Drum circles work! The benefits of drum circles are far-reaching and extend to groups of all kinds. Truly. It was after almost a decade that I had the chance to lead a drum circle for a group of children with hearing impairments recently. What a wonderful experience replete with learnings, challenges and rewards after overcoming those challenges. 

The group was about 40-strong. There were children of varied ages and with varied levels of hearing abilities. They were accompanied by two teachers and also some members of the group that organized the session. I had worked with such a group during my training almost 20 years ago. Needless to say, I was as excited about this session as I was nervous. All in all, I was up for the challenge. 

This work falls in the scope of what I do under the banner of the Taal Arts & Health Foundation. Here is where I use the drum circle as music therapy. I work with groups over a period of time using music and various arts based modalities to explore the benefits of drumming for mental health. This one-off session would give us a lot of information needed to work out the details to use the drum circle as a healing modality and really bring out its inherent therapeutic aspect. Healing drum circles? In this case, yes I would agree… 

Right at the start of the session I had to make some corrections to things I would usually say like, ‘listen!’. I learned quickly to use visual cues to lead and speak deliberately and slowly so that those who could lip read, would. My call and response exercises worked but only to a certain extent. It engaged only those who could hear a bit of sound. I immediately shifted to visual mirroring… I assigned a sound to a jump, assigned another sound to a clap. This worked very well. It also became a fun game to play with the group that ensured participation from everyone. This also meant that I would burn some extra calories in the process of leading the drum circle 😉 

This drum circle activity was not only a way to spend time leading and following. It was a humbling experience that reminded me of the importance of constantly dancing at the edge of my comfort zone. Keep trying new things and keep getting feedback to constantly improve in service of the group. Was this an example of drum circle therapy? No. This was merely a drum circle that had a wonderful therapeutic power for the participants and the facilitator. But when, in the future, I choose to work on a set of pre-determined goals, with a subset of the full group that I worked with on that day, documenting the gradual process of moving towards those goals, that’s when this would successfully be called drum circle therapy or drum circle music therapy. 

In a day and age of new terminologies being coined (even frivolously so) it’s important to be mindful of the use of these words. Having said this, as long as the building blocks of the project are sound and in line with the scientific process, all will be well. Click here to learn more.

Come. Drum. Be One. 
Varun Venkit
Team Taal Inc.