Time Management

[Henry II]

Originally posted by S.P:
. . . Henry 2 - I do want a balance in my life, because i want to make it possible to have balance and still be able to do other things, i believe it will help me as a person and its nice to change things up, plus i love being with my friends, and i don't want to risk my health just to get in an hour more of practice or something! I think for me, balance is the key, because i am not able to dedicate all my time solely to drumming, but i am prepared to make sacrifices (i know that going out every weekend and needing saturday to recover isn't healthy and thats one sacrifice im prepared to make, plus i smoke when i go out, which is also a bad habbit) and i don't know of many other people who do too. I believe other activities will feed your playing, although indirectly . . . .

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Of course! [img]biggrin.gif[/img] I was just being facetious with Da Chuch. [img]wink.gif[/img] It's all about time management. And frankly, I think you can learn and absorb better when you can really get your mind away from it in between practice sessions.

[Michaud]

Hi S.P.,

I agree with the things that have been said thus far. There will be times and seasons that will lend themselves to larger amounts of practicing than others.
When I was 13, my former teacher--Gary Chaffee--told me that I needed to take advantage of the time I had while I was still in school. From that time onward with Gary (i.e., four years in all), I practiced 5 hours after school. During the summer, I did ten hour sessions. Since I lived in New Hampshire, actual playing experience didn't kick into full gear until my Berklee days.
My experience has been this: nothing in the "shed" can totally prepare you for what you will encounter on the bandstand (i.e., how to lock with different bass players, etc...) Practicing needs to be balanced with as much playing as you can get. This next thing goes without saying, but try to hook up with good, experienced musicians who can offer valuable insights into your playing. After all, in the end of the day it's the other musicians in the band that you need to please, not other drummers.
Also, remember that chops builders are only a means to an end, and not an end in themselves. There's almost always something musical to exercise your "chops"; why not kill two birds with one stone?
One last thing: make a substantial allowance in your schedule for working on creative ideas of your own. The great thing about Gary Chaffee's material is it almost forces you to do that (at least if you're to get anything out of it). That's the beauty of it all--developing your own voice.
S.P.--I wish you the best of success in your musical voyage. Take advantage of the time you have!

Steve Michaud

[S.P]

sorry didn't catch that!! what you said is very true (about the time in between practicing)

[S.P]

Another thing that has come up since i made this thread.

I've been going over this issue of time management and the amount of time i have to practice if i wanna become a pro. I find it that i get burned out after maybe 1 hour of practice so my solution to do is to take maybe a 10 minute break every 1. and do 3 sessions of 1 hour.

Also, since thinking about this, and thinking about all the effort that i have to put in! Makes me almost go over the edge to the point where i just want to give up, and sort of play drums whenver i feel like it as a hobby and prepare myself for a day gig :|

Its not what i want, but the thing is, if i don't enjoy practicing or get burned out after only 1 hour, does that mean i dont want it enough (to improve my skills to be able to become a pro drummer).

Because honestly i really want it, i can't imagine doing anything else and every time i listen to music i just wish that in the future i could be playing music too and for people to enjoy listening to my playing!

Maybe i don't want it enough though?

What do you guys think?

This is all driving friggin mad!!! I'm not in a good mood because this issue. I mean, i think its really hard for humans to break free of habits that they've had for a long time (some more than others) e.g like me going out all the time and stuff like that! But it has to be done if i want to become a pro drummer.

Oh well at least i didn't go out tonight (i have no school tmrw as it is a public holiday) and all my friends are going out and i resisted...so thats a first step for me in the right direction...i practiced for a good amount of time on the set and im just resting from my bike ride now and then im gonna practice on a pad

[John Blackburn]

Hey guys. Look at it like this, in terms of your interest, your a member of an internet message board called HOUSE OF DRUMMING. You obviously spend alot of time thinking about music and drumming. YOU'VE GOT THE INTEREST! Thomas Lang said something in the most recent technique issue of modern drummer, I dont have it to hand but it was something like:

'I never assess my ability, only my desire'

If you were to assess your desire,
im sure youd get the A+ !!!!

I think alot of us sometimes assume that we're only doing 20 percent of what we need to do, that we need to be doing 80 percent more work. I suspect that for many of us, we just need to do the extra 10 or 20 percent!

Hope this helps you.

[GoMan]

I think its kind of a risk to kinda put everything on the line to get into the whole pro thing. But Id say, if you cant enjoy practice, then its kind of a problem, I practice and really enjoy my practice time because I want to get better... like alot very fast. And the best way to get better fast, I learned is to really slow everything down and relax.... really nail it and use patience. I mean, obviously you gotta practice to get better right? and youve been playing for 3 years right? I think thats what Ive read. But if you are going pro, you are gonna be competing with guys who have been playing since they could barely walk! So you gotta practice real hard now to try to catch up to them technically and musicaly. I stay up and do rudiments stick controll, and snare piecestil 1 almost everynight these days. I get atleast 4 hours in everyday, but thats not enough... i need more!!

