Months Gone By
What is progress? Seriously, how do you recognize when you have advanced yourself in music? Are there certain checkpoints? Milestones to meet? Maybe. But since my last post here I haven't felt like progress was very present and it has made me take a step back and realize that the better you get in music, the more the line of distinction between progress and routine becomes faded. Sure I've learned new songs and mastered old ones down to the quarter note but is that moving forward? How do you measure progress, have I made any, and more importantly I propose, does it all even matter?
I don't believe progress can be indefinitely measured, it peaks out from hiding every now and again but generally doesn't show it's face. Advancement means personal skill progression, as well as circumstantial steps up: playing around town, actual gigs, getting signed to a record label and playing stadiums! While not limited to such, it seems society determines your progress by how financially or circumstantially successful you are, but we know that's not what I meant when I asked if I've made progress. . . Most people don't even make it past playing around town and that's a really sad reality that talent is dropped if you're not the same as the others.
So how can I make progress in the social eye and in my own personal sense? I'm not sure, but I can tell you one thing, it's the little things that work towards not progress, but contentment in where you are right now that matters, and here's why: figuring out that you can play that one part in that song you like, or finally working past those music pieces and flipping the page of that lesson book you've been stuck on for weeks once and for all, or maybe just realizing how beautiful music can be and how much it can make an impact - and therefore - how much you can make an impact, it's those little things, down to the very specifics, that make you content - and contentedness brews inspiration and that's our key word here.
-Inspiration-
Allow me to ramble. Inspiration is a blessing and a curse, it is more sensitive than progress, and is almost a rare commodity to come by. Inspiration I'm noticing is one of the only ways to jumpstart progression, kinda like nitrous in old racing video games ,it boosts you to work past your limits. But unlike anywhere else, inspiration in music isn't elusive, you know you've had it before, and that any current episode of inspiration will end and it will not be the last time you see it. Bottom line: inspiration is your best friend in music.
When I specifically get a rare episode of inspiration, I realize I can do a lot more than what I believe I'm capable of. I remember the time I broke the barriers that kept me from playing some of my favorite blink-182 songs, and the barrier was rather simple, Travis Barker is a god and you'll never amount to him, end of story, goodnight! That's what everybody told me and that's what I told myself, but I don't know, one day inspiration swung me around, gripped hold of my collar with one hand and slapped me to and fro with the other screaming that that's not the truth. So I picked up the sticks and put the pedal to the metal, realizing that Travis Barker is not a god, he is a man who does incredible things when he sits down at the kit - and I ask - what stops me from following that example?
'So you've learned some blink-182 songs, okay. Levi you're a crazy ol' nut talking about inspiration like it's an energy drink! So what! You know you won't get anywhere unless opportunity tears down your house and screams in your face!' Well here's what you don't know, internal critic! Opportunity has screamed in my face! Hah! ...Ron Hurst, my drum teacher, drummer of rock band Steppenwolf, recommended me to his daughter's all-youth band that he's managing. Lemme paint this picture for you: Ron Hurst's daughter at 12 years old has a band that plays festivals and opens and closes for bigger bands and now severely lacks a drummer and an actual rockstar who's looking it over just saved me that spot! So let's go back to circumstantial success. How do you get famous, get big, and make your own music? It takes luck and opportunity, key words for another day that are more elusive than the unicorn. But this opportunity presented to me now means a ton of dedication and time out of my schedule, it means school and friends and especially free weekends taking a step down and being thrown onto the back-burner. It's a big decision to join a band, and to evaluate it thoroughly, what are the ups and downs?
Pros:
- rockstar connections
- opportunity for higher recognition
- deeper involvement in the performing music world
- possibly a huge upside for my future
- a shooting chance at my dream
Cons:
- increased stress
- lessened weekends and free time
- required dedication (passion can not be forced, see previous posts)
- greatly heightened pressure and expectation
- less room for focus and time for school
- anxiety. Enough said
We'll leave this here for you to judge.
Why did I go MIA for months and then come back and ramble about inspiration and progress in music? Because I have not made any progress since and I've found little inspiration, so instead of something more like a progress update, I think it's important to first understand that a milestone in this line of work cannot be expected, music is a wild card and while you can measure it, you can not contain it by demanding what progress a person has made, and that's the mindset my internal critic had been in - that a blog post here needs to record my advancements, and if there are none, what's the point?
On the basis of everything I've just written, that's a mindset deemed illogical and I don't believe that is at all a healthy way to think of yourself or of others. Keep that in mind: don't expect consistent musical advancement in any musician you know. Then again, maybe that's just my experience, go get some more opinions! ...So what's in the nitty gritty? What are the specifics, what's really been going on at the kit behind the instagram posts? A couple new things. When I started real drumming I made a Spotify playlist solely consisting of songs I can play and songs I'm working on. Recently the playlist has surpassed over 100 songs and I know for a fact that's not the limit and I realized a lesson to be learned here. Once again music can be measured (just like this playlist) but cannot be contained, you do not build up the amount of songs that you can play, instead it is the skill you possess to play songs in their conceptual entirety that you build up. Does that make sense?
In other news delving into specifics, new techniques for playing double stroke rolls (RR-LL) has me up the walls! Did you know you can connect two hits with a stick in one motion? You extent your fingers with the down motion of your wrist and on your way back up you clench those fingers for another hit! Allow me to demonstrate:
So yeah I just thought that was pretty neat. You can use this technique in paradiddles, (R-L-RR-L-R-RR) six stroke rolls or inverted paradiddles, (RR-L-R-LL-R-L) and they sound killer on the ride! And speaking of doubles, I've also been working on foot speed as well - specifically in doubles. The Trooper by Iron Maiden suddenly isn't as daunting as before and metal has become a new possibility in the horizon!
As I practice each day, I keep in mind that even Travis Barker isn't invincible and neither is Taylor Hawkins or Dave Grohl and that inspires me to do better and try more difficult things, sluggishly working towards another unforeseen milestone somewhere around here... But lets not get ahead of ourselves, Neil Peart and Carter Beauford? Totally untouchable.
~ Levi the procrastinator
