365 Days of Drumming
Leading into January 1, 2023, I decided that I would make a goal to play drums everyday for 15 minutes minimum after reading a phenomenal post by organist Wil Blades (check him out if you aren’t already hip) that spoke about how important regular practice is. In the post he mentioned how Louie Bellson would play every day or if he had a travel day and couldn’t get to the drums he’d at least hold the sticks. There was a lot of power in that statement when he said “just hold the sticks”, making me change my perspective that practicing had to be this very dedicated thing with all of my equipment and time available. Around the same time I was also seeing posts by my student’s mom who was doing a daily practice with roller skating where she would roller skate, even in her house on rainy or cold days, to try and promote mental wellbeing and happiness. She would post a short video and day count in a form of journaling. Both of these factors really got me thinking about how at no point in my life have I ever played drums on a daily basis. Surely there were weeks where I’d play every day but a lot of time I’d take days off, maybe more than one in a row, maybe longer. Though I enjoy practicing and playing immensely, I had only really practiced when I had time, or thought I had time, to do so. All of that changed this past year.
Some things you do every day without thinking twice about it. Things that take much longer than fifteen minutes of your time. Even things you could do without like checking social media (unless that’s your job). I heard the great jazz drummer and teacher Michael Carvin say “try to practice every day for 5 minutes. I bet you can’t do it.” He was absolutely right. It’s super hard to just get that done. To clarify, I’m not talking about jamming or just kind of improvising on the drums for 5 minutes, but 5 solid minutes of focused and dedicated work. It’s really much more difficult and hard to find time for than you’d think. On the other hand, check your screen time report on your phone and I’d guarantee it’s more of a priority situation (raises hand). Well that is what I sent out to do; play every day for fifteen minutes or longer, in a dedicated practice session. If it was a gig day, I’d warm up pre-gig and not practice. On other days it would range from the 15 minute minimum on the pad to maybe 1.5-2 hours of drum set practice if time allowed. A few times I’d be traveling and didn’t have a full rig. I found myself playing through rudiments on a carpeted floor, playing brushes on a coffee table, or hitting wrist strokes on a pillow in a hotel room. It all still mattered.
Once I decided to go on this path, I assumed there would be challenges but I wasn’t sure exactly what they would look like. Here are the obstacles I found myself up against. First was remembering to practice. Some days I just got busy and realized as I was getting ready to go to bed that I had not played for the 15 minute minimum. Those nights I’d end up running through a warm up and some rudiments or snare studies and calling it quits. Eventually that turned into setting a timer on my phone to go off at 9:45pm saying “did you play today?”. The next problem was planning when to practice. On days I’m in the teaching studio there are breaks built in where I can get practice time in but on the weekends I found it a lot harder to find time for a practice session. I had to think ahead for the day when I might be able to manage my daily session. One night I fell asleep putting my daughter to bed and I woke up about 45 minutes later and dragged myself to the practice pad (was not a great practice session tbh). Other days I would have a lunch break between students for an hour, so I’d eat for 30 minutes and practice for 30. The third and probably biggest challenge was playing when I didn’t want to. This past year was full of big ups and downs. If there was negativity around drumming (which I sometimes struggle with - not getting into that here) I found that I had to talk myself into practicing those days. Days where it would have been easier to just say forget about it. The interesting discovery I had; once I got started I would not want to stop. Oddly enough, the days I had the hardest time picking up the sticks were generally rewarded with a great practice session where a lot of the anxieties I felt seemed to disappear through music.
So what was gained? Learned? Was it worth it? There were some major advantages to going through this process. The most resonating one one is the connection I feel to my instrument. During the pandemic I really lost a certain comfort level on the drums because so much time went by between gigs and practicing sprees, when I did get back to playing it felt distant and clumsy. It seemed as though I was trying to start my car on a below freezing morning; I could do it but not without great reluctance. Fast forward to today, I just feel like I’m picking up where I left off before and my touch and foundation are mostly available to me - a key factor in smoothing out the improvisation process. The second major learning moment for me was pushing through the hard days when I didn’t want to. It helped me realize how much I genuinely love and care about this craft as well as how healing time with music can be. Without getting into the artist conundrum of when your stress release in life is also your line of work, it is amazing to feel the effect of putting on a recording of some favorite music and snapping out of the mood you were in. One of the ways I was able to combat the issue of not wanting to practice on certain days was changing the dialogue from “I’m not in the mood to practice right now” to a much healthier mindset of “this is what I do, and it’s realistic and necessary for me to keep my facility on this instrument.” A final realization was a road block that practice sessions had to be an hour or more. I realized that it was much more beneficial to practice only 15 minutes a day rather than 2 hour blocks once or twice a week. Maybe read that one again. It’s about daily effort, however small that may be. There aren’t any shortcuts in this field, but I’m not saying that an 8 hour practice session is always beneficial either. I have learned that while I love playing for extended periods of time, my own ability to focus and grow or develop a skill is limited to a shorter window of time. That might be different for you. As for the final question - was it worth it? Absolutely. In fact I didn’t stop the day after I hit my year goal, and I plan to continue, maybe I’ll take a break eventually. Gregory Hutchinson said many times “no days off!” and we all know what an absolute master he is. I heard that when you reach a milestone or complete a goal it’s a good idea to do something nice for yourself. I did order a new stick back as a treat for hitting the mark, but I needed one anyway…
One of the greatest accomplishments of this year was finally completing the goal of being able to play through Alan Dawson’s Rudimental Ritual from memory. I had started this over 10 years ago, gotten up to the Swiss rudiments memorized, then could not seem to get over the hump of memorizing the last few sections. Although I could read through it at a decent tempo, it took practicing every day and making it a priority that in the summer of 2023 I played through the entire ritual for the first time by memory. That alone was a major developmental leap for me, but now is a consistent and wonderful way to explore the language and techniques of the drums. Furthermore, I was able to stay focused and set goals that could reasonably be accomplished, make note of them, and move on. When you don’t practice regularly it becomes apparent that goals are more like wishes, sometimes even chronic negative views you keep on your own playing rather than things you are able to fix.
In closing, it was a real learning experience, a valuable playing experience, and a healthy habit which has been established. I’m looking forward to what the future of practice will bring and the changes that will come with it.