As Gandalf says of a certain character: "He thinks less than he talks, and slower; yet he can see through a brick wall in time."There's a story where Arthur C. Clark introduces a character by saying he "wasn't stupid, he was just slow." Then he describes a character who's quite brilliant, but not a quick thinker. I've always loved that line. (The character ends up saving the day.)
Incidentally, I love the fact that Eno can't remember the name of the album which almost certainly earned him at least a few million dollars.Burkhard Bilger writes:
The drummers study was inspired by an anecdote Eno told Eagleman:Early this winter, I joined [David] Eagleman in London for his most recent project: a study of time perception in drummers. Timing studies tend to be performed on groups of random subjects or on patients with brain injuries or disorders. They’ve given us a good sense of average human abilities, but not the extremes: just how precise can a person’s timing be? “In neuroscience, you usually look for animals that are best at something,” Eagleman told me, over dinner at an Italian restaurant in Notting Hill. “If it’s memory, you study songbirds; if it’s olfaction, you look at rats and dogs. If I were studying athletes, I’d want to find the guy who can run a four-minute mile. I wouldn’t want a bunch of chubby high-school kids.”
The idea of studying drummers had come from Brian Eno, the composer, record producer, and former member of the band Roxy Music. Over the years, Eno had worked with U2, David Byrne, David Bowie, and some of the world’s most rhythmically gifted musicians. He owned a studio a few blocks away, in a converted stable on a cobblestoned cul-de-sac, and had sent an e-mail inviting a number of players to participate in Eagleman’s study. “The question is: do drummers have different brains from the rest of us?” Eno said. “Everyone who has ever worked in a band is sure that they do.”
“I was working with Larry Mullen, Jr., on one of the U2 albums,” Eno told me. “ ‘All That You Don’t Leave Behind,’ or whatever it’s called.” Mullen was playing drums over a recording of the band and a click track—a computer-generated beat that was meant to keep all the overdubbed parts in synch. In this case, however, Mullen thought that the click track was slightly off: it was a fraction of a beat behind the rest of the band. “I said, ‘No, that can’t be so, Larry,’ ” Eno recalled. “ ‘We’ve all worked to that track, so it must be right.’ But he said, ‘Sorry, I just can’t play to it.’ ”
Eno eventually adjusted the click to Mullen’s satisfaction, but he was just humoring him. It was only later, after the drummer had left, that Eno checked the original track again and realized that Mullen was right: the click was off by six milliseconds. “The thing is,” Eno told me, “when we were adjusting it I once had it two milliseconds to the wrong side of the beat, and he said, ‘No, you’ve got to come back a bit.’ Which I think is absolutely staggering.”
Guys, I'm enjoying reading all your well thought out and insightful responses - then there's this vvvvvvvvv
Dammit!! Why didn't I think of that? I should have trashed my shitty tubs & snagged Saturns - I'd have eclipsed Vinnie by now ?
You're just encouraging him, aren't you
Completely fine by me Larry, & 100% expectedAndy I'm not making light of anything, I just could not pass that up lol.
I'm not spending nearly as much time on the kit as I should, but I hope to remedy that early next year as I get my drum room back in order.I am so glad you drum. I hope you take lots of time behind the kit, specifically, doing simple 4 way independence beats.
It probably works playing any instrument, not just drumming.
However I do think that since all 4 limbs are involved it's better than just 2 limbs for the brain plasticity.
Drumming is probably the best musical brain therapy IMO.
Einstein had a very large corpus callosum, according to a slew of articles. Pretty cool.
I'm not so sure on that Rich. Maybe because it was the most obvious, but when I first started playing after my stroke, it was micro timing of the absolute basics that immediately jumped out as being skewed. Not only actual drift, but the real time perception of drift too.The study Andy cited must have looked at jazz drummers. Hitting the snare on two and four like I do is a brainless endeavor.
Since you like both drumming and woodworking, have you tried to make stave drums?When I retired, I found, and therefore surmised, that humans needed something to keep the brain going since not doing the same routine pre- retirement. I found that we needed 2 activities two satisfy this need. One small muscle activity, and one large muscle activity. This not based on science but only my own observation. I use drumming for my large muscle activity, and my woodworking hobby for the small muscle activity. There are times when there is a crossover, but mainly this idea works for me. Small keeps your brain functioning on things like design, measuring, planning etc. Large, drumming, keeps you moving most of your body to keep the joints loose. Just my thoughts. Actually, just the thought of this idea kept my grain working.
For me drumming gets rid of headaches and depression, no meds or drugs needed.
And my journey into being muzzled!?For my wife and neighbors my drumming GAVE THEM them headaches and depression which necessitated their need for meds and drugs ?