Post date: 27-May-2012 04:49:50
My drummer instructor blew my mind during class the other day. He explained that with each technique we practised there was predictable shortcut or bad habit that students fell into - almost completely subconsciously, each of us says something like: "the kick has been on the same beat as the snare in everything I've played so far, so every time I hit one, I can just hit the other!" or: "The kick is always on the first beat - easy!"
Now, the first lessons are simple, because it's a huge challenge to retrain your brain for full, four limb independent action. But the real shock comes when you realise every single practice pattern is designed to subvert the shortcut your lazy self picked up from the previous pattern. On some level (at least for me) a voice is constantly whining: "but, but, but, I thought I'd understood one of the rules - now you're asking me to break it? When do we get to the rules then?"
And now I've realised how broadly this applies - from the way Terry Pratchett describes teaching as 'lies to children' (a nested set of simplifications that we unpack as the student comes to understand each layer) to the way people describe experts as the ones who 'know enough to know when to break the rules'. And I think the thing I find so seductive about drumming is that in every case, breaking a 'rule' is more akin to letting go of an assumption - often when you do, a whole new sphere of possibilities and variations balloons out in front of you.
Drumming is one of the hardest things I've ever learned - for one, anyone who knows me knows how I feel about doing something I'm not already good at (here's a hint - my fragile ego finds it painful and humiliating). For another, I've got very bad habits regarding necessary, repetitive tasks (generally, if I have to do something twice I'll either write a script to do it for me, or I'll ignore it until it goes away) - so my practice schedule isn't what it should be. But despite the temptation, I haven't given up - because as my instructor says, drumming feels right in a way that nothing else does. So thanks for your patience, Andy. :)