Drumming Is Good For You!

According to a new study, playing drums keeps you from quitting your job.

Personally, I'm not surprised that somebody (even if the research was sponsored by a musical equipment manufacturer) found that drumming is good for one's well-being. I've said to anyone that would listen that it got me through high school in one piece.

But I have to quibble a bit on some of the "insights." To say that drumming out your name and the names of other coworkers fosters cooperation and reduces conflict because of some primal bond seems like a load of newage hooey to me, largely because I agree with the overall conclusion that hitting things is a net positive. If they had a control group that used different exercises, yeah, then you could make the case, but it's just as likely that any drumming versus no drumming would have similar effects.

If you want to get mildly socio-psychological about it, I'd say you're even better off playing through traditional African drum circle motifs, where each player has a small bit of the eventual whole of the rhythm. This can help people see that they're part of something larger than just what they're doing themselve, with the added bonus of muzzling that jackass who just wants to solo the whole time. If you've ever been around (pun intended) a drum circle, you know the guy I'm talking about. That guy needs to suffer the pain of a thousand pachouli-scented Hacky-Sacks hurled at high speed.

Sorry, didn't mean to get all worked up there. Maybe I need to go play my drums.