I am pretty deprived in terms of the number of drumming peers here. I only know me and maybe one other guy who ive seen twice who plays anything other than rock, the rest are Ok but they are pretty either rock or reggae only and I cant really talk to them that much about drums deeply, cuz musically, they dont have that much stuff to offer. Other kids who live in big cities probably have much more drum friends who they can share ideas with and shed with. Plus ive only been playing for a really short time as well so thats double the crap goin against me. But to some degree, I have broken out of it. I can play gigs here and get paid, I love the instrument enough that I will go and research things and study as much as possible when im not on the kit (even though i didnt know waht a pocket was hahah!! but my excuse is that no one over here has ever used that term in front of me...i just never knew what it was...). Ive learned alot, improved alot since the last time I really assessed myself.

I want to be a pro too and have been practicing a lot lately, listening, transcribing and stuff. Just absorbing everyhting I can as quickly efficiently, yet precisely as I can. I am going to try and get into the New School Jazz program as well as Berklee. But my first choice is the New School. The faculty there seems really top notch as wellas the private instrctors you can choose to learn from... and they also offer a double major in liberal arts from the Eugene Lang College, so I will be going there too. (Back up plan... its pretty scary just diving in)

Well anyway S.P, although this is a horribly long post and probably half of it was pretty pointless and WTFish, this is my point. We need to catch up if we wanna make it. You seem smart man, I gotta tell you. You seem to have a love for music, you know alot about music and seem to listen to alot, you seem to know alot about artists, you have the drive to go to clinics and watch shows (i dont even have that on my island!) and you are open enough to go talk to guys like Chick Corea and Dave Weckl. So iknow you have a strong interest and love for drums and music. Now Jeff Hamilton told me in my lesson, " Dont make it too hard on yourself. Dont make a hill a mountain in your mind. If you dont sell out and if you do your homework, youll get paid for playing drums all your life." since then Ive decided to do extra homework than what Id been doing at that point. Ive taken my dreams and chaged them to goals and plans. Im sure you could do it too... so what are you gonna do?

[got_a_matchgrip]

Whoah. Otter, H2, JB...great posts.

Ot - that, aside from the great instructional threads we have from time to time ["drum theory"], & the heads up on the latest bad-asp recordings, awa posted mp3s...is one thought-provoking post...it is DEF getting back to the "old" HODhb i rem/know so well & am fond of. [no thx 2 me! ;-)]

I'd much rather engage in topics such as this, & the ones i mentioned above, or also pertaining to handling the biz, than rattling on as to whether or not X drumr is "better," faster, or more musical than Y. Or trying to drag an esteemed player down into the mud, or how one great player can't do this or that like another, & such dreck. W your post directly in mind, I shall quote a great saying: Great people talk about ideas, mediocre people talk about things, & small people talk about other people.

That was one thought-provoking post, & very profound, honest, awa forthright, & one that I hope garners more answers here. I have to soak it in & it's gonna take some thought b4 i can come back to this & give my 2 that may or may not shed some light on your ideas. Aside from the typing it will also entail. [img]eek.gif[/img] /;-p [img]cool.gif[/img]

It is in a forum dedic to such as the guys we esteem in here, & one that is occupied by some pretty heavy cats themselves, that elevates this above the "F-you, Portnoy is waayy better than Limp Biscuits or Green Days."

I applaud your forthrightedness. [If that's a real word.] ;-p

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ July 04, 2005 04:18 PM: Message edited by: got_a_match_grip? ]</font>

[S.P]

Thats some great advice Henry! I think i might try something like that!

My teacher definetely motivates me, i mean after my drum lesson all i want to do is go home and practice!

Everytime i read a new response here too it inspires me!

Goman - I thought i had it bad man, buthonestly usually we don't get so many clinics and stuff here...i mean to have chick with dave, a steve smith clinic and omar hakim clinic and another dave clinic all within 1 month.

Blackburn - thanks man, i think that thomas lang quote is good! Gives me inspiration and hope

Unheard of here, it was a real rich time. As soon as i get back from l.a i got a Kenny Garret gig with the young Ronald Bruner Jr.!

thanks to all of you again who posted, really helps me alot!

Keep going if you have anything to do add!

[palmerlouie]

"The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind - weak desires bring weak results."

[Henry II]

S.P.,

Everyone goes through times when they feel unmotivated during practice sessions. When that happens you need to change your routine. There's no rule that requires you to practice technique, or any other particular aspect of your drumming every day.

Let's say you pick 3 CD's that you love and learn to play them. Pick something challenging but not impossible for you. Spend a month just working on those 3 CD's. Forget about all other aspects of your drumming for that month. What do you think that would do for your drumming? I'd bet you would be A BETTER DRUMMER after you've mastered those 3 CD's than you are now. Isn't that the goal?

After a month of that, you'll probably get sick of just doing that and will be ready to pick somthing else, technique, independence, reading, etc., to work on.

Just a thought.

Another idea is to do some legwork and seek out a good teacher. Someone whose playing AND teaching inspires you. That's one of the greatest benefits of a teacher - they know how to keep you motivated.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ July 02, 2005 12:12 AM: Message edited by: Henry II ]</font>