Community Music Making, Drumming & Health

What is Community Music Making all about?

Community Music Making (CMM) is also known as "Recreational Music Making." It is and has been happening all over the country and world in many forms from traditional/tribal cultures and rituals to group therapy sessions, open jams of all kinds and even drum circles in Corporate America.   It is considered the original community connection, and one that is irreplaceable for it’s benefits to the individual, the community and the whole human race.  

The benefits of CMM include:

• Fun
• Creative Avenue for self-expression
• Unites body, mind and spirit
• Provides intellectual stimulation
• Enhances capacity to cope with challenges
• Reduces stress
• Provides opportunities for social interaction and bonding
• Advances interpersonal communication
• Enhances self respect & respect for others thru active listening
• Builds & Sustains community
• A great form of exercise and release
• Creative fitness for the mind and body
• A unique relaxation & team building strategy

There is truly nothing that can replace the experience of being a part of making music. It empowers us to participate fully, teaches communication and relationship skills and unifies groups in a way that nothing else can or does. Music making also provides a very direct and powerful way to help build, heal and cohesify communities, which is the foucs of Cheri's work.

The American Music Conference defines Recreational Music Making (RMM) as encompassing enjoyable, accessible and fulfilling music-based activities that unite people of all ages regardless of their challenges, backgrounds, ethnicity, ability or prior experience.

Community Music Making is not as much about inspiring great music making as it is about inspiring successful living and experiencing the joy of making one's own music.

Community Music Making seeks to benefit the WHOLE PERSON and provides access to all those who never thought of themselves as musical and to those who just want to learn and play in a non-pressured environment.

Community Music Making does not seek to compete with traditional music instruction. There will always be those who wish to aspire to musical competency and there are the resources already out there that provide these learning opportunities. Recreational Music Making is not about "formal" instruction - it seeks to give people other reasons to make music.

Community Music Making is not about exceptional performance. It's about fun, personal expression and satisfaction. Recreational Music Making philosophy emphasizes that the student is not expected to become proficient on their instrument, but to relax and enjoy the experience of making music. It's about enjoying the process, wherever it takes you. Each of us shares a basic need to belong, to share interests with others who come together for a common purpose. This sense of bonding and community is as important to children and teens as it is to all ages. Establishing a meaningful connection with others may be one of the most important factors contributing to health, happiness and quality of life.

As music education expert Karl T. Bruhn said, "The benefits of Recreational Music Making extend far beyond music. It ultimately affords unparalleled creative expression that unites our bodies, minds and spirits."

Drumming has been proven to be a highly effective way to entrain groups and is the most accessible way to introduce someone to music making! The drum is considered by archaelogists to be the first instrument after the human voice of course. The drum is experienced, in tribal cultures, as the hearbeat of life: it brings the community together, sends messages across miles, brings people of all ages together in celebration, mourning and life experiences and unifies hearts, minds and spirits in a way that no other instrument truly can. In this way, drumming keeps whole communities and even nations of people connected thru providing opportunities to share, experience togetherness, be included, particpate and be a part of something greater than themselves.

Drumming builds community and sustains community, and if a community is healthy, it is because it's members are healthy, involved and active within it.

Drumming & Health

Drumming is not only fun, it's good for you too! Drumming has been researched extensively for it's health benefits and has been proven to have excellent health benefits in numerous clinical studies. Drumming provides physical excercise, endurance, and motor skill coordination, and is useful in healing not only ourselves, but our fractured sense of community.

Documented mind/body/spirit health benefits of drumming include but are not limited to the following:

• Reduces tension, anxiety, and stress
• Helps control chronic pain
• Boosts the immune system
• Produces deeper self-awareness by inducing synchronous brain activity
• Stimulates and Accesses the entire brain
• Induces natural altered states of consciousness
• Creates a sense of connectedness with self and others
• Helps us to experience being in resonance with the natural rhythms of life
• Releases negative feelings, blockages, and emotional trauma
• Provides a medium for individual self-realization
• Builds & Sustains a feeling of Inclusion, Self Worth and Empowerment
• Aids in overcoming depression and substance abuse

For more resources and articles on drumming and health, visit the Links page!