Music
Scientific studies suggest that drummers are smarter than the rest of us
by Mark Teo
March 3, 2015
Within band dynamics, drummers get the same rep as goaltenders: They march to the beat of their own, uh, drum. Indeed, our stick-wielding friends are largely considered the oddballs of musicians, and they’re often the butt of jokes: Witness, for example, the St. Louis punk band who were raising money to get their drummer killed. Or the pop-punk band whose drummer got stuck in a claw machine. Or the honest-to-science study that suggested that drummers’ brains are actually wired differently.
Well, it looks like that study was correct, and new research suggests that not only are drummers’ configured differently, but they may also be smarter than us. Yes, you read that correctly. And being a drummer may not earn you respect—they even out-Rodney Dangerfield lowly bassists—but it may, in fact, make you smarter.
We’re not making this shit up: Stockholm’s Karolinska Institutet ran intelligence tests, and as reported before, they found that drummers had excellent problem-solving skills. But further, it found that the rhythmically inclined scored better—and those who could play tighter rhythms scored higher. The better the drummer, it seems, the brighter the individual.
But Swedish universities weren’t the only ones running tests. According to 3tags, the University of Texas found that drumming helped with focus, and for children with ADD, playing rhythmic instruments had an effect not unlike Ritalin. Furthermore, Oxford says that drumming produced a natural high that resulted in both heightened pain and happiness, making ’em the sensi lover you’ve always wanted.
Who knew? Not us, certainly. All hail our stick-brandishing overlords. [H/T Metalsucks]
