This is my final segment of a whirlwind journey charting the prominence and purpose of drumming and rhythm in our society.
Following on from my previous Part 1 and Part 2 posts, I now look at more recent developments, discussing how the world’s oldest external instrument is used in medicine, music and business development.
40,000 years ago drumming was used my medicine men to heal the sick. Today, drum therapy is widely used for stimulation, treating a variety of conditions from Autism to Alzheimer’s disease. There is substantial medical research that shows strong health benefits from drumming. Drumming is proven to make people less stressed and enhances feelings of wellbeing, as anyone that has attended one of our drumming workshops will know!
Drumming and rhythm now play a huge part in modern music. Enquiring clients often ask how is it possible to quickly teach groups of non-musicians to drum together. The answer is that, almost day and night for all of our lives, we have been surrounded by recurring rhythms we hear on TV and radio. Facilitating the playing of rhythms is just simply awakening what is already there.
The same sensations that have our clients transfixed in our corporate events are exactly the same as those generated by African rhythms incorporated into early blues and jazz music. By the early 1900s in the United States, these infectious and prominent pulses had taken root, and musicians and listeners alike were smitten forever.
Drumming was a showcased feature in the big band era and was an integral part of the global explosion of rock and roll. By this time, almost all of the world’s societies had fallen under the spell of rhythm led music!
The prominence of drumming in popular music created a frenzy of dance crazes and different musical styles. Importantly, it also created a crucial awareness of non-Western cultures bringing into existence what we now call ‘world music’.
The concept of bringing different cultures together is very important in our events and why we use drums and rhythms from all over the world to create a performance that it truly global in nature. This obviously fits perfectly with the many global companies for which we deliver events.
The rising interest in world percussion and the underground popularity of drumming in groups sowed the seeds for what would eventually become ‘drum circles’, which were instigated by Arthur Hull.
Arthur Hull has earned himself the title of tireless ‘grandfather’ of the drum circle community. It was seeing Arthur work in the UK that gave me the initial inspiration to take this form of group music making into the business realm. Back then, just as syncopated bass drums were beginning to fade with the current Hip Hop music trend, only a handful of companies worldwide had even thought of using drumming within corporate team building or conferences.
Being at the forefront of this activity revolution meant that DrumPulse could offer organisations unique team experiences that were totally inclusive and non-competitive. By perfecting professional and successful delivery formats for the corporate world, without compromising on the energy and magic that drumming offers, we have grown strongly over the last 20 years. We use the power of drumming to unite work colleagues, strengthen bonds and inspire people to succeed.
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