Drums are some of the most magical and varied group of instruments in the world. Every culture past and present has used them. Their effect feels hard-coded in our biology. It's difficult to know for sure how long we have been using drums given the chances a skin-framed instrument has of surviving millennia. The oldest instrument in the world is a 60,000 year old Slovenian bone flute, while the oldest drum is from 5,500BC, so we know for sure that they have been used for at least 7,500 years.
There have been many studies which have correlated the use of drumming with relaxation. One study found a direct response in delta and alpha brain frequencies with people who listened to shamanic drumming drumming for 15 minutes; meaning the researchers could see that people were more relaxed as their brains saw peaks in lower freqencies which occur in sleep and relaxation.
Another study concentrated on looking at cortisol levels in saliva when comparing listening to shamanic drumming to abstract meditation music like you will find elsewhere in a soundbath. Although there was not a huge difference in responses between shamanic drumming and abstract relaxation music, the general trend saw participants from both groups seeing reductions in the cortisol levels afterwards, meaning they were less stressed.
Whether a drum is more likely to stimulate or relax will depend on a number of factors including:
Pitch - deeper tones relax, higher tones stimulate
Size - the bigger the frame, the deeper the pitch
volume - play too loudly and it will over-stimulate, but playing too quietly can also agitate. Playing too suddenly can also stimulate rather than relax.
consistency - I have read that other therapists and studies finding that if the same beat is repeated over and over, without any kind natural variation, any relaxation can be diminished. It's like the brain becomes agitated when a synthetic rhythm is over-used and people can come out of an Altered State of Consciousness. So there needs to be a consistent but natural rhythm played.
beat - This is another very important factor. Generally, marches stimulate while waltzes relax.
timbre - A dholak or a snare drum are a good example of drums which would stimulate. Now you can enter a trance state with a fast drum like a Dholak, but as a listener, it would likely stimulate rather than relax. Whereas a large frame drum can stimulate or relax, it has more of a relaxing effect when played in the right way than other drums.
tempo - drumming works by "entrainment". We often synchronise with a drum, so we tend to slow down to relax and speed up to stimulate.
These are all very broadly grouped factors which I have tried to answer concisely so this post doesn't become too labourious to read.
I think of playing a drum as like holding up a mirror. It reflects how we feel. If someone is agitated and goes to play a drum, they will likely naturally play faster and louder or even drop into a march. Whereas if someone is already relaxed or happy will likely find themselves playing softer, slower and maybe even with a skip in the beat for good measure. They are not always the right companion when stressed, but I do find that if I'm feeling frustrated, I will let the crescendos build and fall and as I notice that ebbing and flowing of the tempo and the volume, I find that my own tension is released from within and those sessions can be deeply cathartic. As with all instruments, they are like an inner voice which we need to listen to as we play.
With any instrument, I always make sure that anything I had going on in my mind is left outside of the room when I'm playing but with drums, even more care to adhere to this must be made. And in return there is more value in the practice.
Children often respond better to playing a drum than to listening to it. This is why drum circles are so powerful in a group setting with children or people with special needs. It's the playing of the drum, giving the brain more to do allows them to entrain with the beat and with the beats of others.
When my daughter was about 5 or 6, a car parked outside our house randomly caught fire one night and we had to be evacuated in the early hours in case it exploded. That experience traumatised her for weeks and months afterwards so I let her play a little steel drum before bed to help her relax. That really seemed to make a difference to her and although she was very nervous around fire and fireworks for a long time afterwards, she never had a problem going to sleep after playing the little drum.
Drumming is also widely used with autism and ADHD because it allows the brain to concentrate on one specific task, helping us regulate our emotions and relax. There was one study which specifically looked at how drumming helped autistic teenagers improve their inattentiveness and concentration. Another study went much further as they investigated how listening to drumming could be used in video games so the benefits ore passively applied. They gave an unusually succinct summary below:
"Active music therapy improves hemispheric synchrony, social skills, aggressivity, and impulsivity. Passive music therapy improves academic skills like arithmetic, drawing, and reading comprehension, as well as attention and disruptive behaviors. The effects depend on the music genre, tempo, or task difficulty. Music in video games was generally found to be beneficial for people with ADHD. Music improves immersion and flow while playing video games. Using rhythm may also improve timing skills and immersion in patients with ADHD."
This is why I will often but not always start with a drum and if I don't, we will usually have a slightly longer relaxation at the beginning. Having ADHD myself, I know how hard it can be getting your brain to shut up, so I make these adaptations. And I know from others who have ADHD that have come to one of my soundbaths afterwards have said how they found it unusually easy for them to let go of the brain noise too. I don't think I will ever tire of hearing that though; that kind of feedback is why I share the soundbaths and it's always lovely to hear how it might have helped someone else.
I hope this covers some of the ways in which drumming can benefit people and why it works.
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