Let’s face it, 2020 was a rough year. COVID-19 has kept us all locked indoors, but with several promising vaccines coming around there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It’s clear that there is no better time than the present to pick-up a new hobby while you still have extra time at home. With so many options for hobbies out there, we would like to make our case for picking up drumming in the new year.
1. Burn Calories
The single most common New Year’s resolution is to get healthier. However, for some people, going to the gym just is not their thing. That means finding more creative ways to burn calories is even more important. While sitting in a chair drumming along to your favorite beat may not seem like its all that “active,” according to BBC News, an hour of drumming burns between 400 to 600 calories. Since running only burns between 400-1000 calories, you can not only stay away from the gym, but with consistent practice you can potentially out pace those gym goers in your efforts while learning a new skill.
2. Make New Friends
For many people being locked inside and isolating for nearly a year has taken its toll on our social skills. While we cannot quite get together yet, it might not be a bad idea to build up other skills to impress people while we re-learn how to interact in person. Drumming opens plenty of doors to new opportunities including joining bands, drum circles, and giving yourself a little something to show off to your old friends. Most music follows a simple structure and learning how to follow the rhythm can allow a drummer to dream up nearly any beat to fit the composition, allowing drummers to fit in nearly any music circle they would like.
3. Improve Your Mental Health
Speaking of making friends and following the rhythm, several studies have linked rhythmic group drumming to lower levers of stress. Studies have shown that rhythm introduced through sound can help the body release immunoglobin – a compound that can reduce stress levels. Additionally, drumming can help to reduce anxiety, lower blood pressure, and may even go as far as to work as a pain reliever in some cases.
4. Revenge
If the reasonable answers were not enough for you, maybe consider the bitterness option. With everyone being home more than ever, tensions have run high. Whether it’s the people in your neighboring apartment fighting all day long or having moved back in with family to ride out quarantine, many people can easily add a name or two to the list of people they wouldn’t mind be a bit of a bother to. That said being petty is certainly easier when justified as learning a skill. What better to learn than the drums? Even if they don’t take too kindly to your practice ruining their peace of mind, you can always cite our first three entries to justify why you are learning to drum, why they should learn too, and maybe even join a drum circle with you!
Article by Courtland Thomas, Elise Collins, and Veerasak Nichayapun (Poom) (University of Colorado Boulder MBA Program)
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