Completely different activities that in some ways are like drumming?

Magenta

Platinum Member
For me, it's dressage. I only do lowish-level stuff, none of your top hat and tailcoat malarkey, but it's often struck me how similar it is to drumming. In the same way that drum kits are only as good as the drummer playing them, horses are only as good as the people riding them - although having an educated horse does make it easier.

You need good co-ordination, the ability to isolate one or more parts of your body from the rest, a willingness to put in hours and hours of work (sometimes with no apparent reward, sometimes with instant results), good "feel", and the ability to be constructively self-critical. Just as you have to play the music but not interfere with it, you have to know at any instant how much or how little to ride the horse, when to support it and when to "play the spaces". And of course, the tiniest adjustments often make the biggest difference, for good or for bad.

When you're riding a relaxed, co-operative, confident horse, his/her breathing becomes deep and regular, s/he feels as light as a feather in your hands and as soft as butter along the neck and back, and you find yourself riding by telepathy rather than by giving physical aids. It's very much like to the "out of body" sensation you experience when you're drumming and the music takes over and seems to play itself.

Quite extraordinary how much the two have in common, when on the face of it they could hardly be more different.

So - what totally unrelated activities do others do, that are bizarrely similar to playing drums?
 
Puzzle video games and riding my bike.

With the puzzle games, if I really like the game and become hooked on it, eventually my brain just takes over and I more or less become a spectator as my fingers just do what they need.

Riding my bike sometimes takes me back to that place when I was a kid and nothing else matters at that moment but the enjoyment of riding.
 
Everything.

(There is rhythm in everything. Go find it.)

.
 
Everything.

(There is rhythm in everything. Go find it.)

.

Agreed.

Easier to try and list what isn't related.

...hmm...can't come up with anything...
 
Puzzle video games and riding my bike.

With the puzzle games, if I really like the game and become hooked on it, eventually my brain just takes over and I more or less become a spectator as my fingers just do what they need.


Yea. Mortal Kombat always reminded me of playing music; the special moves and fatalities.
 
Nice topic, Madge. With dressage and drumming you have two performance based activities - they are dynamic and happen in real time. I find many similarities between playing music and sport - especially the performance psychology. It's almost opposite to another hobby of mine - digital cartooning, which requires zero "performance".

In drumming I'm really old school - acoustic kit at low volume, usually unmic'd, no click. In cartooning I'm more like a DJ, where I need not have physical skills but instead mostly use mental / technological skills to achieve creative outcomes. This, of course, has long been less valued by society than physical skills - we have special respect for physical mastery and have tended to dis those who "just have to press a few buttons" (as though it took no knowledge or understanding to know which buttons to press).

But the bottom line is that The Zone is The Zone, whatever you do.

Waxing your bikini line perhaps?

A number of similarities ...

  1. Setup - getting the box of wax strips and cleaners and cleaning "the stage area"
  2. Rhythm required in rubbing the wax strips to warm them up
  3. Focus needed in separation of and placement of said wax strips
  4. More rhythm needed to melt the wax by vigorously rubbing the strip as it lies on "the stage area"
  5. Patience needed to let the wax cool and set
  6. Mustering of courage is needed before the "performance"
  7. A positive, Zenlike ninja approach to the whole thing provides the best result. Just do it.
  8. Set down and tidy up.
 
That "I made a horrific mistake" thread got me thinking about how we relate to our drum gear. Some people stay with their drums for life. Some change drums like clothes. How well can you settle with a kit that's not your first choice? It can work out, just as some arranged marriages can end in lurve.
 
So - what totally unrelated activities do others do, that are bizarrely similar to playing drums?

For me it's drawing, painting and digital art, in other words, creating something from nothing, you follow your emotions, feel, inspirations and you come up with something, the same way you approach an original song, no one did it before you, you create it.

Some people stay with their drums for life. Some change drums like clothes.

Could it be the difference of being in love with drumming or being in love with drums?
 
It's almost opposite to another hobby of mine - digital cartooning, which requires zero "performance".

One of my daughters is a digital artist and I must admit, I'd never noticed that what she does bears the remotest resemblance to playing drums, until I read this:

For me it's drawing, painting and digital art, in other words, creating something from nothing, you follow your emotions, feel, inspirations and you come up with something, the same way you approach an original song, no one did it before you, you create it.
 
One of my daughters is a digital artist and I must admit, I'd never noticed that what she does bears the remotest resemblance to playing drums, until I read this:

True. Coming up with something fresh will feel good in any art or craft. I feel much more suited to activities that give me time to think - toons, writing, etc. That, perversely, is what attracts me to drumming, which demands that you produce in the here and now.

I find real time performance based activities to be a good reality check - getting behind a kit or on a tennis court you soon find out whether a state of mind is centred or a bit off with the pixies (I can't always readily tell the difference :)
 
Nice topic, Madge. With dressage and drumming you have two performance based activities - they are dynamic and happen in real time. I find many similarities between playing music and sport - especially the performance psychology. It's almost opposite to another hobby of mine - digital cartooning, which requires zero "performance".

In drumming I'm really old school - acoustic kit at low volume, usually unmic'd, no click. In cartooning I'm more like a DJ, where I need not have physical skills but instead mostly use mental / technological skills to achieve creative outcomes. This, of course, has long been less valued by society than physical skills - we have special respect for physical mastery and have tended to dis those who "just have to press a few buttons" (as though it took no knowledge or understanding to know which buttons to press).

But the bottom line is that The Zone is The Zone, whatever you do.



A number of similarities ...

  1. Setup - getting the box of wax strips and cleaners and cleaning "the stage area"
  2. Rhythm required in rubbing the wax strips to warm them up
  3. Focus needed in separation of and placement of said wax strips
  4. More rhythm needed to melt the wax by vigorously rubbing the strip as it lies on "the stage area"
  5. Patience needed to let the wax cool and set
  6. Mustering of courage is needed before the "performance"
  7. A positive, Zenlike ninja approach to the whole thing provides the best result. Just do it.
  8. Set down and tidy up.

Arrrgghhhh. Too much information.
 
Hmmmm...mine requires both hands, a good grip, quick smooth strokes, a small towel and takes about 3 minutes.









I'm talking about polishing my shoes, perverts.
 
Was going to say that there is a certain rhythmic activity that my wife and I engage in that is very similar to how you describe riding a horse.

I would say that playing a good game of tennis has a rythym and zen aspect to it as does hammering nails all day with a hammer (25 years ago I did LOTS of this). You get in the zone and it just happens.
 
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