Drummers Brains Are Actually Different

Basswood

Basswood

Senior Member
Science Shows How Drummers' Brains Are Actually Different From Everybody Elses'

For starters, rock steady drummers can actually be smarter than their less rhythmically-focused bandmates. A study from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm found a link between intelligence, good timing and the part of the brain used for problem-solving. Researchers had drummers play a variety of different beats and then tasked them with a simple 60-problem intelligence test. The drummers who scored the highest were also better able to keep a steady beat. Apparently figuring out how to play in time is just another form of problem-solving.....
....But even though a steady drummer may be more intelligent than his or her bandmates, the drummer's gifts can be shared: a tight beat can actually transfer that natural intelligence to others. In studies on the effects of rhythm on brains, researchers showed that experiencing a steady rhythm actually improves cognitive function. One psychology professor at the University of Washington used rhythmic light and sound therapy on his students and discovered that their grades improved. Similarly, one researcher at the University of Texas Medical Branch used that method on a group of elementary and middle school boys with ADD. The therapies had a similar effect to Ritalin, eventually making lasting increases to the boys' IQ scores.
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http://www.policymic.com/articles/8...s-are-actually-different-from-everybody-elses
 
I wonder if melody awareness enjoys the same correlation. I suspect this is the case.

Apologies to you rappers.
 
johnnylaw said:
I wonder if melody awareness enjoys the same correlation. I suspect this is the case.

Apologies to you rappers.
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I bet you are right. In general, smart people are good (and disciplined) at many things, but not always. Multiple intelligences: Academic intelligence (measured by traditional IQ tests), social intelligence, sports intelligence etc. Many highly intelligent (and successful) people have several of these. But all of us know really smart schoolroom people who are disasters socially. Or musically intelligent people who can't get along with others.
 
RIneuron said:
I bet you are right. In general, smart people are good (and disciplined) at many things, but not always. Multiple intelligences: Academic intelligence (measured by traditional IQ tests), social intelligence, sports intelligence etc. Many highly intelligent (and successful) people have several of these. But all of us know really smart schoolroom people who are disasters socially. Or musically intelligent people who can't get along with others.
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The term you're probably looking for is polymath.

In the grand scheme of things, I'd much rather be happy than smart.
 
Yesterday I was watching a surf comp on tv and noticed how dumb they (the surfers) sounded in the interviews following.. And I remembered someone making this observation about football players. These guys are smart in their understanding of practical physics, I mean they've proven their eliteness in a physical/sport sense, yet everyone prob thinks they're idiots. I decided a while back that intelligence is quite a subjective term and that everyone is intelligent in different ways yet we use the same tests to measure everyone e.g the way they speak, some iq test.

This article is cool but anytime I read an article like this, I come at it from a different angle.. And in this case it could just mean that dumb arses can't keep time.

Would the best drummers in the world all have high iq's? Do they speak well? I know some of them don't speak too well..
 
.tnereffid era sniarb sremmurd taht aedi eht htiw eerga I erus ton m'I
.lamron yltsom era ew kniht I

.
 
Dre25 said:
Yesterday I was watching a surf comp on tv and noticed how dumb they (the surfers) sounded in the interviews following.. And I remembered someone making this observation about football players. These guys are smart in their understanding of practical physics, I mean they've proven their eliteness in a physical/sport sense, yet everyone prob thinks they're idiots. I decided a while back that intelligence is quite a subjective term and that everyone is intelligent in different ways yet we use the same tests to measure everyone e.g the way they speak, some iq test.

This article is cool but anytime I read an article like this, I come at it from a different angle.. And in this case it could just mean that dumb arses can't keep time.

Would the best drummers in the world all have high iq's? Do they speak well? I know some of them don't speak too well..
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Pretty sure I understand what you are saying. Most people are not polymaths. ex: Someone who begins as a pro drummer at a young age and gives up educating themselves in other areas, will generally lack in other areas due to overcompensation. Same with football or surfers. Beyond schooling is when we really begin learning anyway.
 
First thing: Correlation is not causation.


Second thing: I've read about these kinds of correlations in different areas. For example, in the USA at least, there is a good correlation between high school academic scores and cross country runners. That is, the boys and girls on the xc teams tend to have higher grades. Did running make them smarter or is there something about xc running that attracts smart kids or is it that certain characteristics are common to both? And what about the kids who tried out for the team but didn't make it? Are they getting better than average grades?


So when it comes to drums, we can ask the same kinds of questions. Yes, drummers' brains are different but then so are the brains of xc runners, neurosurgeons, astrophysicists and just about everyone else. As I like to say "You are your biochemistry".
 
What if you were a drummer AND a cross country runner, or a drummer AND a neurosurgeon, a drummer AND.....

Really, you never see chicks going after the French Horn player, or the oboe player, right?

jk
 
I was a drummer back when I was a cross country runner, forty years ago. Peace and goodwill.
 
There are three things that I've been doing or had an interest in since grade school: science, running and drumming.

Anecdotally I will add that all the members of my high school xc team (early-mid 1970s) were honors students. Some of them were also musicians (2 drummers anyway).
 
drummers walk a tough road. But it turns out science holds them in really high regard: They have a rare, innate ability to problem-solve
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The funny thing several years back I read numerous business and management books. In them was a whole theme of discover how people are naturally wired. And there was some self assessment tests.

Mine came out as the guy who can see the problem and solve it.

And then I got a job where I was actually put just doing that, and wow, the job fit me like a glove.

So it's funny this article is pointing out something I already knew about myself.
 
Drummers are good a solving problems. Period.

My favoirte problem to solve is like choosing the blonde, brunette, or redhead.

The current result of my problem solving was choosing the brunette. I chose well. (No fooling guys, she can actually cook!! So I'm not only a drummer, I'm a well-feed drummer!)
 
I have always been told that I have good problem solving skills. Another area that I have read a bit about is pattern recognition. Some folks are better than others at it. I have also noticed that is a strong trait for me. Seems like pattern recognition would be a natural fit to being a musician.
 
drummer-russ said:
Seems like pattern recognition would be a natural fit to being a musician.
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"The pattern juggler lifts his hand,
The orchestra begin.
As slowly turns the grinding wheel,
In the court of the crimson king."


Something occurs to me. I've read a number of similar reports like this, all along the lines of "people who do X have Y positive characteristic". Drummers are smart, so-and-so are social, whatever are natural leaders. Consider, if we can associate positive traits then it only seems logical that there would also be associations/correlations with negative traits. Yet, I have never seen something like "dancers are emotionally stifled" or "middle managers tend to have poor spatial reasoning" or "politicians tend to be self-serving toadies who are only interested in appeasing their corporate masters".

Well, OK, not so much the last one but you get my point.
 
JimFiore said:
Something occurs to me. I've read a number of similar reports like this, all along the lines of "people who do X have Y positive characteristic". Drummers are smart, so-and-so are social, whatever are natural leaders. Consider, if we can associate positive traits then it only seems logical that there would also be associations/correlations with negative traits. Yet, I have never seen something like "dancers are emotionally stifled" or "middle managers tend to have poor spatial reasoning" or "politicians tend to be self-serving toadies who are only interested in appeasing their corporate masters".

Well, OK, not so much the last one but you get my point.
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I've seen a few of those as well. Perhaps it is self-serving journalists and psychiatrists. What better way to get people talking about your work than to make it complimentary about some group of people.
Them: "Look, I just proved you're smarter/prettier/faster/stronger than normal!"
Us: "Yay! We're better than normal! This article/study says so!"
 
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