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In the music world, drummer jokes are always popular. Most of them have the same punchline:
Drummers are idiots. Take, for example, the following: "How do you tell if the stage is level? The drummer is drooling from both sides of his mouth."
Whether it's being ruthlessly mocked for their idiocy, repeatedly killed in
This Is Spinal Tap or just lusted after less often than the lead guitarist (whom we've already
studied), drummers walk a tough road. But it turns out science holds them in really high regard: They have a rare, innate ability to problem-solve and change those around them.
For starters, rock steady drummers can actually be smarter than their less rhythmically-focused bandmates. A
study from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm found a link between intelligence, good timing and the part of the brain used for problem-solving. Researchers had drummers play a variety of different beats and then tasked them with a simple 60-problem intelligence test. The drummers who scored the highest were also better able to keep a steady beat. Apparently figuring out how to play in time is just another form of problem-solving. At last, hard proof that John Bonham really was a genius.
But even though a steady drummer may be more intelligent than his or her bandmates, the drummer's gifts can be shared: a tight beat can actually transfer that natural intelligence to others. In
studies on the effects of rhythm on brains, researchers showed that experiencing a steady rhythm actually improves cognitive function. One psychology professor at theUniversity of Washington used rhythmic light and sound therapy on his students and discovered that their grades improved. Similarly, one researcher at the University of Texas Medical Branch used that method on a group of elementary and middle school boys with ADD. The therapies had a similar effect to Ritalin, eventually making lasting increases to the boys' IQ scores.
Granted, these studies focused more on the effects of rhythm on the mind rather than on the mind behind the rhythm. That being said, drummers' consistent rhythmic focus has positive effects on them and those around them (yes, even their neighbors). That's because when drummers bring a steady rhythm (and corresponding problem-solving abilities) to a group setting, they actually create a "drummer's high" for everyone around them. University of Oxford researchers
discovered that when drummers play together, both their happiness levels and pain tolerance increase, similar to Olympic runners. We give you Phil Collins:
Observing that high led researchers to hypothesize that drumming was integral to community-building and that sharing rhythms could be the sort of behavior necessary for the evolution of human society. Thanks, Phil.
Drumming is a fundamentally human thing. A lot of modern music has shifted towards
drum machines over humans to create ultra-precise electronic rhythms. But it turns out that what we typically perceive as error is really just a uniquely human sense of time: Researchers at Harvard
found that drummers harness a different sort of internal clock that moves in waves, rather than linearly as a real clock does. They match an innate rhythm that has been found in human brainwaves, heart rates during sleep and even the auditory nerve firings in cats. When a human drummer plays, he or she finds a human rhythm.
So the stereotypes aren't just baseless, they're also plain wrong. A lot of these studies have to do with rhythm just as much as with drumming, but drummers are more engaged with those mental elements than most. They are people tapped into a fundamental undercurrent of what it means to be human, people around whom bands and communities form.
And admit it, sometimes they even write great songs.
Reader Comments
The examples provided are a tad weak.
As a musician myself,(lead guitar,3rd rate) I find it an ego boost to read these things,but in all honesty,they're full of it.
Musicians are no higher,or lower than the next human being brain wave wise.Sure,a better musician may have more creative intelligence,but end of day everyone of us are good at somethings and useless at others.
Hendrix was mentioned in the guitarist part of this opinion,but no mention of his drummer,the octopus known as Mitch Mitchell,now there's a beat man to talk about,outstanding...
Well I couldn't agree with you more, although, contrary to the findings of this research, isn't it moot as to whether Jimi is following Mitch, or Mitch is following Jimi?
but my real point is: if the rhythmic symbiosis stops dead with the sedentary consumption of music (which, of course, there's nothing wrong with) then it's not a full study. If they don't research anything outside of their own tastes, then they haven't learned anything beyond what they probably knew in the first place.
Current rhythm favs…
Garngad RFB Bloody Sunday Glasgow 2013….[Link]
Turf Feinz RIP Rich D Dancing in The Rain Oakland Street | YAK FILMS….[Link]
's individual skills and performances, but here's a kind of drumming, excellent IMO, more in line with the article's thesis: drumming as an interpersonal. bonding social play.
Switzerland's skill at social cohesion in spite of differences is also apparent in Basel, where you can hear drum groups rehearsing all year long: Enjoy this.
[Link] -A
Top Secret. Like a lot of other things in Switzerland. Heh-heh.
John Lennon was once asked:
"Do you think Ringo is the best drummer in the world?"
He replied:
"Ringo isn't even the best drummer in The Beatles"
Which was blatantly untrue.