistently pushes the boundaries of music with new innovations. For the 75th anniversary of the Golden Gate Bridge, Hart built a model of the famous landmark and played it as an instrument. Hart played the bridge instrument much like he would play The Beam. The new instrument resonated with a pulsating beat that faded in and out of existence. By striking the bridge instrument, Hart conjured subterranean, swelling sounds as he manipulated its metallic model. Tubular bells and bizarre sounds reminiscent of “Space” joined the mix, giving the performance a cosmic backdrop.

Beyond inventing new instruments and exploring healing rhythms, Hart has managed to create visual representations of sound through striking artwork. His primary medium consists of paint on a canvas. He pours a variety of different blends of paint onto whatever medium he decides to paint on which is then placed onto a platform which vibrates to whatever frequency Hart wants. The paint begins to take shape, but Hart’s artistic impulse truly gets to shine when he attaches the piece to an invention he named the “Rainbow,” a mechanical metallic frame-like device where Hart can rotate and turn the piece’s framework whichever way he wants. The drummer repeats this process as much as he wants until he’s satisfied.. With the same eccentric, improvisational energy he brings to drumming, Hart pours the paint from a bucket onto the moving canvas, resulting in a mess of willed chaos that represents a wisdom of nature that we can’t fully understand, an artistic representation of the underlying vibrations of sound.

Hart incorporates a world of people and a world of things into his musical sphere. Hart incorporates music from across the world into his work, from the harmonizing chants of Tibetan monks to the drums of Nigerian percussionist Sikiru Adepoju. The American percussionist introduced these global music styles to the Grateful Dead’s fanbase, giving those musicians a bigger stage than they had before.

Outside of the Grateful Dead, fans know Hart for creating Planet Drum, a percussion supergroup consisting of himself, Adepoju, Zakair Hussain, and Giovanni Hidalgo. Planet Drum, its self-titled album from 1991, is a timeless collection of songs that fuses intricate rhythms with chant-like singing. None of the songs are sung in English, for they are a reflection of diverse musical influences untethered to any singular cultural origin. The sounds of India, Nigeria, Brazil, and Puerto Rico are all represented by the members of the band. There are energetic and upbeat dance tracks like “Evening Samba” and “Dance of The Hunter’s Fire,” while the vocally-based, “Throat Games” showcases the group’s forays into experimentation, and “Mysterious Island” carries an ominous, otherworldly feel. The songs share an unmistakable passion within them established by the artists’ spiritual performance.

With its most recent album In the Groove, Planet Drum embraces modern production techniques. The quartet occasionally layer effects on the drums and vocals, showcasing the album’s meticulous production. This contrasts Planet Drum’s unfiltered sound, which sounds like a live performance. Regardless, In the Groove maintains the spirit of rhythmic curiosity evident in all their albums.“Our world is out of rhythm, our culture has lost its groove. Rhythmic unity among cultures is what Planet Drum is about,” Hart said, reflecting on the state of the world as it emerged from the pandemic.

Hart’s lifelong mission is to find the rhythm that connects humanity, whether the medium is music, painting, or science. His work deconstructs music’s fundamental elements. Hart concluded that music and people encompass the same basic form of vibration.

To Hart, rhythm is more than just an artistic expression; it is medicine, and it is fundamental to human experience. Through his pursuit of music and healing, he has shown why rhythmic expression is the language of the universe. His work will always be a reminder to venerate the rhythm around us.

ANALYSISAfterglow ATXApril 5, 2025josephgonzalez, joseph gonzalez