Team building from the DrumPulse Events Blog

Team building is at the heart of all the fun and creative events that we offer, and we have developed an enviable reputation with hundred of companies worldwide for delivering enhanced team working. This page presents all the posts from our DrumPulse Events Blog that are concerned with team building.

2013 started with a boom(whacker)

by Mark Hunter on February 1, 2013

Mark HunterThe very first events of January 2013 were two days of conference finales where we were asked to quickly turn 200 delegates at a time into incredible boomwhacker orchestras. For anyone in the dark about what boomwhackers are, they are simple plastic tubes that are used to create instant, low-volume music. The different lengths available produce different tones to give the head facilitator in charge the opportunity to create harmony and melody with any size of group.

For both of these events, our client had asked if we could incorporate a famous TV theme tune into the finale sessions. Because our boomwhackers cover a range of musical notes, this was quite easy for us to do. We had half of the delegates playing with boomwhackers and the other half singing the requested tune!

Boomwhacker team event

Our typical format for boomwhacker activities involves a group learning to play together and combining simple individual parts to create a multi-layered performance. We usually add introductory sections and one of our finale rhythm options to complete the musical journey.

Our audiences were totally up for anything so, always seizing the opportunity to add more fun, drama and interactive antics, we identified some talented volunteers for the musical finales. The job of any Creative Team Events facilitator is to guide participants to go beyond what they think is possible, manage carefully the individuals that volunteer to stand out from the crowd and leave the entire group feeling empowered.

We asked the audience if there were any secret Zumba or Salsa dancers, or karaoke stars. It didn’t take long before friends and colleagues were shouting names of possible ‘victims’! In the true spirit of the day, we ended up with some fantastic delegates up on stage with me and ready to demonstrate what stepping up to a new challenge really means!

In the second day finale, the audience shouted the name of someone who, seemingly, used to be a singer. Once pushed up on stage by friends, this very brave chap hesitantly took the microphone and proceeded to sing (totally unaccompanied) the hit song ‘Bring Him Home’ from Les Miserables. You could have heard a pin drop, and then huge applause erupted from everyone in the room! Such magical moments often occur when you generate a space, platform or atmosphere where spontaneous creativity and freedom rule.

From that amazing moment, and with the drop of my conducting hand, our huge boomwhacker orchestra all came back in together perfectly and finished on a wonderful high.

Drumming events again and again

by Mark Hunter on December 5, 2012

Photo of Mark HunterOccasionally, when talking with new clients and offering them team events ideas to choose from, we are told that they have done drumming once before and, therefore, they want to try something else.

While I can completely understand this, and we are happy to recommend the other activities that we deliver through our sister company Creative Team Events, sometimes I suggest that they should seriously reconsider drumming.

Drumming eventThis is because that, once we have listened to our clients’ desired outcomes and requirements for their conference or team building session, drumming, above every other corporate activity, almost always provides the perfect fit.

It’s not just the ability of drumming activities to economically work with large or small numbers, nor is it just down to the fact that drumming is totally engaging for participants. It is also because drumming can fit perfectly into any event agenda.

Every day, we are given the themes from clients for their forthcoming events, and these often include ‘teams working together’, ‘common goal’, ‘leadership in action’, ‘succeeding through change’ and ‘greater communication’. The list is endless and yet, through the way we format our drumming sessions, drumming usually delivers exactly what is needed.

I have still yet to discover another team activity anywhere in the world that is as powerful and emotive as group drumming yet maintains an obvious relevance to organisations and team working within them.

The pace, fun and group cohesion we introduce in the first ten minutes alone startle most people. By the time we are through and clients have had the full aural, visual and kinaesthetic experience, nothing else compares!

I would not hesitate to recommend drumming to those that have tried drumming previously with another events company. Anyone coming to a DrumPulse drumming event is in for a very different experience than anything they have seen before. We know this because of the constant feedback we receive and the tireless way we have refined our drumming workshop formats.

Another reason to not discount holding more than one drumming event is that every single event is unique. I personally facilitate several hundred drumming events a year. While it’s the same drums and the same me, each event ends up being completely different. Our many repeat clients testify to this.

So, whether you’ve tried drumming or not, consider giving it a try and contact us today for more information.

The history of drumming (Part 3)

by Mark Hunter on October 23, 2012

Photo of Mark HunterThis is my final segment of a whirlwind journey charting the prominence and purpose of drumming and rhythm in our society.

Following on from my previous Part 1 and Part 2 posts, I now look at more recent developments, discussing how the world’s oldest external instrument is used in medicine, music and business development.

Drumming workshop in action40,000 years ago drumming was used my medicine men to heal the sick. Today, drum therapy is widely used for stimulation, treating a variety of conditions from Autism to Alzheimer’s disease. There is substantial medical research that shows strong health benefits from drumming. Drumming is proven to make people less stressed and enhances feelings of wellbeing, as anyone that has attended one of our drumming workshops will know!

Drumming and rhythm now play a huge part in modern music. Enquiring clients often ask how is it possible to quickly teach groups of non-musicians to drum together. The answer is that, almost day and night for all of our lives, we have been surrounded by recurring rhythms we hear on TV and radio. Facilitating the playing of rhythms is just simply awakening what is already there.

The same sensations that have our clients transfixed in our corporate events are exactly the same as those generated by African rhythms incorporated into early blues and jazz music. By the early 1900s in the United States, these infectious and prominent pulses had taken root, and musicians and listeners alike were smitten forever.

Drumming was a showcased feature in the big band era and was an integral part of the global explosion of rock and roll. By this time, almost all of the world’s societies had fallen under the spell of rhythm led music!

The prominence of drumming in popular music created a frenzy of dance crazes and different musical styles. Importantly, it also created a crucial awareness of non-Western cultures bringing into existence what we now call ‘world music’.

The concept of bringing different cultures together is very important in our events and why we use drums and rhythms from all over the world to create a performance that it truly global in nature. This obviously fits perfectly with the many global companies for which we deliver events.

The rising interest in world percussion and the underground popularity of drumming in groups sowed the seeds for what would eventually become ‘drum circles’, which were instigated by Arthur Hull.

Arthur Hull has earned himself the title of tireless ‘grandfather’ of the drum circle community. It was seeing Arthur work in the UK that gave me the initial inspiration to take this form of group music making into the business realm. Back then, just as syncopated bass drums were beginning to fade with the current Hip Hop music trend, only a handful of companies worldwide had even thought of using drumming within corporate team building or conferences.

Being at the forefront of this activity revolution meant that DrumPulse could offer organisations unique team experiences that were totally inclusive and non-competitive. By perfecting professional and successful delivery formats for the corporate world, without compromising on the energy and magic that drumming offers, we have grown strongly over the last 15 years. We use the power of drumming to unite work colleagues, strengthen bonds and inspire people to succeed.

Let me leave you with some footage of just how far we humans have taken thumping sticks on skin.

About the author:

Mark Hunter is Head Facilitator and Co-Founder of DrumPulse, which provides unique drumming-based team building activities, ice breakers and energisers to organisations, big and small, across the UK and worldwide. For more information, please contact us.

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