By Paul Roberts
Special to The PREVIEW
Join musician and music therapist Paul Roberts for a free hand-drumming class at the Pagosa Lakes Clubhouse on Tuesday, April 3, at noon.
The class offers a welcoming environment that encourages fun, creativity, playfulness and connecting with others.
“What most of us turn to music for is an emotional experience,” writes Daniel J. Levitin in his popular book, “This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession.” “So much of the research on musical expertise has looked for accomplishment in the wrong place, in the facility of fingers rather than the expressiveness of emotion.”
In contradistinction to a strict pedagogical approach to learning music, participants in the drumming class beat a direct path to expression of feeling and creative imagination. Unencumbered by pressures of professionalism, the class centers on a philosophy that most people are naturally musical, and that having fun is the fastest way to the benefits of music.
“Many people tell me they love music listening, but their music lessons ‘didn’t take,’” writes Levitin. “I think they’re being too hard on themselves. The chasm between musical experts and everyday musicians that has grown so wide in our culture makes people feel discouraged, and for some reason this is uniquely so with music … And although many people say that music lessons didn’t take, cognitive neuroscientists have found otherwise in their laboratories. Even just a small exposure to music lessons as a child creates neural circuits for music processing that are enhanced and more efficient than for those who lack training.”
Levitin’s writes about recent findings in cognitive neuroscience of music. His book reveals how significant music can be in our lives.
The premise of the drumming class is that almost anyone can access and utilize the emotionally expressive and creative possibilities available through music.
For more information about the Pagosa hand-drumming class, email banjocrazy@centurytel.net or call 731-3117. The Pagosa Lakes Clubhouse is located at 230 Port Ave.
