# Do drums have healing power?



## opus55

I bought a bongo set from a local music store couple months ago. Once I got home, I watched a few youtube instructions then just started playing it without any serious intention of getting good at this. I've been playing few times a week, while watching movies or sometimes even while listening to classical music.

I work full time and sometimes work gets stressful. After work, I play bongos for 30-60 minutes and it seems to relieve the stress.. sometimes by a lot. Whatever was bothering me on the way home, I would forget after 5-10 minutes into playing and I'm in much more positive mood. Each time I play I'm surprised at the endless possibilities of sound and rhythm.

I've come to believe there is healing power in playing drums, more so than other instruments I've played - guitars and piano. Perhaps because drums are more primitive musical instrument?

Please share your experience/knowledge playing other types of drums, especially hand drums.


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## KenOC

Bongos? Well, Maynard Krebs always seemed pretty healthy.


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## opus55

KenOC said:


> Bongos? Well, Maynard Krebs always seemed pretty healthy.


Just looked up Maynard Krebs :lol: He looks happy.


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## KenOC

opus55 said:


> Just looked up Maynard Krebs :lol: He looks happy.


Just looked him up??? Don't they teach important stuff in school any more?


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## opus55

> In 1999, TV Guide ranked Maynard G. Krebs number 22 on its '50 Greatest TV Characters of All Time' list


Never seen him before


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## Lukecash12

Getting back to the actual topic of the thread:

Playing percussion instruments satisfies me on a different level than other music. There is nothing obscure about the pulse of music. The increments are simple. When you solo, you just go into an improvisational trance, coming up with combinations and permutations, giving yourself a kind of electric jolt with every syncopation. You go to war with the sound world, giving it feints and counterfeints, endless development and freshness along with similar elements. There are sections to return to, like when you are accompanying someone, but it can always be new. They have to play the same thing again when they return to a section, while you can come up with something different that still makes perfect sense.

This reminds me of a video reference I made in the current listening thread:






They seemed like they were in a trance, using the same beat which the japanese drummer playing the big drum played at the start (it's a japanese festival beat), but endlessly exploring, somehow constantly generating the new and the brilliant without thought.


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## elgar's ghost

If the guy living below me played bongos he'd need all the healing powers he could get.


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## kv466

They must because I can be tired as all then play a three hour set on the drums and come out feeling refreshed and alive and great!


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## quack

It's a short step from slapping taut animal hide for stress relief to punching kittens.


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## opus55

elgars ghost said:


> If the guy living below me played bongos he'd need all the healing powers he could get.


:lol:



kv466 said:


> They must because I can be tired as all then play a three hour set on the drums and come out feeling refreshed and alive and great!





quack said:


> It's a short step from slapping taut animal hide for stress relief to punching kittens.


There's certainly a great amount of satisfaction in slapping the animal skin, yes. Three hour set? My wife will probably slap my facial skin!


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese




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## opus55

The two videos here are giving me inspiration to play but it's almost midnight. They're both excellent performances.


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## clavichorder

Well, certain elaborate Monochords do according to some folks:


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## Turangalîla

I think that you may be on to something, opus55, because this performance caused me a similar feeling:


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## Lukecash12

Of course, there's always Zakir Hussain's gem, my favorite solo of his and one of my favorite tabla solos ever:


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## PetrB

Without the demand of intonation, learning a key system (keyboards, reed instruments) or developing an embouchure, etc. Drumming can be basically 'gotten' and accessible fairly quickly.

The fact it might help you 'get more basic' is a plus -- many of us are in a state of 'mental monkey chatter' over things already past or that we can do nothing, really, about, so this helps us get away from all that.

Too, if you are doing something 'basic' and steady pulse for any length of time, that is a fundamental principal in all sorts of meditation, including Buddhist chants. There is a sort of concentration in which you can still get in an 'unconscious groove.'

I believe you have found a medium which allows you to meditate, 'still the mind,' and it is well-known to refresh.

Tabla is next


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## opus55

PetrB said:


> Too, if you are doing something 'basic' and steady pulse for any length of time, that is a fundamental principal in all sorts of meditation, including Buddhist chants. There is a sort of concentration in which you can still get in an 'unconscious groove.'


"Basic" is the key, I think. It touches something very fundamental. I can see that drums are widely used in religious ceremonies - especially steady pulses over extended period of time to get into a meditated state.


