Drummers, after you've spent enough time learning the basics, and you've played a fair amount of gigs, you'll want to start developing your own style of playing the drums. If you have the creative urge, you'll even want to start writing and producing your own music.

The drums offer a unique advantage for personal artistic expression. The drums, and rhythm in general is at the center of many forms of today's popular music. Drummers will want to express themselves through the drums. While drums are a difficult instrument to deal with in terms of equipment, practice space, and time. The drums also teach the musician about the power of emotion in music. Music, after all, is a way to communicate and express emotion. The drummer, by studying and being knowledgeable about the instrument, can be the driving, creative force behind truly original and creative new music.

The drummer is often looked at as a minor player, or as only a supporting player in many groups. But the creative drummer can be a large contributor to the unique style and sound of a band. The drummer, by definition does a lot more than just play the drums. He really sets and maintains the tempo, the drive, and the intensity level for the whole band. More than just play his own instrument, the good drummer will play the band, like a director will play the entire symphony, the drummer can give added or diminished emphasis to any other particular instrument or passage of music.

It's a matter of focus, and concentration, and the ability to work with other musicians. Musicians generally tend to be a rather eclectic lot. The creative force in a musician causes them to see the world in a kind of unique way, often in terms of the instrument they play. The guitar player often is so focused on his or her guitar that they tend not to understand the unique character and needs of the other musicians they work with. This all comes out in the music. Someone once said that the goal of music is the pursuit of beauty and truth. Because of the intense nature of musical creativity, there is often a lot of changes in the development of a group, or a band. Musicians possess both a highly individualistic character and a need to be a part of a group. The group offers tremendous rewards and great opportunities for creative achievement.

Now, I want to go back for a moment on this idea of truth and beauty in music. Personal relationships are such a big part of working with other musicians that it deserves some attention. Honesty, friendship, and trust can often be stretched to the limit when working with other musicians. But one thing is certain. While you may not like what someone does, or the way someone plays, or some other aspect of a fellow musician having nothing to do with the music. That attitude, of trust or mistrust, of approval or disapproval will show itself in the music, even on a subconscious level. It will show itself by how "together" the music sounds, by whether cues are missed or not, by whether the band starts or stops together or apart. If we play a song a hundred times just perfectly, and then someone starts missing the bridge, or the ending, or some other nondescript part of the music, then it becomes apparent that something needs attention. Someone may have some issue that needs to be talked about and fixed, or to be understood in order to go on any further and continue to make that beautiful music.

With a little effort, your drumming can take you anywhere you want to go. Work hard, treat your fellow musicians with the respect they deserve and above all -- Keep The Beat.

Comments? Contact Jeff Patterson
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