Drum Ramblings You Can Shake a Stick At

Connection Through Music

Some people love going to football games where they shoot baskets and make goals. Me, well, I’ve always been a concert guy. There’s nothing quite like getting a whole bunch of people you don’t know with different beliefs, backgrounds and tastes together in one room to rock out and sweat on each other while jamming to some tunes you all love. Music really brings people together who have no reason to like each other and who are vastly different. There are few things that have that power that music has in our lives. Our world needs more of that. Ellen Degeneres shouldn’t have to teach us that we can love or spend time with people who we disagree with, but she did. Most of us know that even if we don’t realize it.

Onward – Thoughts Of a Drummer

Anyway, the point of that introduction is this: I’m going to take some time every week to write about my experience with music. This will come in the form of dissecting my practice sessions, discussing albums/bands I’ve live streamed or shot drum covers of, different band analyses, and breaking down collaborations I’ve had with other musicians. I have multiple reasons for doing this:

1. Music has an effect on your soul. Since it is important and integral to like 99% of people’s lives and we invest so much time into it, I would hope we would be better at analyzing what we are listening to and what power we give it. The music, tone, lyrics, beat, rhythm – whatevs: it all plays a role in influencing us. We consume it and anything we consume is digested, having some impact on us. Breaking down music helps us ingest it and understand the power it can have for good in our lives. In some cases it can help us realize what music might result in a negative outcome for us. In others, the positive (if not already obvious). This is subjective of course so I won’t get into what effects I think these bands or certain music should have on you, rather just what effect has been had on me.
   
   
2. Music brings people together. Hopefully these ramblings can help fans of the bands or music I dig into (mostly lookin’ at you rockers out there) expand their listening experience and appreciation for the musicians as well as bring us closer as humans who dig the same tunes. We can share stories with each other about concerts, meet and greets or just ways we feel connected to these people.
   
   
3. This is a drumming website and I am a drummer, most obs apparently. As a musician, learning about music and musicians – what drives them to create, why they structured a song a certain way, what their perceptions may be – can help us to better extrapolate style, mood and groove from the songs. It’s kind of like recognizing the value in people’s perspectives and opinions. You might not agree with them. Heck, you might assume there is a better way or another way you would create a beat for a part of a song while still maintaining respect for their choice and understanding why they made it and how it adds to the song. Having this in our arsenal as drummers or musicians in general will empower our ability to create. It expands our tools and our understanding of the human connection in creating and sharing music.
   
   
4. Dissecting practice sessions keeps me (and us) accountable and intentional in our practicing. It can be easy to “play” your instrument regularly, but to practice means more. It means being focused on improving your weak spots and teaching yourself. These regular analyses of my own practicing are meant to be insightful and to help you reflect on your own experiences. They are meant to be raw, to show some struggles or issues I face in my practicing. It’s not gonna be pretty but it will be real.
   
   
5. Jamming with other people is a powerful bonding experience. Listening is one thing, but getting together with a band or ensemble or what-have-you to create music does wonders for people. I want to discuss the human experience I have working with others to put some tunes together and compare the different ways they think with the way I think. It blows my mind that so many bands have such diverse musicians in them who somehow make their style fit the music in some of the most beautiful, hard-rocking ways.
   
   
6. I love rocking out and concerts and reminiscing on them so that’ll be fun to ramble on about like an old dude on his porch in the summer. Of course, I’m referring to the band analyses that will come every month or so. Did I mention rocking yet?

Stay a While and Listen

Anyway, I hope you find value in these analyses of the music, drumming and shared human experience of improving a craft. For me, it creates a stronger bond and appreciation for this wonderful gift of music that I am constantly devouring. Hopefully it provides some benefits for you as well. Cheers, m8s.