- More thoughts on slow drumming
- Reflections on Learning
- My play excerpt at the Playwright's Festival
- Robert Wallace and Total Rhythm
- Reaffirming a committment
- State of Grace
- The Holy Trinity of Music's Appeal
- Cold weather and drumming don't mix
- Cheb-i-Sabbah and the spirituality of the musical moment
- Refound: The English Beat's "I Just Can't Stop It"
State of Grace
Submitted by Palmito on May 14, 2008 - 6:43pm.
In a recent conversation with Orkest Asfalto drummer Hank Daddy (my nickname for him, Henrique, never stuck), we talked about the process of learning new rhythms and then getting to the point of playing them easily - and then playing them so much you blow past that point.
There are so many things that start to happen when you play a straight rhythm for a long time. I mean playing a fixed pattern, for 15 minutes, for 30 mins, for over an hour.... You get bored, and check out, and your body continues the motions. You start to listen to the other parts of the rhythm without dropping your own, which is hard for a lot of beginning drummers.
Your body starts to compensate for the repetition in your body - a hand rests on the drum when it doesn't need to play; the arm goes higher and higher for the big hit; you are able to adjust your drum or your position without dropping the rhythm. You body gets tired, and you actually start to relax because you have to.
You can go into a trance; you're moving not only your hands, your arms, but your whole body, often just a swaying or rocking motion that's guided by how your body needs to work with the drum. And when you get to that space, you can drum forever. You start to notice tiny things - your feet hurt, your left arm moves differently than your right, the clip on your belt is hitting the drum and is making that slightly annoying metallic sound you never noticed before, that note you hit just then has a little to much attack, or was a little too far back.
And all of a sudden you realize - wow, there's a lot more in here than you realized. Whoa, when the teacher was being obsessive about how to hit the drum, or to avoid making that particular sound, or to watch out for the attack on the turnaround - now you understand why. Because once you can hear it, you hear it. There's no going back. Once you feel it, you feel it - you body starts swaying almost as soon as you start drumming.
To this day, I still drum with my eyes closed when I like a rhythm, because I want to be immersed in it. It drives drum teachers crazy - and in fact, I tell others to drum with their eyes open too. But sometimes, I just gotta feel it.
There are so many things that start to happen when you play a straight rhythm for a long time. I mean playing a fixed pattern, for 15 minutes, for 30 mins, for over an hour.... You get bored, and check out, and your body continues the motions. You start to listen to the other parts of the rhythm without dropping your own, which is hard for a lot of beginning drummers.
Your body starts to compensate for the repetition in your body - a hand rests on the drum when it doesn't need to play; the arm goes higher and higher for the big hit; you are able to adjust your drum or your position without dropping the rhythm. You body gets tired, and you actually start to relax because you have to.
You can go into a trance; you're moving not only your hands, your arms, but your whole body, often just a swaying or rocking motion that's guided by how your body needs to work with the drum. And when you get to that space, you can drum forever. You start to notice tiny things - your feet hurt, your left arm moves differently than your right, the clip on your belt is hitting the drum and is making that slightly annoying metallic sound you never noticed before, that note you hit just then has a little to much attack, or was a little too far back.
And all of a sudden you realize - wow, there's a lot more in here than you realized. Whoa, when the teacher was being obsessive about how to hit the drum, or to avoid making that particular sound, or to watch out for the attack on the turnaround - now you understand why. Because once you can hear it, you hear it. There's no going back. Once you feel it, you feel it - you body starts swaying almost as soon as you start drumming.
To this day, I still drum with my eyes closed when I like a rhythm, because I want to be immersed in it. It drives drum teachers crazy - and in fact, I tell others to drum with their eyes open too. But sometimes, I just gotta feel it.
