How playing the drums changes the brain
Here are some of the better jokes we found to start this post.
How can you tell a drummer’s at the door? The knocking speeds up.
What’s the difference between a drummer and a savings bond? One will mature and make money.
Why are drummer jokes so simple? So the rest of the band can understand them.
And these were the good ones! However, this study might make us all think again about our loveable drummers. In this recent study, drummers were researched because “Most people can only perform fine motor tasks with one hand and have problems playing different rhythms with both hands at the same time,” but, “Drummers can do things that are impossible for untrained people.”
What they found was significant differences in drummers brain structures and functions. These were differences that pointed to a significant enhancement in certain areas of the drummer’s brain. “Drummers presented clear differences in the front part of the corpus callosum, a brain structure that connects the two hemispheres and whose front part is responsible for motor planning. The data indicated that the drummers had fewer but thicker fibres in this important connecting tract between the brain hemispheres. This allows musicians to exchange information between the hemispheres more quickly than the controls. The structure of the corpus callosum also predicted the performance in the drum test: the higher the measure of the thickness of the fibres in the corpus callosum, the better the drumming performance.”
And here is a new term for you to use in general conversation next time you talk to a drummer or show off your brain as a drummer – sparse sampling. “Moreover, the brain of drummers was less active in motor tasks than that of control subjects. This phenomenon is referred to as sparse sampling: a more efficient brain organisation in the areas leads to less activation in professionals.” Drummers use less of their brain to do motor tasks – maybe this is why they seem so chilled out!
