Drumming: the spiritual side

My reasons for playing are like an over-renovated house, that I'm no longer sure why I started playing, kept playing or re-started playing.

TBH drumming bugs me a lot of the time; I'm almost always frustrated with my clumsiness.

Gigs are a joke, being paid a fraction of what a McDonald's child worker gets, lousy loading zones if any, reprobate audiences, dodgy acoustics, equipment screwing up etc.

Bands are a rich source of irritation, like any medium or long term relationship but you also have to deal with muso egos - both overblown and hypersensitive. Not to mention when you have people with habits.

It's loud, screws up your ears and there's a lot of messing around and carrying things.

Ridiculous expense.

It's anti-social, with hours of tapping away ... subject to a mechanical instrument of oppression.

It takes up tons of space at home.

But ... there's the buzz and the zone.

It's fun and its goofiness appeals to my SOH.

It's stimulating mentally, physically and emotionally.

It's something I am capable of doing and become part of my identity.

Crazy musos.

It beats working or blobbing out with electronic entertainment at home and gets me out of the house.
 
One of the things that I love about live music is what I call the "infinite positive feedback loop". If you have an audience that digs what you do, they cheer, they get loud, they dance to what you do. This in turn gets the musicians on stage excited and want to give the crowd more of what they want. So the crowd gets more of what they want, and they give the musicians more of what they want! So it goes on and on, and this is how bands like Phish can play eight hour gigs and many bands can play for two plus hours- just by riding off this loop.

I saw a funk concert of a local band here on the weekend, and noticed this loop. There was a closed system of 100 people (including the audience and six musicians on stage) that were all producing a party of positive energy and vibes. Egos dissapear, and it is all about the greater vibe of everyone in the room. Frankly, it makes me want to quit my sludge/stoner rock band and just play in funk bands from now on.
 
I think as one gets older, this is the situation in life. It's called sharing, prioritizing, and being part of the whole and not just the one.
+1

When I can let go, it feels like the music and the atmosphere somehow tell me what to play, and it always sounds better than what I had planned on...The only negative I have found personally, is that, at that point, I am no longer making eye contact with anyone (eyes closed, or simply looking away)...but the musical connection with the crowd is stronger than ever, and I hope that makes up for it.
 
One of the things that I love about live music is what I call the "infinite positive feedback loop". If you have an audience that digs what you do, they cheer, they get loud, they dance to what you do. This in turn gets the musicians on stage excited and want to give the crowd more of what they want. So the crowd gets more of what they want, and they give the musicians more of what they want! So it goes on and on, and this is how bands like Phish can play eight hour gigs and many bands can play for two plus hours- just by riding off this loop.

I saw a funk concert of a local band here on the weekend, and noticed this loop. There was a closed system of 100 people (including the audience and six musicians on stage) that were all producing a party of positive energy and vibes. Egos dissapear, and it is all about the greater vibe of everyone in the room. Frankly, it makes me want to quit my sludge/stoner rock band and just play in funk bands from now on.

This is great. Yes when the groove clamps it's jaws down in a room....To me THAT's the reason I play drums. That oneness with everyone.
 
It's all about good friends and gigs for me. I think my guitarist friend Sean is probably more spiritual than I about things.

Two thirds of my co collaborators in our band are my best friends. The singer isn't quite yet but we get on...a lot.

We've got two rehearsals this week, tonight, tomorrow, followed by a gig on Thursday following which we're making a night of it and staying out in the real ale pub attached to the live music venue.

Can honestly say I've not looked forward to a week like this in a long time.

Drums is all about the friends, the creation of our original music which we take deep joy from, and showing people we don't know (and some that we do) how good our music is, and the gigs.

Hopefully when the music and the gigs have gone, the friendships will still be there.

:)
 
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