Drums for Mums Classes in Kilsby

Could rocking out be the optimum way to fitness?

A small group of mums get together for an hour and a half. We have a tea break half-way through so people can have a cup of tea, a biscuit and a chat. When people meet weekly they want to catch up and I want all my lessons to be fun and relaxed. It’s not school. In the first lesson we work out what people can do. I get them clapping their hands and tapping their feet and rubbing their tummies and patting their heads. It develops co-ordination but it’s also a big giggle and women show their friends. We have the main acoustic drum set and electric kits. I have head-sets so they can hear me talking and their drumming, but not each other.


To begin with, yes. Women don’t like to sign up to something unless we think we can do it. I don’t think men worry so much about that. One of my clients told me that she had the courage to come to lessons because I’m a woman too. If I had been a man she says she wouldn’t have come. We make it easy by making it more sociable. Women can bring a friend and they don’t have to be mums.


At my converted barn studio in Hillmorton. It’s a beautiful location. When the sun is out it is just stunning. It’s right by the canals, looking out over the fields.


This is interesting. My first lesson was with three, twenty-five to thirty-year-old mums with children in nursery or reception class. I started the lesson by asking them what kind of things they were concerned about. They wanted to get fit, de-stress and improve co-ordination. Everyone wants to get fit and drumming is perfect. It’s very physical and people would much rather play rock for an hour than go to the gym. So we use our hands, feet and as much energy as possible to build up stamina. A client who also regularly works out at the gym came to class one day with a calorie counter and told me she burned as many calories in my hour lesson, as she does in half an hour at the gym. So I know it works.


There is still a myth that girls don’t play drums. But they do. There are some amazing female drummers like French session drummer Emmanuelle Caplette, drummer and singer Sheila E. and Cindy Blackman.


Yes. Time and time again you hear people say that they don’t play music or sport because they are not co-ordinated. It takes time and patience, but it can be learned. The key is not to think about it too much. Just get your limbs moving. It’s like driving. You don’t think clutch down and into gear, you just do it. I think that’s where the old jokes about the drummer being stupid come from. Drummers often appear as though their mind is elsewhere because you can’t think about it. But as one of my clients says: ‘You can close your eyes, pretend you’re at Wembley and bash the stress away.’


£3.50 for an hour-and-a-half group lesson. Times are hard and lots of my mums are already paying for their children’s music lessons with me. I don’t want to price drumming out of their reach because I know it‘s not just children who want to play the drums. Adults want to have a go too.


My clients are fantastic. When I moved the business from my front room to Beat Box Studio in September, one mum, whose son has been coming to lessons with me since he was five, offered to help me move. She offered her husband’s services for decorating too. A lot of people hear about me through word of mouth and many clients travel for half an hour from Rugby or Daventry to be here which is great.


I’m hoping to put on a show in the summer. I’d love to get a snare drum solo or all the Drums for Mums women doing something. It’s less scary in a group. People are not so embarrassed. At the age of seventeen, after six Royal College of Music grades, I was fortunate enough to find an inspirational teacher who spotted that I had the piece of paper to prove I could play, but I could only play what was in the books. He taught me to just play. That’s why I trained as a teacher. My philosophy is not about grades and exams. It’s about fun.

To book a place with Drums for Mums, contact Maddie Murphy, Founder of Drums for Mums, on 07841 136 274 or madsthedrummer@hotmail.com.

Visit www.beatboxstudio.co.uk for more information.

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