I love playing drums. I just do. But one thing I never really considered was how many funny things could happen with me playing drums, especially for a church. Unless you’ve done it yourself, you don’t really think about the small things like your drumset being surrounded by microphones all around you. So if someone is saying something really important, maybe even praying…you can’t sneeze.
For a guy who is already oversize, overweight, and overly clumsy at times…sitting behind a mic’d drumkit is pretty funny sometimes. You think about things like your drumsticks being a tools in dropping a cool beat, and not being projectiles aimed at your bass player because you lose one of them in playing too fast.
Some things you never expect God to use humor on, and i’m finding this is one of them. Bill Cosby told a story that you’ll easily relate to if you ever decide to pick up playing drums:
I recently picked drum lessons back up. I decided taking them through Just Drums. They are in the Hugoenot Trade Center off of Midlothian Turnpike. I figured would be the best option given the choices. My instructor Chris has an extremely challenging approach to percussion. He regularly teaches at Longwood University and so far has robbed me of all confidence in my ability as a drummer. Don’t get me wrong, that’s a very good thing. So far, I’ve learned a lot about form and how you’re actually supposed to sit while you’re playing. It’s amazing how big of an impact some of the small details have on your ability to play.
I’m hoping to get better at being able to play really traditional patterns, similar to what you would hear in a military setting. The other thing I want to work on is being able to play jazz style music. I enjoy watching and learning from a lot of older drummers like Buddy Rich, Joe Morello, Steve Gadd, and even back to Gene Krupa. Some of these guys have a degree of showmanship that I know nothing about so I think I can really learn a lot from watching them and studying.
VillageStudents recently went to the AWAKE Tour with TobyMac and Skillet at Liberty University. We had a great time and saw an awesome show. I think one of the biggest highlights of the night was the lady who was well into her 60s (maybe 70s) throwing the rock fist during Skillet’s performance. I think my favorite parts of the show were Skillet’s performance and the acoustic beat box version of some old DC Talk songs from TobyMac.
A band called “House of Heroes” opened the show and did a really great job. They are based out of Columbus, Ohio and got picked up for the tour in the Spring of 2010. I hadn’t heard of them before the show but they sounded great.
Also, I have one particular student who is now banned from headbanging at concerts. You know who you are.
