Are We Just Being Silly?

MrInsanePolack

MrInsanePolack

.
Well, are we? Ultimately we hit things with sticks. Playing the drums is just such a childish act in itself, that sometimes while playing I can't help but think that there is something better I could be doing with my time.

All of the investment we have made to become drummers, both personally and financially, just to hit stuff with sticks. The more I think about it, the more absurd it seems.

Will I stop? No. Do I find personal enjoyment hitting things with sticks? Absolutely. Will I find god or the meaning of life doing it? Probably never. Is it worth more to me than what it actually is, yes and no.

So again I ask, are we just being silly? All of this fussing just to hit stuff with sticks?
 
I consider my playing more than just hitting things with sticks.
 
II. Are we just being silly? Well, are we? Ultimately we spit into a brass pipe. Playing the trumpet (insert trombone tuba etc.) is just such a childish act in itself, that sometimes while playing I can't help but think that there is something better I could be doing with my time than spitting into a brass pipe.

All of the investment we have made to become brass musicians, both personally and financially, just to spit in a brass pipe. The more I think about it, the more absurd it seems.

III. Are we just being silly? Well, are we? Ultimately we pluck a thread. Playing the guitar (insert banjo mandolin etc.) is just such a childish act in itself, that sometimes while playing I can't help but think that there is something better I could be doing with my time than plucking a thread.

All of the investment we have made to become string musicians, both personally and financially, just to pluck a thread. The more I think about it, the more absurd it seems.
 
Everything is sort of arbitrary, but hitting drums with sticks is a lot better than hitting each other with sticks.
 
Lot of naval gazing going on around here lately....lol.

Between that and the intellectual debates on the value of pop music I'm thinking of taking up something less sophisticated than "hitting stuff with sticks"...

Lol

(Kidding guys let's not take it seriously)
 
My wife thought the same thing a few years ago and bought me a guitar so I would mature. She then learned guitars don't hold up when beat with sticks! How silly of her! 8-P
 
Last edited:
The coordination involved with 4-limb independence is really good for your brain. Playing any instrument is good for your brain, but I feel like drums may be the best one for that purpose, since they involve the lower body so much more than most instruments.
 
Mongrel said:
Lot of naval gazing going on around here lately....lol.

Between that and the intellectual debates on the value of pop music I'm thinking of taking up something less sophisticated than "hitting stuff with sticks"...

Lol

(Kidding guys let's not take it seriously)
Click to expand...

Now there's a very observant forum veteran if ever there was one. I like how you made the link between two diffreent forum discussions, Mongrel.

Your reference to the "pop music debate" is testament that hitting things with sticks does not deprive the hitter of intellectual activity.

Shall we all head over to that debate then? I have at least 15 unanswered and provocative posts.

Or we could all go to Mongrel's place and hit things with sticks....
 
First of all most of us don't "fuss" about playing the drums. Nor do we "fuss" about our drum gear.
Sure, you can find some posts on this forum that sound like fussing. But most of us don't fuss, instead we enjoy.

I think if all you ever do is sit at home and hit things with sticks, and you take yourself too seriously then yeah you might be silly.
But when you play drums in a band and you are making music, then you are way way beyond simply hitting things with sticks.
You are having a highly emotional and spiritual experience with others.


.
 
I've always considered drumming to be only a part of my life. When someone says 'I live to drum' or 'drumming is my life', I feel sorry that drumming seems so all-consuming for them, as if they have nothing else.

So while drumming isn't silly, it's also not everything. Raise a family. Take a vacation. Start a business or a hobby. Don't sit behind the kit for a week or two. It's smart, healthy, and important to put life first.

Bermuda
 
Mike Stand said:
Now there's a very observant forum veteran if ever there was one. I like how you made the link between two diffreent forum discussions, Mongrel.

Your reference to the "pop music debate" is testament that hitting things with sticks does not deprive the hitter of intellectual activity.

Shall we all head over to that debate then? I have at least 15 unanswered and provocative posts.

Or we could all go to Mongrel's place and hit things with sticks....
Click to expand...

Mike, honestly, I can't keep up with you! Or with most of the other "three paragraph minimum" per post guys. My comprehension starts fading fast after two paragraphs....lol. Pretty much everyone is right in their own eyes. What more needs to be said?

But, hey, you guys are certainly welcome to stop by my place. I can throw together four or five four piece kits (with some decent cymbals...), then there is the cajone, tamborines and cow bells cor the guys who are late....

Fair warning-I live in 'Joisey so don't expect to be treated well....

*snicker*

(Big) SMILE...
 
Last edited:
I heard Justin Hayward remark once "music is ultimately trivial. Yet absolutely necessary."

Take that for what you care to make of it...
 
Hollywood Jim said:
But when you play drums in a band and you are making music, then you are way way beyond simply hitting things with sticks.
You are having a highly emotional and spiritual experience with others.
Click to expand...

Nailed it. While the concept of 'hitting drums' might conjure up to some people images of animal from the muppets and thus be considered childish, (and hilarious, which animal is :D) it's not that different from a builder hitting nails with a hammer in that it's a means to an end.

In the case of a drummer the sticks are merely a tool, an extension of our own hands in fact, to create sounds which become music. The end result justifies the means, however caveman like it might seem, assuming it's all in time, grooving, and as Jim said, results in an emotional experience. And that is the ultimate goal for most drummers. When it's grooving, it makes you enjoy the music so much more which can really make you feel like you've taken drugs, it puts you on a high. There are drummers who pursue technical excellence and it's all very cerebral, but I think the best drumming comes from the simplest yet grooviest playing, because it moves you.
 
Merlin5 said:
How is it childish? Would you regard playing timpani, vibes, glock, marimba, and xylophone childish?
Click to expand...

Just the act, the instrument doesn't matter here. If you give a child a stick, eventually they are going to start hitting things with it. Like it's instinctual to a degree. Adults not so much.

I like Bermudas response. Maybe that's why I see it as such. At one point in life, all I did was drum. Now I have a family, a house, other life to consider. Drumming is no longer in the forefront, so maybe it seems a little silly at times.

As for fussing over, I was just trying to find one word to encompass the time and effort we put into every little thing. I thought it fit the bill nicely.
 
Silly or not, it's good the body, mind, and soul. I'm gonna hop in my Jeep, drive twenty minutes and be silly. Yay!!
 
a lot of squandered opportunities... when I think of all the reruns of Hee Haw I could've watched... all those extra shifts at the paper box warehouse I could have taken on to earn the money to do ???? unnamed thing more meaningful than playing music... not that the extra shifts at the paper box warehouse wouldn't have been rewarding enough that's not what I'm saying

UPDATE: I am very glad to have this be my 4000th forum post
 
Congrats todd. Now you need to go do 4000 pataflaflas to celebrate. But that might be a bit silly. :D
 
Nah actually it means we are, odds are, very intelligent people ( I think the same of a sense of humor). Huge number of studies linking that learning a musical instrument and study of music can increase IQ. We are all a bunch of freakin’ Geniuses!!! Silly boys and girls. Our threads do twist and turn-lot of systemic musicology. I always wondered if any cognitive musicologist on here? Some of my crazy ones touch on that. I saw this article, which I personally take exception to some of, BUT in light ? of the “Pop” thread I just had to post it. Maybe it’s satirical? https://www.spring.org.uk/2018/07/musical-preference-iq.php
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top