Holding it All Together
Meanderings of an admittedly cerebral drummer.
These are stages that I think I've passed through on my journey. Please note - this is my totally made up view of a drummer’s possible emotional evolution based on one drummer’s patchy memories. I repeat: I MADE IT ALL UP! That said, do any of these sound familiar?
I was waiting for something or other, and picked up a magazine to help pass the time. In an article on career management, I came across the most disturbing question ever, and it's a concept that I've kept in mind ever since. The question is this: "Who's watching your career?" ... Ouch!
We were sitting around discussing our usual topic: drums. When we got around to the topic of tuning, the more senior drummer among us (defined as someone who'd actually had some real gigs) said:
“... and some day I hope to study them."
Try before you buy?
A good
way to burn up good will at your local music store is to try out stuff there …
and then buy it on-line. But people do it all the time (and then wonder why
music stores are struggling to survive). Better to stick with commodity items
that are familiar or fairly generic if trying is an important part of the
process. |
I had an interesting time playing a “back line” set. It was a high quality set – very complete – but with a few weak points. The main issues were the hi-hat, snare and bass pedal. Wait a minute ... aren't those the most important tools for a drummer? With a part missing from the hi-hat, a jammed snare release and a bass pedal badly in need of some grease, I had to be vigilant just to 'TCB' which, of course, takes away from playing music and my mental health.