Music Helps Me Feel Calm

Calming? Really?

That’s probably not the word that comes to mind for most people when they think of teenagers going full force on a set of drums.

But it’s a feeling we hear described over and over when Plummer and On Point kids talk about how they feel when they’re playing.

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Colin says it straight out, “I feel like I just like – like I feel like I let everything – like all the frustration out.”

John comes around to it, first describing how hot he gets because of the exercise and then quickly moving on to “But overall it’s kind of like calming … I [get] a huge burden off my chest . . . it’s like my own way of therapy.”

Evan says, “I get into the zone … it’s like you’re one with the music. It’s like you really feel that it’s flowing out of your body. You know, it’s everything’s like perfect. You’re just there. You’re playing. And like nothing could stop you … It’s like you have a big shield around you.”

Kelvin says, “It takes out all my emotions and I feel like when I’m angry or sad or depressed I can just jump on the drums and all my feelings get in a rhythm and they feel like they go away.”

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Even the staff see it. “In that time with just the music going on, it’s like everything else they forget about. You know, all their pain and their struggle and everything that’s going on on the outside … they really kind of let it go.”

Much has been written about drumming’s ability to reduce stress and anxiety, and even to help people heal from trauma. Here in Plummer’s Group Home and On Point programs, we see it firsthand.

Please click here to keep up the drumbeat and help kids heal.