Drumming Provides Relief from Stress and Anxiety - Anecdotal and Clinical Proof

One of the purposes of the July Practice Challenge was to accentuate the stress management/relaxation aspects of drumming.

A while back I posted a piece called: This is Your Brain on Drums: Clinical Study Reveals How Playing Drums Increases Brain Development. It’s worth a look when you have some time. Today, I saw this study from the Royal College of Music in London, UK which supports the theory that group drumming decreases anxiety, depression and increases social resilience and inflammatory immune response. There’s a lot packed into that last sentence - reread that one!

The study put study participants in group drumming classes for 6 and 10 week courses. Here is a summary of the study’s findings:

In conclusion, this study demonstrates that group drumming can reduce depression and anxiety and improve social resilience in mental health service users over a 6- and 10-week spans. Changes in psychological profiles were found in parallel with reductions in inflammatory response and a shift towards an anti-inflammatory immune profile, in keeping with other successful mental health interventions.

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You Can Now Schedule Directly Through the Website

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The website has some terrific new functionality - current students can now schedule their makeup lessons directly through the website! No more texting and emailing back and forth.

All you have to do:

  1. CLICK HERE to go to https://www.grooveksq.com/scheduling;

  2. Select Makeup Lesson (Current Students Only);

  3. Choose an available time. That’s it! It’s super easy.

Once you select your time slot, we will both get email notifications.

Looking for an Affordable Drum Set? Read This…

Over the last few months I have been asked by parents for advice on purchasing an entry level drum set. This is a quick primer on several high quality options that will work for your students (or yourself if you are interested!).

My criteria for this list is the following:

  1. The gear has to be really portable;

  2. The build and sound quality should be high; and

  3. The gear should be something that I would use on a professional gig.

Here are three contenders for your consideration in no particular order:

Ludwig Breakbeats by Questlove (approx. $599.00)

Gretsch Catalina Maple (approx. $899 +)

Sonor AQX Jungle Series ($479 +)

I hope this post was helpful! These are not the only three options, and many manufacturers make decent quality gear at this price point now. If you have any questions, email or call me and I can help steer you in the right direction.

The grooveKSQ July Practice Challenge

The grooveKSQ July Practice Challenge is a series of daily livestreams to Youtube that bring short sessions to your computer tablet or smartphone. These workouts are designed for intermediate students to build a regular, purposeful and effective practice routine that they can carry forward.

Every. Day. In. July.

So, subscribe to the YouTube channel, and all you will need are your sticks and a practice pad. Let’s go!!!

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Announcing the grooveKSQ 3 Day Practice Challenge!

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Announcing the groove 3 Day Practice Challenge! This is a livestream series on the studio’s YouTube channel that will broadcast Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (June 28, 29 & 30) at 2:00pm eastern. These videos are going to be short (less than 15 minutes), designed for intermediate students to help reinforce the idea of daily and intentional practice. You can join live or you can watch them after the livestream.

I strongly encourage you all to go to the YouTube channel and subscribe, as we are going to use that heavily over the summer.