On Drums.
The following piece began as a writing exercise. I wrote it one morning back in August 2021 and forgot about it. Recently I realized that while I've posted before about music, I've never written about drumming. Here's a bit about my drumming journey.
I hear rhythm everywhere, whether it's kitchen appliances, car horns, or my typewriter. Rhythm is life, life is rhythm. Every culture has a drum. Drums were used to communicate messages across villages. Our hearts are a drum, beating out the pulse of our lives.
The drum kit is a uniquely American instrument which combines elements from different cultures. During the slave era in New Orleans, slaves were permitted to gather in Congo Square to sing, dance and play music. This is where American music was born. Years later, when New Orleans drummer D.D. Chandler put a bass drum on it's side and used a foot-pedal to play it while also playing the snare drum, the drum set was born.[1] And it's still evolving![2]
I'm not sure when I first became aware of the drums. There was always music around growing up, whether Dad was playing guitar or listening to records on the stereo. Grandpa also played the organ and harmonica and other family members played instruments as well. I'd started banging on couch cushions or pots and pans so my parents bought me a toy kit. It had plastic heads and didn’t sound too great, but I spent hours jamming along to a VHS tape of Ringo Starr's first All Starr Band (Dad is a big Beatles fan).[3]
I outgrew the toy kit and borrowed my uncle's drum kit for a while. Dad gave me my first lessons on how to play a basic rock beat. It was difficult playing a full-sized kit and trying to coordinate my four limbs to each play something different but at the same time. I remember when something finally something clicked and I was able to play the beat.
I began taking lessons from a teacher at a local music store, Roger, who taught me the basics - technique, dynamics, and rudiments - as well as snare drumming and some basic drum kit grooves. Eventually my parents decided it was time I had a drum set of my own. After my lesson one night, the music store manager led Dad and me down to the store's basement warehouse and I picked out a red wine-colored TKO five piece drum set with a Camber hihat and ride cymbal.[4] During these early years, Dad and I jammed his favorite classic rock tunes. My younger brother Eric would later pick up the guitar and join us.
I joined the concert band when I entered middle school, my first real band experience. In 7th and 8th grade I participated in a concert band made up of students from throughout Queens. We met on Saturday mornings and rehearsed Sousa marches and themes from operas like Carmen and the Barber of Seville, among other pieces. At the end of the year, we performed at Carnegie Hall. I remember standing on stage as a small 7th grader, setting up my drums before the performance and looking out into the massive empty hall.
During this period, I took up lessons with a teacher named Kenny. We worked on the fundamentals of snare drumming and drum set. I took lessons with Kenny again later in high school and he played a huge role in expanding my musical palette. He always gave me new CDs to check out, everything from jazz to funk to New Orleans music. We worked on these grooves in our lessons. He taught me that a musician should listen to and understand all styles of music.[5]
I was lucky enough to go to a high school with a great music department and I was involved in several bands, including concert, jazz, pep and pipe band. Outside of school, I played in a rock band with friends, covering rock and emo tunes.[6] We played graduations, bowling alleys and local church festivals. At 17, I was really into the rock bands from the 90s which were still putting out great music - the Foo Fighters, Audioslave, Nine Inch Nails, QOTSA, and RHCP. I collected CDs of all types of music - James Brown, Johnny Cash, Bob Marley, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band- albums which I still love today. I was also heavily influenced by drummers Buddy Rich, Steve Smith and Dennis Chambers during this period.
When the time came to pick a college, I considered pursuing music. I had several auditions where I quickly learned that I was pretty far behind. I really didn’t know what I wanted to 'do' so I studied psychology. My college had a small music department and I played in the concert and pep band. It was a limited commitment but I enjoyed it and kept up my playing and sightreading chops.
After college, I went through a period of not playing much drums. I fell out of love a bit. EDM was big at the time. I learned how to use recording software (DAWs) and dabbled with DJing and beat-making. Soon, though, I missed playing live music and gravitated back to the drums.
It was around this time, in 2012 (10 years ago!), that Eric and I started our own band. We'd played together much of our lives but never had a project of our own. We called ourselves The Shockwaves. We were a three piece blues rock band - drums, bass, guitar. Eric and I wrote and recorded our first EP and began playing local venues and events. We had a lot of fun and a lot of support from friends and family.
I leaned into the 'rock drummer' mold and thought I had to play loud and bombastic (a la John Bonham). I wasn’t practicing much. A friend of ours graciously invited us to record at his studio. I wasn’t too professional and didn’t have my shit together. Recording in a real studio was an ear-opening experience: I heard how bad I sounded! My dynamics were poor and my timekeeping was loose. I was embarrassed.
In retrospect, this recording experience was the best thing for my drumming. I was motivated to get back to basics and practice. I learned how to practice correctly, to take it slow, breathe, and track my progress. I was reminded of that meditative feeling I'd experienced as a kid when I'd spend hours practicing, so focused that everything else melts away. I centered my practice on three basic areas - timekeeping, dynamics, and rudiments. I began to see some improvement. I am grateful to have a space to play and time to continue practicing.
I am 33 years old. I have a full-time job. I know I'm not going to be the best drummer ever. I just want to make music. When you're playing with a band, there's nothing better than locking into a groove with your fellow musicians and supporting them with your rhythm. A band is only as good as it's drummer, which I have been grateful to learn firsthand.
I'm still fascinated by the drums. I like the different ways you can set it up and how you can make them sound. At the end of the day, the drums are there for me. If I have a bad day or am feeling down, I can still play drums. Rhythm and music make me feel good and the drums are my voice.
Until next time,
KW
Footnotes:
Here's drummer from The Police Stewart Copeland on the history of the drum set with some help from Taylor Hawkins of the Foo Fighters RIP).
Check out some modern drummers pushing the envelope: Chris 'Daddy' Dave, Eric Harland, Justin Brown, J.D. Beck, Mark Guiliana, Larnell Lewis, Nate Wood, Louis Cole.
The band included some of the best musicians in rock 'n' roll: Levon Helm, Rick Danko and Garth Hudson of The Band; Joe Walsh of The Eagles; Billy Preston (played keys on The Beatles famed rooftop concert); Clarence Clemmons and Nils Lofgren of The E Street Band; and New Orleans pianist Dr. John. While Ringo took center stage and sang, Levon and session drummer extraordinaire Jim Keltner held down drum duties. When the band played a Joe Walsh tune, or a Billy Preston tune, Ringo would join Levon and Keltner on the kit. Rhythm and drums played an important role in this band but not in an overt way - these three drummers, arguably some of the best drummers in rock music, served the song. They are not 'flashy' drummers, but simply provided the foundation for the song and supported the other musicians. Check out my spotify playlist of this concert.
I played this TKO kit until the later years of high school when I upgraded to a Pearl Session Custom kit.
As I entered high school, Kenny helped me prepare to audition for the high school band. He suggested a drum-set piece, a transcription from Modern Drummer Magazine of Dave Grohl's drum part on the Queens of the Stone Age song "No One Knows". It wasn’t until later in high school when I began really listening to Dave and QOTSA, that I realized the musicality of this drum part.
On Long Island during those years, emo music was a big scene and created bands like Taking Back Sunday and Brand New.
