“Name Drumming” Activity
Adapted from Cathy Malchiodi’s book, Creative Interventions with Traumatized Children
Purpose of Activity
To facilitate emotional expression through rhythmic drumming. This is a great opening activity from group sessions as drumming the rhythm of a group member’s name can be a fun and welcoming music experience. Additionally, playing multiple members names at one time can create a rich and enjoyable polyrhythmic experience that fosters group cohesion and connectedness. Drumming also motivates clients who may have depressive symptoms and provides an outlet for hyperactive adolescents. This is appropriate for clients of all ages, adolescents included!
Materials Needed
- Age-appropriate drums, like djembes and bongos – enough for all group members
Activity Breakdown
- Have the chairs in the room set up in a close-knit circle
- Briefly introduce the activity and ask all group members to choose a drum
- Demonstrate how the name drumming works before asking the group to join in
- For example, drumming and saying my name in rhythm would sound like Al-ex El-is (2 syllables or beats each)
- After practicing the example several times as a group, go around the circle and practice drumming and saying all group member’s names
- Once the group has learned how to play and say all the group members names together, they can fade out saying the name and just drum it.
- Selecting multiple names to play at once within smaller groups can create a richer rhythmic experience
- If you wanted to get a little more creative and personal with the game, you could also ask group members to say their first name and a feeling word that describes their current state or perhaps identify something they are struggling with to share with the group through the rhythmic drumming and speaking
- For example, “Al-ex O-ver-whelmed”
- Depending on how large of a group, this opening or closing activity could be anywhere from 10-20 minutes in length.