Energy and Focus in the Practice Room

[MethodAir]

You have two choices: you can either go half assed and go through the motions, or you can push yourself and challenge yourself. I find it takes some preparation to do the latter. You have to keep moving and vary what you do.

I set out to site read Weckl's Spur of the Moment solo, with music minus one. So I started out at 50% tempo, taking 8 or 16 bar sections at a time...eventually got up to 80% playing the whole thing with no errors. That's takes a push but that is what makes you improve.

MethodAir
http://www.electricmountain.com

[sean b. tinio]

do all of you experience your playing being "off" sometimes or for example, you practiced real hard and you had a nice run through of the music your gonna play, but during the performance "you cant get the right feel of the music.... its like your inlove then at that moment the love is gone... (i hope your getting what i mean coz im beginning to sound like a love DJ here!!)... i know im not nervous, i can still play the tune, but its like the rhythm is not inside of your body, its just that .... [img]eek.gif[/img]

[chris perra]

the problem with doing a performance verses a practice run through is, it's you reacting to you're environment.

the other musicians, what there sense of pulse is like vs. yours, the room you are in, how you set up your drums that day, what you ate that day.

all of these things can contribute to feeling off. i'm sure if you asked anyone and they were honest they would say that they have experienced the same thing at one time or another.

to me the only way to get around little things like that is experience, learning not just how to play parts, but how they sound and come across in a myriad of settings, how to deal with other musicians if there pulse is different than yours.

sometimes just being aware of these little things can help alot.

i find that every once and awhile if i don't set my kit up right, say my seat is too close to a wall, and i have my kick and hihat too close i can feel of a bit. snare height is another one for me.

being diligent about setting up consistantly is how i deal with it.

chris perra

[chris perra]

nikk,

do you love those things or do you feel that it is something you need to get under your belt because everyone else has?

also do you have an outlet to work with bands on jazz, or whatever rocket science you are cooking up. i found sometimes i would work my ass off get something down and then it would take 2 years to get a chance to use it.

it can be frustrating not being able to utilize one handed 16 'th notes on the ride at 120, cause lets face it, most of the stuff we do is very less is more.

subconciously we could be asking ourselves "why bother? i'm never gonna use this, i don't even like it, but i gotta do to keep up with vinnie and virgil"

chris perra

[XNavyDrummer]

RLRR LRLLFreak,

Being "off" during a performance after you nailed it during the rehearsal in my experience has mostly do with sound issues.

At NAMM, when I saw Zoro with the guys from Earth, Wind and Fire, the leader was clearly distubed by the sound he was hearing on stage. He basically apologized for the performance (which was amazing!) at the end of the show because things were sounding so weird to him on stage.

If you can't hear yourself and the others the way you need to it's real hard to pull off a great perfomance. This is where I think Weckl has really got it together with his sound set-up. Most of you probably know that he has all of his drum mics and each of the other musicians signals all routed to his mixer. The mix in his ears is made to order, so that part of the equation is under control. Can you imagine having a great mix at every gig??!!! Must be nice!

[sean b. tinio]

i guess your right about the sound thing..
when our band was asked to play in a mall, i told them that i want my own monitor (i preffered a studio headphone) to use, where i can hear all of us mixed in properly and it went great, but sometimes though.... its hard to concentrate when your using a drumkit that sounds diff from the one you usually use.... (i dont own one)coz i play drums every satrdays and sundays in our local church (but im also involved in another), and im the one responsible for tuning and maintaning it, i use a MAPEX M series, paiste splash and crash, zildjian hihats and ride... so its a difficult adjustment.

[beats]

I think everyone has concentration issues.My practice time has been reduced due to searching for a new rehearsal space,and being crazy busy.My awesome wife bought me some cymbal/drum mutes so i can shed at home.I have practice goals that are always on deck:exercises/working on meter/independence/jazz ride beats/kick work,and on&on.I understand that its not good practice to jump from one practice aspect to another(the idea is that u lose focus);but i have a short attention span anyway so jumping from exercise to exercise keeps my session fresh.I always go back and review what i worked on and repeat the cycle(while taping my self too).It is difficult to practice judiciously with concentration,but i also have a(thanx 2 my teacher)an obsessive need to work on my skills.I know what im lacking,so the challenge of overcoming that,or improving,always leave me driven.Plus the fact that ive always wanted my hands to sound'clean';which is something i love about Vinnie-how clean his hands sound.I'm working on that constantly.Mixing up the program for me really works.But discipline is what you are after Nikk.Also being inundated with inspiration keeps me focused,fuels the'hunger',and opens the mind.I have a lazy disposition,so mostly its just a mental barrier to hop over.I like to be gentlemanly competittive about my skills,thus the need to improve .............beats.......

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ February 05, 2003 03:23 PM: Message edited by: beats ]</font>

[Nikk]

thanks again everyone!