Are you in? If so, then you already know the joy of making music with friends, family or total strangers, regardless of whether or not any of them have any prior musical experience. If you haven’t yet had this pleasant experience, then you need to give it a try. Find a community drum circle or a hand drumming class you can join, and discover the many benefits of “Recreational Music Making” (RMM). The learning curve is extremely short, and before you know it you’ll be jamming along like a pro.
Most people who have never learned to play an instrument wish they had, or wish they could, but it takes time, money and a fairly high level of commitment. That’s why 90% or more of all the people who have ever started music lessons, have ended up quitting before they attained any reasonable level of success. There are some very good reasons for this. First, it’s an often lonely experience to leave your weekly lesson and then practice for hours all by yourself. Human beings are by nature social creatures, who prefer interaction with others to being alone. Group drumming affords the group setting that makes music a lot more fun.
There are documented health and wellness benefits which come from making music with a group, and anyone can discover them. Millions of people all over the world have been drawn to community-based events where people with drumming experience welcome beginners to come and drum with them. Many of these events are free and provide loaner instruments, along with some level of instruction. There are numerous articles on this subject, along with reports on clinical research regarding the health benefits, which can easily be found on the internet. The “Drum Circle” and “Health Rhythms” tabs at the Remo website have a lot of enlightening information.
A growing number of professional Drum Circle Facilitators are busily presenting many varied forms of RMM throughout the United States, as well as the rest of the world. In Japan, where Karaoke was created, community drumming events are hugely popular. There’s a genuine connection between the lure of Karaoke and the natural attraction to community drumming. But there’s also one major difference – not everyone can sing, and certainly not every singer is comfortable on stage in a room full of strangers (aka critics). But everyone has a certain degree of natural rhythm, and there is absolutely no intimidation involved with sitting in a group of people and playing a drum, or shaking a shaker, tapping on a wood block or expressing your personal rhythm in the safety (and obscurity) of a group setting.
You can easily locate community drumming events wherever you live, by searching the internet for the many drum circle listings and groups (lots of Yahoo groups, for example). Give it a try, and don’t be concerned about your inexperience. The majority of these groups are always welcoming beginners to their community. So go out and enjoy some fun with the family, your friends or whomever you wish. We’re waiting for you!
