Serve The M - no, the Other M.

I also saw this video the other day. It says to serve the Music, not Me about how a drummer can serve himself, not the music. I admit this is something I face when I play drums at Saint Thomas More. I tend to embellish the rhythms I play so that I don't get bored playing straight 4/4 time with snare on 2 and 4 or, in 3/4, with snare on 2 and 3, or, in 6/8, with snare on 3 and 6. My interest in balancing 'overplaying' with 'boring drumming' is why I watched this video:

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After I did a little more digging, I found this video by Brandon Khoo.

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I like his style.

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For my own growth as a drummer, I listen to my self playing drums. Nowadays, I use my cell phone to record Mass so I can listen to what I sounded like whenever I want to do so. This is not a new practice / method for me. I've always done this - recording myself playing drums - dating back to before I was even in a band in my parent's basement. When I would practice drums, I'd use a boom box and cassettes, which I still have in the sump pump storage room. I also recorded rehearsals and performances with Assume, various practice sessions in that basement, Old Stew, and Free Beer / Corporate Prisoner on cassettes. Later, when I played in Lou's Classic Ride, I used a micro recorder that I borrowed from a former co-worker. Eventually, I transitioned to using my cell phone instead of cassette tapes to create recordings of Uncle Rico the Band and auditions with other Ideal Bands.

Why? Am I obsessed with my own drumming?

No.

I do this because I do want to be able to serve the Music, not Me, when I play drums.

It doesn't really matter when I've played drums - from playing alone or with other musicians. I want to grow as a drummer. I don't want to play the same beat that every other drummer in the world plays. I felt that way the other night when I was practicing on the Yamaha electronic drums. As I played along with the pre-programmed tunes in the brain of the Yamaha set, I focused on the patterns that repeat - think verse, chorus, verse, chorus - in an endless loop. I intentionally tried to play "insane" patterns - that served Me, not the Music - during some of the cycles. I did that to foster creativity. After a cycle of playing an "insane" pattern, I would revert to playing a beat that served the Music, not Me. I actually found that being able to dial back the "insane" pattern to be a challenge during the "sane" pattern cycles. I plan to explore that challenge in future practice sessions. Of all the videos on the "All Videos of Me Playing Drums" page, I think this one - where I achieve the balance I crave. I play soft during the verse so that the drums are felt, not overbearing. I then have a hint at flashy during the "I've been waiting..." part of the song. During Brian's solo, I'm intentionally playing soft again.

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Damn, I love the way we played that tune. Brian's guitar playing is spot-on, Matthew's bass locks in with my pattern, and Joe? Well, he belts out the lyrics with emotion.

Editor's Note: For videos, see https://prhmusic.blogspot.com/p/videos-of-me-playing-drums.html

The Other Side of the Equation - Just to for Balance

I have a Ludwig Vistalite drum set. It has a 24" bass drum, a 13" mounted tom, and two 16" floor toms. I've often fantasized about how it would be so excellent to have a huge double bass drum set. I know that in my current band, Uncle Rico, as well as in the previous bands I've ever played in, including Lou's Classic Ride, Corporate Prisoner, and Old Stew, that I have no justification whatsoever for a huge double bass drum set - I would never use it outside of my basement. Still, it doesn't stop me from thinking about the picture in this post and what an awesome set of drums it would be to have.
Editor's Note: The picture that was here is no longer available.
In other news, I have 36,629 files in the Daughter drive on the MyCloud drive, which includes 1544 files in the ___Margaret directory, which is where I'm putting all of the files from the CDs of hers that I rip. I have her permission to reorder the CDs in her two CD holders to be in alphabetical order so I am using the power of Windows Explorer to show me the correct order. I also have three tops to three spindles set up to separate the CDs into 3 groups. Bands A-H go in one, I-P in another, and Q-Z in a third. That will help me with the alphabetizing of the CDs. I chuckled a bit when I thought about how many times I worked with Mrs. Bacon, my 4th grade teacher, on alphabetizing and using key words in the dictionary. It was a skill I struggled to learn but I now use it anytime I am doing a project, like Margaret's, and it just makes me recall how frustrating it was to be struggling with something but to then, years later, to see the value in that struggle. I haven't yet figured out how the time I spend ripping Margaret's 300 CDs are going to throw off my reconversion schedule goal date of 12/1/2014. Looking at the schedule, I think after September, the schedule was somewhat softer. I should be working on Spindle #21, but that's on hold while the Elkader PC and the Toshiba work on Margaret's CDs.

Eat Your Fingers

Corporate Prisoner, the band I was in with Jon, Steve, and Ralph from 1999 - 2000, tried to play Tool's "46+2" and, frankly, I was the weak link. I was reminded of that this morning when Rock 108 played this song on my way to work. During the amazing Danny Carey drum solo, I was stunned.