The drum conest thing...

[ashio nz]

Well...had a showdown at the local 'drum wars' battle & came 2nd by 1 point. But that's cool - the young guy that won was only 21 (I'm 34 just now) and played METAL with both feet nailing this 32nd note ballistic bass drum drama which sounded cool. AND he wore a mask similar to that of our man Darth Maul from 'The Phanton Menace.'

So my point is: Who likes the competitive spirit within music? Does the 'drum battle' thing turn YOU off?

Personally, I prefer groove playing & locking in to ninja drumming.

Still, I reckon that any experience is better than none???

[Nikk]

Give me Jeff Porcaro over Lars Ulrich anyday. [img]wink.gif[/img]

[Steve Holmes]

Music is obviously subjective and cannot be "judged" but it's all in fun (and sponsorship)I guess.
Guitar Center has "Drum Off's" every year, I competed in a few of them. You get past the pre-lim's and some 15 year old Chambers clone comes in a blows everyone away. Never fails.
Now they call me to judge cuz I've got some Names on the resume. Funny how it works. I do it though , I'm a big believer in giving back to the drum community (thus the web site [img]wink.gif[/img] )

[PocketPlayer]

Right on ashio nz! Great to see you going for it, especially if you're up against the young guns!

As for competition and art- I don't really see a drum competition necessarily as music. Drum contests seem to appeal to a younger crowd- that's what motivates when young- speed, chops, to dazzel! Every high school has some form of competition across the subject spectrum. Can you compete in a poetry contest? An essay contest? Happens all the time. Kids love it. Same energy towards music and drumming. Was the BRII tape w/ Gadd, Weckl, Vinnie a contest? If you read the post on that topic, it sure had a lot of guys comparing one w/another. Porcaro hated solos and rarely took one live, but most groove players can't compete against a solo performer. That's cool! Most guys who can amaze as soloist will never work as much as Jeff did in one year also.

I enjoy both. As a groove or 'pocketplayer' I really like the guys with great chops, how they communicate differently then I do- I'm not threatened by them at all. In fact, I try to 'eat the watermelon, spit out the seeds'
I always grab a nugget or two that I can incorporate into a nice tasty groove when I see guys totally blow. And on the side...I'm always working on my technique becasue it's not a security blanket for me...I rarely feel my 'boast' is in my chops which keeps me hungry.

[ashio nz]

Nice Pocketplayer!

Judging these events would be kinda fun actually.

Re groove playing vs soloing I always try to remember a quote from Stewart Copeland from MD 1990 where he said that too many fills can water down the music thus making the tune sound too busy. By playing a solid groove, with feeling and dynamics, when you are required to do a fill/lick, it sounds great. The listener is sucked in to the feel then WOW - that was a cool fill.

Most of the Police's tunes had lots of signature fills, ruffs, etc etc but you would never hear Stewart play a solo. In the same article, he also related a performance at PASIC '95 where he said 'I'm gonna play something for you that requires total concentration and effort.' He then proceeded to play a heavy rock groove without varying it much at all.

That would have been a strong point to make to a lot of young players.

[beat Hit]

Makes sense Pocket...

Having a performance by a solo drummer as in Drum-Festivals has its place and time for sure.

Also speaking of Art... This makes me say that drums is an EXTREMELY musical instrument where you're called to support the others around you. Drummers can either totally destroy what's goin round them by NOT listening, or beautifully support and enable the other instrumments to have something to build upon. Or even in some specific contexts, enable the others to travel places they've never been before... LOL!! That's why Tony Levin loved playing with Vinnie, whom enabled him to go places...

Ciao,

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ September 18, 2002 09:38 PM: Message edited by: beat Hit ]</font>

[Josiah83]

How can art be a competition?

I belive music is art, be it an ensamble or solo isntruments.