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## aberooski

Vibrations have healing powers.


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## PetrB

You are concentrating on something, and have chosen (percussionists, do not please jump me and beat me up here) perhaps one of the instruments with the quickest access of them all to have it near immediately 'sound like something.'

The concentration, no matter how distracted you think it may be, is also an open door in to a meditative / Alpha state, where you 'stop thinking,' including about those things from work which you might otherwise still be haunted by once home and away from work.

Too, if your job is a lot of sitting, you get to work out both accumulated aggression and nervous energy.

If you go to a drum circle, or (as there is in my town from spring through late autumn) fire juggling with a collective drumming jam, you become at one with many, and that instills the same feeling of community some may get from attending church, synagogue or temple.

Winds and strings are probably the most torturous instruments for an adult 'who cares' to pick up, because they all take quite some time to sound even a little good (which is one reason piano is the second 'quick pick up' instrument from the percussion family -- hit a wrong note and it is still in tune -- for many.

I am reminded of that line of Maude's in the film _Harold and Maude_, where when Harold answers her that he plays no instrument, she says, _*"Dear me, everybody should be able to make some music."*_ I agree with 'her,' and whether it is bongos, snare drum, tambourine, a porcelain globular flute (Asian folk instrument), it is "good for you."

The Greeks assigned their God Apollo with two main attributes: MUSIC, and HEALING. I'm thinking they were right


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## ahammel

PetrB said:


> You are concentrating on something, and have chosen (percussionists, do not please jump me and beat me up here) perhaps one of the instruments with the quickest access of them all to have it near immediately 'sound like something.'


As a former percussion teacher, let me tell you that you would be surprised.

Playing the drums is relaxing. Relaxing is, to a certain extent, good for you. Of course there are associated health risks:


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## PetrB

ahammel said:


> As a former percussion teacher, let me tell you that you would be surprised.
> 
> Playing the drums is relaxing. Relaxing is, to a certain extent, good for you. Of course there are associated health risks:


Yes, it could lead you to decide to change careers to Physics!


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## Couac Addict

If you're playing bongos, you're going to need considerable healing powers to recover from the beating you'll experience from your neighbours.


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## opus55

I haven't played a while. I now have a dog and am curious to see how she would react to my bongos.


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## Headphone Hermit

Couac Addict said:


> If you're playing bongos, you're going to need considerable healing powers to recover from the beating you'll experience from your neighbours.


someone playing bongos nearby would certainly encourage me to get off the sofa and do some exercise 

I had too much, far too much, of drum solos when I was a kid listening to Prog Rock!


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## naumanshafique

The vibrations produced by drums undoubtedly have healing power, provided a soothing tone is played. However, some people are also healed by dynamic tones because they are energizing.


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## Guest

Drums was my first instrument and I played only drums for many years. I still do but have branched out since then. But one thing I notice is that I never had stage fright as a drummer. I always felt completely in control of my craft and knew what I was doing. I was happy to go up onstage and play. As a guitarist, bassist, fiddler, etc. I get stage fright all over the place. And even after many years of playing these instruments onstage, I still get stage fright. It has never lessened one iota.


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## Jos

There is a documentary about the work from the recently deceased Oliver Sacks where a guy treats patients with LaTourette syndrome. This man has the affliction himself and found that drumming and percussion made it more easy to cope with the condition. 
So maybe not actual healing, but the drums and percussion sure have its use here.
I'll see if I can find the documentary on Youtube.


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## Jos

Found ! Musical minds, the savant pianoplayer is amazing.


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## Morimur

Listening to this baby as we speak...


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## starthrower

opus55 said:


> I've come to believe there is healing power in playing drums, more so than other instruments I've played - guitars and piano. Perhaps because drums are more primitive musical instrument?


No. It's because you're getting more exercise playing bongos or drums verses guitar or piano.


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## perempe

search for tibetan sound massage. a friend of mine learned it, and managed to help many. she offered me a short massage, and I liked it.


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## Kivimees

I think the healing powers of drums depend much on what ails you.

I have doubts they would do much for a hangover.


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## musicaljohn

I have been a meditator following the Indian tradition of Kriya. Certain kinds of drums are a central part of our meditations and very easily transport even the unitiated into deep states of trance.

The mystical effects of the drums are a treasure lost out to the modern world


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