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This Is Your Brain On Drums: Clinical Study Reveals How Playing Drums Increases Brain Development

This Is Your Brain On Drums: Clinical Study Reveals How Playing Drums Increases Brain Development

A recent article caught our attention, and that was a clinical study of the enhancements in brain activity and development of drummers. Yes, drummers specifically were studied, rather than all musicians. Typically you see a more generalized study group from across all instruments.

To paraphrase the conclusion of the study, students who are trained drummers from an early age develop more communication structures across the corpus callosum, which is the structure that separates the right and left hemispheres of the brain. The right side of your brain tends to control your artistic and creative ability, and your left side of your brain controls your analytical ability. Drummers who start training early can more effectively simultaneously engage both their right side and left sides of their brains across the board.

Working Through One of the Classics

This afternoon I had one of the Charley Wilcoxon books out to work through some finger control exercises with a student. This stuff can be really fun to work through, especially if you can work them at low volumes! Control is the key as always....

Nothing fancy: a measure of single 16th notes followed by a measure of single 32nd notes. Repeat, repeat, repeat.

For information about lessons at grooveKSQ, email me!

Announcing the grooveKSQ Spotify Playlist

There is an overabundance of choice out there when it comes to new music. That makes things tough when you are trying to find music of substance, that rewards each subsequent listen. We started the grooveKSQ Spotify playlist to highlight some historic performances that every percussionist should know about, and hopefully you discover something brand new to you that you love….

 

Product Demo: Nicky Moon Custom Cup Chimes

In building a new percussion set up for a groove program to be named later, I asked cymbalsmith Nicky Moon to make some cup chimes for me. We corresponded a bit about what I wanted them to do, and Nicky NAILED it. This was the first time I have ever hired a custom shop to do something like this and was very pleasantly surprised. You can learn more about his artistry here: https://www.nickymoon.com/

**NOTE I have NOT been paid to post this, I paid for the chimes arms-length and am sharing what I learned with you, because that's what teachers do!**