BeatsTHINKING – drumming up business

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

We believe that all of the factors listed below mean that drumming and rhythm create the ideal conditions for accelerated learning and healthy organisations.

Drumming promotes the following specific benefits:

· Motivation – Rhythm enthuses the individual and provides “forward motion for the psyche”: vital for maintenance of energy, attention and involvement.

· Modification of mood – Moods can be raised or calmed, supported or challenged, as appropriate, by different rhythms and dynamics. This process can provide models for change and stress management.

· Social lubrication – Good group dynamics can be “fast-tracked” by the use of drumming, so enabling efficient and economical use of the time available.

· Self expression – Drumming in a group fosters safe, playful non-verbal communication. Tensions in a group can be accommodated within the music making and “modulated” to new states, levels and intensities. Developing emotions and interactions within the group can be monitored for further attention and possible action. Solos provide opportunities for individual expression within the context of the supportive group.

· Open communication – Group members become used to making a noise and being heard. This eases the breaking down of blockages to clear, effective and unambiguous communication. By appreciating how the instruments being played can “talk” to each other, a group begins to “talk within itself” in an entirely new medium.

· Confidence – The creation of an audible performance generates feedback from the rest of the group, and so develops a sense of personal and individual contribution to the whole. Group members feeling less sure of themselves experience the support of others and find themselves achieving unexpected levels of performance (especially noticeable in solo sections).

· Listening skills – Good group drumming and the creation of a satisfying musical experience for all depend on allowing space for others to be heard, and on sensing the opportunities to fill space. Good music consists of an effective blending of notes in a way that makes sense to the listener, while effective rhythm results from the leaving of space and the correct placement of beats within that space. In order to make good rhythm group members will need to listen to themselves as well as to others, and to monitor the fit between their endeavours and the music being made by others.

· Positive group identity and awareness – Group members see their relationships with each other in a new light during and after a percussion event. Whole group involvement promotes ownership of the learning and personal/organisational development which is under way. Percussion can initiate this process or complement the development work being facilitated by others.

· Sense of whole – The music made by the group is real and the product of joint enterprise. Generating, and playing to, a common pulse engenders a powerful sense of group purpose.

· Understanding through metaphor – The moods, timbres and dynamics of the music will, with appropriate facilitation and/or through the personal insight of the participants, offer metaphors for the working environment. Drumming can model (for example): leadership styles, teamwork, team roles, effective group performance, communication, mutual support.

· Creativity and innovation – A percussion event offers individuals a variety of instruments to play and enables them to create powerful collective musical experiences in a safe environment. Making music in this way encourages experimentation and creativity and liberates a sense of play, which can be of benefit to individuals in their working lives and so to their organisations.

This list is far from exhaustive. You will find further sources of information on our Links page.

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