I can understand the insecurity in having another member who has drumming capabilities and the sense of being judged......it's justified and well within the realms of normalcy.
But as the dedicated drummer in the band, there's a whole slew of elements involved.
You have the capability to play a money beat for extended periods at 60 bpm. It's hard and takes discipline.
You have the ability to reach out of the pocket with a simple, well spoken fill and slip right back into the pocket again. It's hard and takes discipline.
You also have the ability to negotiate, change the beat, be behind or ahead of the time as required. It's hard and takes discipline.
A lot of the multi instrumentalists I have bandied with over the years can play at the drums, but they don't own the groove.
yep...there is a huge difference between playing the drums and
PLAYING the drums....
so one of my most intimidating moments came when I was doing a pit orchestra gig in college, and they hired this bass player in town, who I will call "Marcos" in lieu of using his real name w/o permission. He was THE top cat for jazz, classical and everythign else on bass in town. A local legend, and one of my heroes. He had played in the C-bus Jazz Arts Group, was a member of the C-bus Symphony...had ALL of the pedigree.
we were doing West Side Story - which is already an intimidating as hell drum part. He would come oin, and set up right next to me, and I would instantly shrink into a shaking blob on my throne. I thought for sure I was gonna get roasted on every rep for all of my downfalls. BUT, he would always greet me with his trademark soft spoken "whats up cat?", and shake my hand. when we rehearsed, he rarely said a thing right away, but as the run kept going, he would give me little pointers here and there, or say "hey man, lets pull the dancers along in this one" or "hey, on the end of Maria, why don't you do a decrescendo roll on the cymbal as I come of the bow a bit"...cool little extras that made me feel like we were a team.
during breaks in rehearsals, he would just sit and play walking bqss lines to himself, and one day, I started playing along with brushes. He looked back and gave me a reassuting nod, and we just sort fo vamped in those downtimes.
at the end of the run, he was packing up, and told me that I was one of the best drummers he had played with in a pit situation. and that his most favorite times were when we would vamp on stuff during breaks. I was like the cartoon character with little hearts coming out of my head. For the nedt 15 years - until he retired - we would see each other, and he always called me "Otterbein" (my college). He actually lived in the neighborhood and I would see him at the supermarket often.
so, just a little story to remind us thqt not all people who are giving suggestions are jerks
