drums Brad I played with the heaviest fucking drummer i've ever played with today. It's amazing how inspiring, embarassing, revealing, exciting, unnerving and otherwordly it is playing with a drummer that you can tell is actually listening to you. So much for 4 and 8 bar phrases. This guy was playing what I played. 010926 ... spooky fish heartbeat racing incendiary sweat in cold room the rhythm in my ears would not let sleep come back down on me 010926 ... raze i'm the quietest drummer i've ever known, and i barely consider myself a proper drummer at all. still, there's something calming that happens behind the kit. maybe it's something about the hand movements, and the need to keep time, and the way that engages the brain. maybe it also has to do with never writing drum parts, improvising while recording, reacting to the music without a safety net. whatever it is, it's a uniquely immersive experience. 130322 ... no reason it's all relative, but i'm always self-conscious that i'm not good enough. 130323 ... nr everyone today went out of their way to tell me i was good. i appreciated that, since we had a recital after only two practices with all our band members. our teacher guy said my playing was 'very tasteful,' which is a compliment in jazz, for sure. but it's the teeny things people (and by people, i mean my nitpicky family member) decide to mention as being less-than-perfect that stick. so annoying. whatever. i don't play for that person. 151207 ... nr also, that's neat what Brad said above, all those years ago. i love listening to the other band members and playing with them; it's one of the things i love about jazz. not that it can't be applied to other types of music, but jazz kind of demands it in order to be interesting. 151207 ... nr i just fit behind the kit. it does something to me. 211129 ... nr t-minus 46 (ooh) minutes until audition self-tape part two. yesterday's wasn't satisfactory enough. there weren't enough drums. i wasn't shiny enough. i wasn't confident enough. other people were impressed but i wasn't. there was too much perfectionism, or maybe not enough. 220821 ... e_o_i hey_no_reason, I hope that went well!! I am sure there were things to like about both. You're super talented and I'm sorry I missed seeing you play ukelele that last time. But it's hard to be satisfied with your own performances, at least I find. Concerning drums, I love brushes for jazz: they can be foregrounded in laid-back sections of the piece that are waiting to swell into loudness or intensity. The sound of coiled springs, if springs were swishy. raze had some brushes sitting atop a drum and I was all "Oooh cool," like a child seeing a zoetrope. 220821 ... nr thank you e_o_i, that's so kind of you! i don't claim to be that good at the ukulele, but it's fun to play. i do find i tend to be the most perfectionistic with the things i care about the most. which is kind of a double_edged_sword. i often use brushes when playing jazz, especially if it's a ballad or if there's a singer. sometimes i switch between brushes and sticks. i love brushes too, though. they set a mood and do fun things on the snare. 220822 what's it to you? who go blather from