Drumming benefits brain activity

It got loud at LaurelHurst one day last week as 16 residents formed a circle and whacked on some drums.

Instructor Linda Powell taught the residents how to play easy melodies and how to “speak” to each other with their drums.

They ended by playing low and getting louder and louder until they all ended with one big thump.  Only one resident had ever played a drum before,  but it didn’t matter; Powell had everyone playing and laughing in no time.

She told participants that drumming was good for the brain because it causes dendrites to grow. According to Wikipedia, dendrites are the branched projections of a neuron that act to conduct the electrochemical stimulation received from other neural cells to the cell body of the neuron from which the dendrites project.  What a great thing to happen – fun drumming and bigger brains.

– article submitted by Jennifer Thompson