The modern drumming divide.

Andy

Honorary Member
I'm constantly bombarded with videos of drummers doing all kinds of stuff. Being an old fart, this is a fairly new experience. Back in the day, I rarely experienced performances of other drummers outside of a musical performance context. These days, mainly via video, I experience exposure to drummers in every conceivable context.

Taking my experiences over the last few years, I can't help but recognise two distinct types of drummer in this modern landscape:

1/ The "making music" drummer, &
2/ The "sport" drummer.

This is not a chops vs. groove thing, it's much more than that - it's a career direction decision thing, it's a vehicle / medium / promotion thing.

Thoughts - context - relevance - future, please.
 
Agree with the two types, despite lots of sub types. The "Sport" drummer seems more captivated by the mechanics of drumming. The technicalities, equipment, technique etc. I would wager the sport drummer is fanatically lesson and grade based from a very early age, has graduated from music college and loves to play to a click. If I were to be cruel (Who me?) I would say the sport drummer plays the drums rather than playing the music.
 
Working in drum retail through the late 80's, much of the 90's until the early 2000's, I had noticed many, many drums were sold to people who had little interest in joining a band and playing live.

So I think, to an extent, the "sports" drummers have always perhaps existed, but until recently, they existed without an outlet. Now with video and the internet, they now have an outlet.

I'd say the other factor is perhaps there is just less opportunity to play music these days. Even living in one of the live music capitols of the world, I'm noticing many venues are closing their doors and aren't being replaced. The opportunities to get out there and play music seems to be less and less. And even at the height of my playing, it was far less than what going on years before. Reading biographies of Mick Fleetwood, Hal Blaine, Grace Slick, and others, many musicians were able to support themselves playing live long before they became recording musicians. So perhaps more young drummers turn to the "sports" side out of a lack of opportunity to go play music.

Although no doubt the proliferation of education online has raised the bar of the "sports" side. I can go online now and find all sorts of footage I would killed to have seen 20-30 years ago, and see things I've never even thought about wanting to see that push the envelope of my interests.
 
Working in drum retail through the late 80's, much of the 90's until the early 2000's, I had noticed many, many drums were sold to people who had little interest in joining a band and playing live.

So I think, to an extent, the "sports" drummers have always perhaps existed, but until recently, they existed without an outlet. Now with video and the internet, they now have an outlet.

I'd say the other factor is perhaps there is just less opportunity to play music these days. Even living in one of the live music capitols of the world, I'm noticing many venues are closing their doors and aren't being replaced. The opportunities to get out there and play music seems to be less and less. And even at the height of my playing, it was far less than what going on years before. Reading biographies of Mick Fleetwood, Hal Blaine, Grace Slick, and others, many musicians were able to support themselves playing live long before they became recording musicians. So perhaps more young drummers turn to the "sports" side out of a lack of opportunity to go play music.

Although no doubt the proliferation of education online has raised the bar of the "sports" side. I can go online now and find all sorts of footage I would killed to have seen 20-30 years ago, and see things I've never even thought about wanting to see that push the envelope of my interests.

I agree with some of what you say but not with the lack of opportunities to play with others. I believe the ease of mobility, even for the under 20s is greater than ever so even if its not leading to gigs the ease of just jamming with others is much easier than back in the day. The birth of musicians sites like Join My Band and others make contacting like minded people easier than ever. As I say I think the "Sport" drummer is a practice room bred animal that actually prefers playing alone. Nowt wrong with that, horses for courses.
 
I'm not a sports anything... I'm built for comfort, not speed.
 
I suppose you are correct in this assessment. Seeing what the current crop of "sport" drummers can do, I would seriously think twice about being put into a clinic situation (I've been asked once). I can't do anything mind-bending and in today's clinic scene, if you don't blow everybody away in that opening solo, people might just get up and walk out before you said anything.

But, as DED said, it's helping to sell alot of gear, and that can only be a good thing for the industry, and for those of us who actually buy stuff to use.
 
>support themselves playing live long before they became recording musicians.

DJ's and recorded music have altered the paradigm of live music.

DJ's believe themselves to be musicians.
 
Yeah, there's some douchiness happening for sure. And there's more quantity than quality but I understand people's motivations.

It's all too much, I don't watch too many nowadays.
 
I agree with some of what you say but not with the lack of opportunities to play with others. I believe the ease of mobility, even for the under 20s is greater than ever so even if its not leading to gigs the ease of just jamming with others is much easier than back in the day. The birth of musicians sites like Join My Band and others make contacting like minded people easier than ever. As I say I think the "Sport" drummer is a practice room bred animal that actually prefers playing alone. Nowt wrong with that, horses for courses.

Play with others, sure, but playing live gigs was my point.

And playing in a room full of people is one thing, playing live gigs is whole other thing.
 
It's worth mentioning that....


Bedroom musicians have always existed throughout time. Many musicians sit in their room blazing scales and learning all sorts of technical feats. When they rarely play out, they are disappointed with the experience and their performance, and go back to the bedroom.

