Indistinct, Intellectual Interference

I will attempt to reestablish my blogging rhythm (so far somewhat erratic) with a posting about drumming. I'm enrolled in a "Beyond Beginner" African drumming class, a level in which students are supposed to remain for a few years before moving into Intermediate or Advanced. Two summers ago I took the Beginner class. I have hardly touched a drum since.

But as I remembered during my first "Beyond Beginner" lesson a few weeks ago, rhythm isn't really a problem for me. Most of the time I can quickly pick up what the instructor is teaching us. And closing my eyes while drumming prevents the thinking part of my brain from seeing what I am doing, having an opinion about it, and therefore screwing it up. My hands generally know what to do as long as there is no interference from my intellect. I can play for a longer amount of time if I feel the rhythm, rather than try to understand it or memorize it.

The biggest challenge for me is creating the proper sound with my hands. There are basically three sounds that we use to make music. The bass, created by a flat palm in the middle of the drum; a tone, created when the bottom of the hand hits the rim of the drum and the fingers - but not the tips - land on the drum head; and the slap, which is like a tone but the fingers land at a slightly different angle, creating a sharper sound. At this earlier stage in my drumming life, my slaps are sloppy and my tones are tentative. And the faster we drummed, the sloppier and more tentative they became, respectively. A classmate described her slaps and tones as indistinct as our rhythm picked up speed.

Indistinct indeed.

And since my technique stinks I am inclined to use more force to generate separate sounds so I can feel as if I'm "getting it right," but muscling through a song is exhausting and unnecessary.

"Coax the sound out of the drum," our teacher, a portly retired gentleman, explained the first night. "You don't need to bang it to get a good bass."

The best drumming happens when the mind and body are relaxed but alert. I'll think of it as musical meditation.