What do you call a musicians best friend? … a drummer. Drummers have found themselves at the butt end of jokes like this for decades. They are often teased for not being too bright.
But, science reveals another story. As it turns out, drumming has a profound positive effect on the entire brain. Showing a greater amount of brain surface area activation than most any other activity in life. When done over many years evidence shows that a drummers brain is fundamentally much different than the rest of us.
Research demonstrates through video support of drummers in action. That hand , arm and leg movement combined with ear activation posed by rhythmic interpretation, deeply stimulates the motor cortex and temporal aural regions leading to stronger neural connectivity within these regions as well as heightened white matter accumulation in the corpus callosum. The area responsible for informational exchange between the right and left hemisphere.
According to a study from The Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, a link was found between intelligence, good timing and problem solving in drummers. The drummers who were able to keep a steady beat scored highest in the intelligence tests that were conducted by the scientists. They also found larger volumes of white matter in the regions connecting both hemispheres.
The study showed natural intelligence of drummers wasn’t limited to themselves. It went on to say that the energy of a good rhythm actually improved cognitive function for the listeners too.
University of Oxford psychologist Robin Dunbar found that drumming increased positive emotions from a surge of endorphins which led people to be more cooperative and have a higher pain threshold when tested immediately after performing..
It was concluded by neuroscientist David Eagleman, that drummers have a unique mental makeup with a different brain expression from the rest of us.
If intelligence can be demonstrated, measured and calculated in many different professions. Then the brains ability to immediately shift blood and chemicals through a set of neural pathways to a targeted region responsible for a specific task should remain the gold standard for establishing brain health and ultimately intelligence. Drummers would surely rate highly.
Music can truly heal and drummers hold a very important part of this process.
A balanced brain is a musical brain.