Competition is good. Competition drives. Competition sets and raises standards. Competition is not for everyone. I know a band director who does not want to teach winning or losing to his students (whether he sticks to that or how well he does with that remains to be seen). He would rather teach excellence, which, in and of itself, is noble. Excellence is something to strive for no matter what one does, whether it’s drumming, golfing, cooking, … Read More
As Obi Wan Kenobi told Luke in Return of the Jedi, “You’re going to find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.” An educated drummer will probably know what is meant when a drum teacher says, “Let the bounce do the work,” or, “Let the rebound do the work.” I know I do. However, as much as I hate to say “never”, I’m pretty sure that I … Read More
I got out of the car about 7:30 last night and heard someone playing his drum set. Oh… we live in a condo, by the way. It didn’t bother my wife and me because we live on the other end of the building so we didn’t really hear it unless we were actually listening for it, but I do remember feeling very sorry and angry for their upstairs neighbor (so I guess it did bother me). … Read More
I’m pretty sure it was my age-out year of drum corps. I was walking across the gym at our housing site with my instructor/mentor/friend/boss, talking about… drums, probably… and we passed by one of my fellow snare players ramming beats on his pad. We asked him what he was doing and he said he was working on his chops. In response I said, for the first time, “Remember: technique first, chops second.” Technique, technique, technique. It’s … Read More
Last year, after a drumline rehearsal, one of the students was sitting on the floor practicing a piece of music. She wanted to audition for a snare spot pretty badly and her chances were incredibly slim. My friend, the caption head of this particular drumline, told her she basically had one chance to show him that she was worth giving a spot. She’d asked me if I could help her after rehearsal sometime, so there I … Read More
I’m sure that most of us have read or listened to interviews with drummers that talk about how they used to “woodshed” for 8 hours a day, everyday. They loved the craft so much, and wanted to be so good, that they devoted themselves to such an intense practice schedule. Good for them, I say. However, I’m willing to bet that most of us can’t make that claim. Not that we don’t love the craft, and … Read More
