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By: Andrea Abbo – Andrea is a music lover and an experienced drummer with more than 15 years of drumming with different bands and music projects, such as Seditius and Hermano & the Marines.
Drumming is not only an activity that can channel someone’s interest in music, but it can also bring many health benefits. For instance, playing drums can relieve stress, boost mood, and improve brain power.
It also will be much better if you can form a drum circle in your area, such as The Lehigh Valley. Gathering with people with the same vision as you will bring so many good things. This can be your reason to build connections in the Lehigh Valley Local Community.
In this article, we will tell you the advantages you might get from group drumming and how to form it.
Before we talk about the benefits of drumming, let’s take a look at how to build a drumming connection in the Lehigh Valley!
How to Build a Drum Circle in The Lehigh Valley
Group drumming can improve our experience in playing drums. It will give you many benefits of drumming, including mental and physical health benefits.
Having drum circles is much more energizing and stimulating than simply playing alone. The collective energy that comes from collaborating with other drummers can add a whole new dimension to your drumming – and the surrounding environment.
You don’t need to be a professional drummer to build connections in your local community. All you need is the right people, a few drums, and creativity.
If you’re residing in The Lehigh Valley, here is how to build connections in a local community in The Lehigh Valley:
- Involvement: Gather people who are interested in drumming. Ask around or post flyers and notices to see if anyone would be interested in joining.
- Find a Location: Decide on a place that’s accessible for everyone and has enough room for the group to move around. You can host your drum circle in a park or open space in The Lehigh Valley.
- Set the Tone: Ask everyone to bring their drums. Play together with respect for each other’s instruments, whether they play percussion or a drum set. This way, everyone feels respected and appreciated.
- Get Creative: Encourage fellow drummers to get creative with their playing and explore different rhythms and sounds. This will help create a unique experience and improve rhythmic accuracy for everyone involved.
- Keep it Fun: Make sure to keep the atmosphere relaxed and enjoyable so everyone can have fun while playing together.
Organizing a drum circle is a great way to connect with people in your local community while having lots of fun. So gather some friends, find a place, and start playing together!
Health Benefits of Playing Drums and Group Drumming
We have discussed steps to build drummer connections in the Lehigh Valley Local Community. Now, we need to know what benefits we can get from playing drums, especially with drum circles.
Drums provide the backbone, rhythm, and beats for a song. They will make a sound if you beat the drums or percussions. Thus, playing drums can be a way to release our long-held emotions.
Although it’s clear that drumming is good for channeling our emotions, it is also a great way to make our bodies fit and healthy. Moreover, if you do it with your drum friends, you can make the drum ‘exercise’ more enjoyable.
Drumming together with a group of people can help create a sense of community and connection while allowing you to express yourself through rhythm and music.
Here are the health benefits of drumming that you can get by doing group drumming!
Group Drumming Can Lowers Blood Pressure
Did you know that high blood pressure leads to various illnesses?
It’s something that most people want to prevent. That’s why experts recommend activities to lower blood pressure, such as a healthy diet and working out regularly.
Those activities might bore you at some point, but you don’t need to worry. Drumming can be an option to enjoy your workout in the most fun way.
Playing drums is considered a fantastic workout. It quickens the pace of your heart and provides enjoyable cardio exercise. Consider including it in your fitness program, whether or not you can replace other activities with it so you’ll have more various exercises.
Take this as an example. You won’t notice how time passes when you play drums to your favorite songs with your friends. If you can play up to 10 songs, you’ve had about an hour of exercise. It will surely affect your weight and make your body fitter.
Drumming Boosts Cardiovascular Fitness
What makes a drum different from other musical instruments is the energy required to play it. You need to hit it powerfully and energetically, so it will make a resonance and great sound.
That’s why playing drums can be considered an exercise.
Some studies even said that the heart rates and calories burned while drumming is significantly greater than those of sports such as hiking, skiing, swimming, and rowing.
A study by Dr. Marcus Smith from Chichester University also confirms that professional drummers have “extraordinary stamina.” According to his research, a rock drummer can burn 400-600 calories each concert. During the study, a rock drummer’s heart rate was 140-150 bpm and peaked at 190 bpm. It’s almost the same, or even comparable, to top athletes’ intensity levels.
Boosts Your Brain Power
People who never drummed probably think that playing drums are all about hits and hats. Well, it’s definitely wrong.
It requires the coordination of arms and legs to work synchronously, which is difficult for some people. For example, you don’t do much with your left hand if you’re right-handed. The same goes if you’re left-handed.
Plus, if you’re doing group drumming, you’ll need not only the coordination of your body parts but also to get the rhythm in sync with your fellow drummers. It will help you to improve your teamwork management.
Therefore, drumming will improve your coordination in general, which also means boosting your brain power.
Drumming blocks Chronic Pain
Drum therapy is also used for some chronic pain, like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, or Dementia. It has the power to recall beautiful memories of a person, which shows how powerful music is.
The rhythmic energy is said to be the reason why drumming has therapeutic benefits. A study by Adam Gazzaley stated that drum rhythm has the power to heal people’s brains. To back up his statement, he analyzed a person’s brain activity while drumming as a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease.
People with chronic pain usually build their own drum group to do the therapy together with proper drum lessons and schedules.
Drumming Reduces Stress
Negative feelings like stress, trauma, and anxiety can be released while we play drums. Thus, some experts make drum therapy a way to reduce it.
As exercises affect us, playing drums also releases hormones that can make us feel good. Drumming releases endorphins that help us to release our stress and make us happy.
Whether you use a drum set, conga, djembe, or any other type of drum, the hands and feet are in motion as the brain enters a meditative condition. Meditation promotes mental relaxation by reducing stress. It helps you control your thoughts and relax your mind.
Take this chance to build your drumming community, too. By befriending people with the same goal as you in drumming, you’ll find a support system who are just as passionate about the hobby, making you feel much better.
Drumming Teaches Discipline
Besides physical energy, drumming also requires coordination. To obtain this, you need to practice it regularly. Thus, you will naturally become disciplined if you’re serious about learning drums.
The drumming is an excellent metaphor for perseverance and self-improvement. No matter what its complexity level may be, eventually, our efforts will reflect us in the form of results that can be seen and felt. Nobody learns a new talent, ideally at the first attempt.
It will be better if you have drum circles, too, so that you can learn drums together; it will make you enjoy doing the practice routine.
Enhances Happiness
As previously mentioned, drumming releases hormones that can make a person feel healthy. Studies have shown that the rhythmic sound of drums increases dopamine and serotonin levels, two neurotransmitters associated with happiness and pleasure.
Drumming also activates the brain’s reward center, releasing endorphins that can cause a feeling of euphoria. It will be good to only for your well-being but also for your immune system as a whole.
Not to mention, Drumming with someone who shares your love for drums can lead to a greater sense of happiness.
Conclusion
Joining or forming a drum circle is not only a fun way to drumming, but it can also help you make new friends in your community.
By finding or starting a drum circle that shares your goals, you can get the maximum health benefits of drumming while connecting with like-minded people. Lehigh Valley surely has some great local communities, so why not try to start your own drum circle? I’m sure drummers in the area will appreciate you for it!
