Music for Grown-ups
We offer adults three doorways into making music: Drum Circles, Classes and Adult Jams.
MANY ADULTS long to make music. They may or may not have previous experience in music-making. Frequently they tell stories of how they felt teachers and peers excluded them, simply giving up and often becoming avid audience members. But there’s still a part of them that knows what they’ve missed. They’d like another chance at being part of the satisfaction and enjoyment of making music. That’s why our primary mission is to provide music-making opportunities to people of all ages.
Playing in a Drum Circle is the easiest way to get started. They’re welcoming, non-intimidating and best of all you don’t need any previous experience in music or drumming. Hands-On Music has a long history of hosting drum circles in our studio, on the streets of Brandon and as part of the international event: DrumSTRONG — drumming to beat cancer. We also facilitate drum circles around Vermont and throughout New England.
Post-covid we’ll be starting up monthly drum circles here in our Brandon studio. Contact us and get on our mailing list. Visit Drum Circles for All Ages for more information. We also have a printable rack card.
Music Classes If you’d like to go further than recreational drumming, take a series of our weekly music classes for adults. We often hear from folks who earlier in their lives took classes and lessons, but somehow didn’t make the connections needed to allow them to simply enjoy making music. This frequently happens when certain steps were skipped along the way.
We’re not in a hurry and we don’t skip steps. We take the time you need to understand one thing before moving on to the next. Interestingly, when things are presented in an understandable way, many people are amazed to discover how much they already know.
Classes divide into three different areas: the basics of music (from the very beginning), techniques specific to playing instruments and group music-making. Also, if you have some experience and have your own instrument, bring it in and we’ll find a way to incorporate it into class.
Read this outline of what we’ll cover. It includes a registration form.
Adult Jams For amateurs who play an instrument and would like to meet and play with other musicians in an encouraging and supportive atmosphere. Most often we play classic rock and blues, along with other styles.
Our monthly jam resulted in the formation of a performing band, The Silverbacks, which began as an adult jam in 2015 and has now been performing publicly for several years.
Post-Covid we plan to start up our monthly adult jams.
More drum circle photos