This is a sponsored feature. All opinions are 100% from Her Campus.

This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Drexel chapter.

About the Drume Hand

I received my Drume Hand instrument about a month ago. Everyone who has seen it, played it, and/or heard it has totally fallen in love. The company that sent me this instrument is called Drume Music (drumemusic.com). “Drume Music is a small company from the United States of America and we have been creating our own musical instruments since 2017. Focused on helping people relax and focus, we get inspired by nature to design sounds that help you reduce stress, relax, and make you happier,” they describe in their website.

Partnering with Drume Music

I kept seeing their ads on my Instagram (good job marketing team! ;) And finally, I had to check them out. The price point was a bit high for me as a college student who is trying to run two small businesses (full price of the instrument: $475, discount price: $190), but I figured I would ask them about the instrument anyway. It looked too cool to ignore!

After talking with the team for a few weeks, they said they’d be willing to do a trade with me as a writer! Here we are: I decided a good way to offer my small business resources would be to offer a few articles about mental health and how music has supported me since I was a kid.

Why music and mental health?

Writing songs (lyrics) was a way I practiced expressing myself. I have always been a slow thinker in terms of explaining my feelings (let alone understanding them), fighting with with a sibling, or expressing and asking for my needs to be met. Lyrics were a way I could describe my emotions in a round-about-way and explore them in a safe internal space. Even if I sang a song in front of my family, they still might not be able to concretely understand my feelings, and therefore I wouldn’t be responsible for making a final say in what it was that I was feeling.
I grew up with instruments in the house. Music was just always available as a tool. I imagine that sports families were able to use basketball for example to go meditate in the driveway when they needed some time alone.
I grew up listening to my dad’s CD album as a kid and connecting with the sad songs on the album.
As I grew up, I found that finishing a song gave me a sense of accomplishment. (Project that has a start and a finish to it.)
Instruments convey emotion in their melodies. It was another way to express myself without having to use words. By understanding what a piano sounds like or what a guitar sounds like, I could make a sad song and not have to know why there was sadness. I could just express the emotion in and of itself.
The act of playing an instrument can be a physical tool for meditation or even anger management. A few weeks ago, I was really upset. I didn’t have a particular reason to be upset, but I tend to let things pack up inside me until I burst and have a panic attack or some kind of outburst internally. I have a cajon (a drum box) and I was home alone and I just drummed with my hands and fists to a beat in my head and tried to test the strength of the drum. It was such a release to be able to get out that energy. There is also a satisfying cause and effect feeling of experiencing that the harder you hit the drum, the louder the noise produced. Sounds simple and common sense, but in the moment it is sometimes exactly what is needed. The beautiful thing too, is that music usually only adds to everyone’s experience (vs. expressing angry or physical frustration to outward objects).