Has anyone's drumming actually moved you to tears?

rtliquid

Senior Member
There's a local jazz monster in my area. I've seen him with his trio maybe 7-8 times. All three guys are RIDICULOUS, but I find myself just staring at his playing/sticking/chops. Twice now, completely out of the blue and inexplicably, I got a lump in my throat and I teared up. I told him about it, and he said, "I play from the heart, and you're feeling it too." Weird. I feel like such a girlie-man ......
 
Nah, man. He's doing what he is supposed to do. I'll never forget what was said in one of my university classes.

"The purpose of music is not to express emotion, but to illicit an emotional response from the listener."

If there is no emotion, it's not music.

That being said, no, I can't say I've ever teared up from listening to just drums. Sometimes the band as a whole can do that to me. So by association, yes.
 
My own playing regularly has me close to tears.

But in a different way.

You beat me to it. Your drumming always does that to me!

And the next time anybody disputes the negative connotations of the g-word, I refer you to the original post. (I'm shutting up now, don't worry. )
 
I was in Los Angeles a few months ago. I went into a blues club and there was a three piece band playing.
They were from the Ventura California area and were playing some blues rock stuff. Only about 20 people in the audience.
The drummer was a FANTASTIC player! While he was playing, I could not keep my eyes off of him. Yeah, it brought tears to my eyes.
I went up later and told him how great he was.


And then when I first saw this video of Dave Weckl and Chris Coleman I had a lump in my throat.
I'm sure the music and the singing helped the overall feeling I had.

https://youtu.be/4RS5RsSPssw



.
 
One time a stick tip broke off and flew into my eye. I was moved to tears by my own playing.
 
Music can and does in general, but just the drumming? Can't say I ever shed a tear from just the drum track. Usually a lyric will get me and sometimes a really well executed passage. I get chills all the time from anything that musically grabs me.

What really gets me off is when people use music to illustrate a mental picture.

I have a perfect example if you know The Allman Brother's song "Whipping Post". Doesn't make me cry, but to me it is a high point of musicality.

After the guitar solo where it goes into that great iconic walkup up the scale...it culminates into a bunch of band stabs and Duanes slide part with Dickey's help conjures a slave being tied to a tree and whipped. Love the imagery.

Click to hear the part I mean: Or lick, whatever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pCytK3LgfM&t=3m45s
 
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Only my own. And not in a good way. 8+)

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When I saw Elvin and Tony. Elvin could barely walk to the kit without his wife's help but when he began playing it was like watching a child discover music for the first time. Just joyous and beautiful. Tony's control power and finesse over those huge drums and cymbals was incredible to experience up close.

Both performances had me with a lump in my throat. I felt so lucky to be able witness those masters speak to me live in the flesh.
 
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A few years back I saw Virgil playing a clinic in Sydney and it didn't make me cry but at one point I sort of burst out into a giggling fit... I later realized what a drum geek I must have looked but what he was doing was so great it just cracked me up.
 
Seeing Tony Williams play left me stunned.
I'll never see a better drummer.
I didn't feel that I had seen a great drummer, I felt I had seen had heard and seen great MUSICIAN.

Seeing Ritchie Hayward left me depressed.
Depressed because I knew I would never be that good.
 
This is what it's all about really. The aim is to play with emotion and convey this through your playing. If you feel strongly about the music you're playing, hopefully this will come across through expression and execution.

For us drummers even a solo drum performance can make you feel the dedication and passion for drums. Someone mentioned Virgil Donati. His stuff is a prime example of the latter: the man speaks to me like no other! :)

http://www.drummerworld.com/Videos/virgildonati2013.html
 
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I play praise and worship at church, and I see people moved to tears almost each week; however, it's not from my drumming itself.

I don't think that I've ever been moved to tears, but I will say that I've heard drummers that have made me sit up straight or stop what i was doing and take notice.
 
I've been awed, mesmerized, and in a state of utter joy when watching my favorite drummers perform solo--guys like Sucherman, Simon, Gavin Harrison, etc. Drumming without accompaniment, however, has never brought me to tears. Music played in a band or orchestral setting, live, though has indeed brought me to tears on many occasions. First time I heard Yes play Awaken comes immediately to mind (3rd row at Wembley Arena in the round) or most recently, Steven Wilson's band playing Home Invasion/Regret #9 (during the Moog and guitar solo section). Best keyboardist I've heard since Wakeman. If you haven't experienced music to the point of tears, I hope that one day you will.
 
Nope,
drums have never moved me to tears, and that's because I've never heard sad drumming and also because there always seems to be an element of noodling in drumming performances that seem less than heartfelt.

Classical piano has done it though. Valentina Lisitsa and recordings by Furtwangler come to mind.
 
Drums have never brought me to tears. but have made me just go wow and sit in amazement listening... Example.. Cantaloupe island.. there are these little drum rolls that you barely hear but on headphones stand out nicely. and they are so quick and clean.. and perfect.. just moments like that...

Some singers do though...

James brown.. It's a mans world... something bout it just grabs me...

on Guitar only Jeff Beck live at ronnie scots made me cry.. I played for 30 years and was never 1% of what he does on that dvd.. the only true real guitar god left as far as that genre/age goes..
 
Maybe if Steve Perry rejoined Journey, now that Steve Smith has, and during their performance of "Faithfully" or any of their other classic tunes... that would be pretty emotional...
 
I have never been that moved by drumming. I have been moved to tears or nearly to tears from certain vocal performances, an ensemble performance here or there, and my first time seeing Steely Dan this past summer, when they played Aja I was nearly in tears. Such an amazing tune!

The most I have ever been moved by a drumming performance was seeing Buddy Rich on TV after starting drum lessons (inspired by him to begin taking lessons), seeing Neil Peart and Rush for the first time in 1976, seeing Bonzo and Led Zeppelin in 1977, and seeing a drummer friend pass out at the end of a drum and bugle corp competition as he passed over the goal line!
 
Oh ya, and when I saw the Ray Brown trio live in 1995! My all time favorite bass player!
 
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