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Think of drumming, and images of Keith Moon, Ringo Starr and Phil Collins are more likely to surface than Tony from the sales team. But a new service aims to find the little drummer boy (or girl) in us all. Blue chips such as Barclays and Coca-Cola, as well as the good old BBC, are offering staff the chance to indulge in some eardrum-splitting activity. With franchises in 11 countries, including the US, Australia and its native South Africa, Drum Cafe' works with a range of clients to help beat the stress out of staff. Session, which normally last around an hour, are known drum circles. Each participant is given an African djembe drum, and by the end of the session , the group becomes a drumming orchestra, working together in tuneful harmony. And here is the main benefit for businesses, argues founder Brett Schlesinger; it offers one of the oldest forms of team building, 0particularly to large numbers.

A stress-beating exercise                                                                              Is it just about bashing out your frustrations and, if so, why not simply give each of your team a pair of boxing gloves? It's more subtle then that, explains Schlesinger. "Drumming provides a feeling of unity that is very difficult to achieve with large groups", We're often told it's the first time has done something truly together. You can have a group of 300, 500 - once we had 6000 people at Microsoft all drumming at the same time. That experience is very positive for the company because it consolidates that sense of being a team. As employees slowly shuffle in,  not quite knowing what to expect from their company's latest team-building activity, it also serves as a highly effective icebreaker. 'People are quite intimidated by performing. The anxiety they feel when they see the drum circle and realize that they have to play the drum actually creates a lot of adrenaline,' he says. 'The relief of seeing it work breaks the the ice. They leave that crowd feeling much more relaxed then when they started. It can be powerful tool for a company.' Yet there are bound to be sceptics - staff rolling their eyes and muttering when presented with the notion of drumming as real benefit.