Raising A Standard

As many of you know, I am often lurking on various drum forums all over the internet. One of my favorites is the House Of Drumming, created and moderated by Steve Holmes. There are many excellent drummers there who often can be found giving away great wisdom to other drummers. One such example came from Andy Vermiglio in response to a question that I posed some time ago. Here was the question and here was his reply:

"I was just wondering how it is that you judge your own performance. What things make a great performance and what things make for a lousy performance?"

Good questions Frank. (Thanks Andy;)

Here are a few questions that I try to answer when I play:

1) Did I set up a comfortable environment for my bandmates to play well?

2) Did I set up a challenging environment for my bandmates to play better than they think they can?

3) Did I play in such a way that I was responsive to the musical leadings of others on the stage?

4) Did I communicate well enough so that others were following me through various emotional stages of the tunes?

5) Did I play soft enough for everyone to hear themselves well and loud enough so that no one got lost?

6) Did I know the forms/phrases/breaks of the song?

7) Did the audience get in on the communication on stage? Did they experience something really enjoyable, creative and perhaps pleasantly unexpected?

Andy Vermiglio
Senior Hostboard Member, HOD