The only thing that has changed over the past decade is that we now have ubiquitous cameras, video distribution websites, and iMovie. The barrier of entry has dropped, and it's easier than ever to get your playing out there.

Same as it ever was... Same as it ever was...
 
Don't forget that "sport" drummers are more fit to the non drummer audience.

For us, the drumming elite , the technique, the musicality, are everything.

For Billy and Jane, the chops and speed are.

Nowadays, with the internet, youtube and such, the prolifeeation of Sport drummers are inevitable. And it's not a bad thing. The main goal is to inspire. And if some famous youtube sport drummer inspires the next Neil Peart, mission acomplised.
 
^
That is a good point. And it does highlight what things the general population respond to (flashy fills, hitting hard, lifting sticks high, stick tricks, bright lights etc). So a true musician can learn something from the "sports-drummer" if he's not too proud, so long as he keeps things in perspective.
 
The musical drummer is inferior to the sport drummer, as the musical drummer unless playing drums in an original and impressive context, is just a counterfeiter, but the sport drummer must still use form and function to convey impressiveness or else the sport drummer would simply be a slob.
 
Question:

Is Virgil Donati a sport drummer or a musical drummer?

Can you only be one or the other?
 
I think some of the rise of the "sport" drummer could be a reaction to seeing a lot of electronic, pop, and hip-hop music produced with drum machines and wanting to prove that drummers are "more than" just a drum machine, we can do complex acrobatics behind big double bass kits. A lot of popular music is either produced with electronics, or is pretty simple and conservative when human musicians play it because experimental music is risky financially. So the result is a lot of modern drumming is simple and repetitive, either because it is programmed that way, or because the market asks for it.

If the market is asking for simple, repetitive drumming, and there are drummers who want to play complex things that don't fit into contemporary commercial music, then it's easy to see why they stay home in the basement, garage, or bedroom. "Sport" drumming can easily find a home in progressive/experimental and metal contexts, so when people get into that mindset, they may not want to simplify their playing once they woodshed a lot and do that kind of drumming all the time, and not be interested in playing in a lot of commercial bands.

If there isn't a market for what they do, they stay home and continue to be sport drummers. I see it as a reaction to a bunch of factors outside of the control of individual drummers in a lot of ways, though you could argue that a lot of popular, commercial music has always asked for fairly simple, repetitive patterns.
 
I think some of the rise of the "sport" drummer could be a reaction to seeing a lot of electronic, pop, and hip-hop music produced with drum machines and wanting to prove that drummers are "more than" just a drum machine, we can do complex acrobatics behind big double bass kits. A lot of popular music is either produced with electronics, or is pretty simple and conservative when human musicians play it because experimental music is risky financially. So the result is a lot of modern drumming is simple and repetitive, either because it is programmed that way, or because the market asks for it.

If the market is asking for simple, repetitive drumming, and there are drummers who want to play complex things that don't fit into contemporary commercial music, then it's easy to see why they stay home in the basement, garage, or bedroom. "Sport" drumming can easily find a home in progressive/experimental and metal contexts, so when people get into that mindset, they may not want to simplify their playing once they woodshed a lot and do that kind of drumming all the time, and not be interested in playing in a lot of commercial bands.

If there isn't a market for what they do, they stay home and continue to be sport drummers. I see it as a reaction to a bunch of factors outside of the control of individual drummers in a lot of ways, though you could argue that a lot of popular, commercial music has always asked for fairly simple, repetitive patterns.

Could it be that sport drummers cant fit what they do into a band situation and thats why they prefer to play alone? It could be that they need other musicians to fit into what they do. Perhaps they can only truly create on there own and cant feed off other musicians.
 
I rhink that could definitely be the case. Someone who is only looking for a crazy prog metal band that won't accept anything less. When they can't find what they want in their area (Maybe they can find some musicians, but never get it off the ground, can't make a go of it) they just decide to be sport drummers are home posting youtube videos.

I remember there was an interview in MD where a jazz drummer drove a cab for years because he refused to play backbeat music. Some people refuse to be in a band that doesn't match their perfect vision.
 
Could it be that sport drummers cant fit what they do into a band situation and thats why they prefer to play alone? It could be that they need other musicians to fit into what they do. Perhaps they can only truly create on there own and cant feed off other musicians.

I think that's true. The guitarist of my old band told me about a guy who was able to play really complicated stuff alone on the guitar, but when they played together he was useless.

I was chosen to play drums for a band last year after they got rid of a drummer who described himself as a "prized music student" because I played the song the band wanted it to be played. They said all the "top student" wanted to do was show off his chops and spent much of rehearsals texting on his phone.

I think these two categories are true. The main difference being that the "musical" drummer plays as part of a team, while the "sports" drummer wants to be a solo artist.
 
I really don't think the divide is any different than other art endeavors might have. Visual artists can be similarly categorized: the hobby painter, the commercial illustrator, the gallery painter, the school art teacher, the university art professor/exhibitor, the digital artists producing videos, web design, game scenes and photoshoppers, etc.
 
Back
Top