Over the many years of playing, I have often found myself in creative ruts. If you have been playing for any length of time, you know what I mean: All your fills sound the same, the same physical actions are stuck in maintnenance and even the beats you are coming up with are dry and boring.
This is a common problem, with a pretty easy set of solutions. First, if you have the luxury of playing with multiple types of musicians, this can be real easy. Maybe you spend time making music with a violinist or a sax player. Second, if that is not a possibility, try playing on someone else's kit. The different tuning and feel of foreign drums almost always inspires new thoughts.
But one thing that all of us can do is change our set-up. Say that you are used to a double-kick, 3 tom, 3 cymbal set-up. Remove the double pedal. Then, take out the middle tom. Now, remove the cymbal on your left side. Grab those sticks and see what comes out.
Next, try to move your ride to the opposite side of normal and set up a tom on by your hi-hats. Play for an hour and see what comes out.
Changing the way I set up really made me stretch and really cool new ideas opened up to me, just because the physical motions required something new of me.
Then on the other hand, sometimes our ears need new stimulus. Exploring new sounds can lead to good creativity as well. Try tuning your snare down, or loosening the actual snares themselves. Just like computers, what is done can easily be undone! Tighten that first tom; take off the bottom heads. Play with different types of sticks: Brushes, Multi-Rods, mallets, empty coke bottles! Try playing with your hands!
Go back to having fun and watch that creativity begin to flow in a healthy way again.
Hope this helps.
Blessings,
Frank
9.20.2006
9.14.2006
Sensitivity
I have remarked in other entries about how thorough I am when it comes to preparation for any given worship session. I thoroughly, when given the information, think through the "list" and ready myself to play it. I would imagine a similar process happens for a "show" drummer, where every detail is sketched out and performed routinely, accurately and without any deviation. Worship is a very different "musical animal."
This is not to say that you should not prepare. But it IS to say that you should also prepare yourself for unplanned, unexpected changes in any given set list.
There are things as worship drummers that are just not in our field of thought on any given Sunday, Wednesday, etc. When I stepped out from behind the drums and began to connect myself to a guitar, I was forced to see the affects of my lists. In the practice prior to the session, the songs would often work out great, but it was the little things that I noticed when people got into the room that often made me reconsider the way we presented our songs.
For example, I remember many times when I started tunes too slowly and needed to change the tempo mid-tune. Other times, I recognized that some songs seemed too heavy handed for where the worship was going, so I asked my drummers to play a tune or two with brushes, to soften the list. Many times, especially in the more intimate night services, I asked the drummer to not play for a few tunes, just because I could see the faces of the worshippers, and how engaged they were in what was happening and I did not want that to be broken for them.
Now, I never heard either Richard or Isy ever complain about not getting to play certain things, but I remember back when I was younger, often feeling frustrated when I did'nt get to play the whole list! Now, I see that I could have been more sensitive to what the Spirit was doing on those nights. I could have trusted my leaders and let them lead what they were seeing more clearly than I could.
"A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." Proverbs 16:9
"We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps." NLT
Be sensitive to the situation. Tune yourself into the mood of the room. Sacred moments are happening right in front of you. Ask the Lord to teach you to play appropriately for Him.
Hope this helps.
Blessings,
Frank
This is not to say that you should not prepare. But it IS to say that you should also prepare yourself for unplanned, unexpected changes in any given set list.
There are things as worship drummers that are just not in our field of thought on any given Sunday, Wednesday, etc. When I stepped out from behind the drums and began to connect myself to a guitar, I was forced to see the affects of my lists. In the practice prior to the session, the songs would often work out great, but it was the little things that I noticed when people got into the room that often made me reconsider the way we presented our songs.
For example, I remember many times when I started tunes too slowly and needed to change the tempo mid-tune. Other times, I recognized that some songs seemed too heavy handed for where the worship was going, so I asked my drummers to play a tune or two with brushes, to soften the list. Many times, especially in the more intimate night services, I asked the drummer to not play for a few tunes, just because I could see the faces of the worshippers, and how engaged they were in what was happening and I did not want that to be broken for them.
Now, I never heard either Richard or Isy ever complain about not getting to play certain things, but I remember back when I was younger, often feeling frustrated when I did'nt get to play the whole list! Now, I see that I could have been more sensitive to what the Spirit was doing on those nights. I could have trusted my leaders and let them lead what they were seeing more clearly than I could.
"A man's heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." Proverbs 16:9
"We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps." NLT
Be sensitive to the situation. Tune yourself into the mood of the room. Sacred moments are happening right in front of you. Ask the Lord to teach you to play appropriately for Him.
Hope this helps.
Blessings,
Frank
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