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Your child might have told you they want to learn to play the drums, or they’re banging on pots and pans at home and you’re wondering if they’d be a good drummer.
Learning to play music has a lot of benefits for children but you might have some concerns about letting them play on such a loud instrument, or complaints from neighbours. Here are some of the benefits of playing drums, and some solutions for these common problems:
First – is drumming too hard for children?
I would say that no, drumming is not that hard and anyone can learn to play. In fact every toddler will at some point start drumming with random objects they find lying around the house while enjoying the experience tremendously.
Of course some genres are harder than others, however a basic rock beat is not that hard to learn.
The main issue – dealing with noise
One of the best ways to let children drum but avoid excessive noise is to buy them an electronic drumkit instead of an acoustic one. Electronic drumheads are usually rubber or mesh and so the most noise you will hear is the drumsticks hitting some rubber. Your neighbours won’t have any noise to complain about.
With an electronic drumset your child can use headphones as well, so only they will hear what they’re playing.
If you can’t buy an electronic drumset, or prefer an acoustic one then you can:
- Limit the playing to certain times in the day, for example when your neighbours are at work.
- Find another place to practise, for example a rehearsal room.
- Soundproof their drum room, this can be an expensive option however and we’d only recommend if your child is putting a lot of time into their drumming.
The benefits of drumming for children
1. Drumming helps reduce stress
You might be surprised, but children can also be stressed. Drumming is a great way to reduce stress and release endorphins that trigger positive emotions.
2. Improved physical and cognitive abilities
Drumming has a lot of moving parts. You need to learn to coordinate your hands and your feet. Among the physical benefits of improving your co-ordination and reflexes, I’ve found that drumming also improves my memory.
When practising for songs you’ll often need to exercise not just your physical body but also your mind, remembering when each section stops and starts and the different grooves and fills you need to play.
3. Improved learning ability
As you face more complicated drum grooves or fills you’ll have to slow them down or break them into parts to learn. This is a great experience for kids as they’ll learn how to take a complex subject and break it down into smaller parts until they master it.
4. Their posture
To play properly on a drum you have to sit straight on the drum throne (aka drum stool). If you have incorrect posture it will make drumming harder as you won’t be as balanced when playing on the different drums across a kit.
Over time you will probably find that practising on a drumset improves their sitting posture.
5. It’s a great form of exercise
Drumming is one of the most (if not the most) physical musical activity. Although with good technique drumming is not as demanding as it may first seem it is still a great workout for children as they need to co-ordinate and move all their limbs.
6. Self expression
One of the biggest benefits of learning to play the drums is the ability to express our mood and musical ideas through the instrument. Drums can be a very good outlet for self expression and creativity.
7. Meeting friends
Learning to play a musical instrument is a very handy life skill and it’s similar to learning another language. Learning to drum opens up more opportunities for your child such as meeting other young musicians they can jam with.
This could be through their school, local music store or via their drum teacher.
Conclusion
If your child expresses interest in learning the drums then hopefully the benefits above can demonstrate the positive impact drumming can have on your child’s life.
Remember that to test the waters you don’t need to purchase a drumkit straight away, first take your child to a drum teacher so you can confirm they are truly interested in the instrument.
