Reflecting on Musical Maturity

[buga]

This a good topic to use to reflect on ones musical life. I have played for about 3 years and through those years I have changed as a player. I started out very timid and not wanting to make any sound on the drums that could make me look like a fool in front of the "community". Then I was in a showing off phase where I wanted to impress anyone and everyone(aka the "prog" stage-thanks Neil!-dong alot of cross sticking btw cymbals which to this day seems to impress guitar players-octopus action ehh!)

I wanted to be the fastest, flashiest drummer. Sometimes I found technical stuff frustrating but didn't want to give up and realized I would never use it(closet players anyone?). I just wanted to be able to know myself that I had the ambition to get there. When someone would say "mindless fills" I would think that it might of been envy, but now I've gained some technical skills and I'm rather satisfied with my technical side of playing, but I realized after jamming with another player for a while that a lot of that insane stuff really has no place in music(working on that "ostinato pattern" or "syncopation exercise" and trying to "fit it" in a musical context just got out of hand, I became frustrated in the fact I had so much language that I didn't know what to do, someoene once told me the more words you say, the best chance there is to make a fool of yourself, I guess he was correct!( . From experience I realized it just ends up wasting the band's time. Lately, I've been less concerned with my speed and "wanking". Now this might sound cliche, but I'd much rather be better recognized for being a good songwriter, and people getting something out of the song or sharing the feeling than hearing someone say "wow, that guy's combo's give Vinnie and Dave a run for their money.", this became more apparent when I heard guys like Bill Stewart, Steve Gadd, Airto, Dejohnette etc....

I realized, that the reason most people do this, is because they are INSECURE; they don't like themselves, they aren't comfortable in their own "skin". Too many people walk around everyday looking for other people's approval of what they should or should not be doing. It just comes from that human nature that has been conditioned in us to have a "perfect map"...we want the "right" answer, and we don't want any "bumps" in the road; we don't want any adversity. So...don't know what to do? Well, look around at what everyone else is doing. That's what most people do. But guess what? For many things in life, more times than not, their is no "right" or "wrong" answer, or "better" or "worse". It's just DIFFERENT.

I still have a "bad tendency" which im trying to erase from my book which is to be "influenced" and at the same time copying other's players idea, this is quite evident in my playing and alot of the fills I used(flam based) and different paraddidle patterns or polyrhythms(someone told me once I should pay royalties to Danny Carey which is true sadly enuff!)......Then I remember something Randy Rhoads(RIP) once said which still strikes me to this day. He mentioned something along the lines of not listening to music when he was growing up therefore his style and approach to "metal music" was very different(classical vibe instead of being inspired by blues), also Steve Vai once commented on taking a 6 month break before recording his masterpiece "For The Love of God". Kinda interesting IMO

It truly is the journey that is enjoyable when maturing as a musician. Personally I don't think any musician will ever reach a 'destination' or a specific 'platform' due to the unfathomable depth of music. The progress entailed to 'maturing' musically is not only restricted to the boundaries of technique and music theory, it is an all-encompassing world with no restrictions, creating expansive affiliations with your personality and intellect; how you perceive matters. It is indeed this absenteeism of concrete laws and axioms that connotes music as depthless, or indeed infinite.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ July 12, 2003 04:31 PM: Message edited by: Bozzio ]</font>

[matricks]

I agree with most of the post, however i do disagree with the line referring to copying ideas and being influenced as a bad thing. There is a common musical language that has progressed over the countless years of evolution which has taken place in music. It is a progressive art form which continues to build off of the foundations and ideas that have been set in place, and continue to be set in place by those who have created and who are creating music. There is nothing at all wrong with learning the language of music and learning how to speak it. Here is how i think of it. I think of technique as a comparable to words of a language. You could sit down and teach a child the whole Webster's dictionary but unless they hear those words in the context of conversation and communication, then the words alone are meaningless. You must listen to how they words work within the language. I liken that to listening to music, learning how those words (technique, notes, etc.) make sense. When kids run around when they are young they have certain phrases they say repeatedly over and over, they are practicing what they have learned. They will add on more phrases and learn context and expand their communication skills until they are proficient or eventually eloquent. They become mature in speaking through that process. In the quest to become mature and find ones' own musical voice, one can not neglect or shut out all the others voices that have spoken before them. Tony once said that people are too eager to do "their own thing" and do something "new". That they neplect learning what was done before them. I used to be dead-set against doing any transcribing. Now i do it all the time and can not imagine not doing it. It is not as much about copying as just putting that into your repertoire. So what if you play that "one fill" so much??? As long as it comes out honestly and musically, not because you want to "play that Danny Carey fill" then that is ok! The solution to overplaying that one fill isn't to stop listening or learning what other people have done; it is to learn more things as to have more to draw from, so more can come out musically. When you keep playing the same lick over and over it is just like a little kids running around saying a new phrase they heard. It is not a bad thing, they are putting it to use in their vocabulary, learning in what context it works and in which it doesn't. It is the same with music, just keep learning and putting into use and eventually you will have so much to draw from and so much practice speaking the language that what you say will not sound contrived, it will sound eloquent and, most importantly, mature. Just my thoughts, hope they helped!

[563]

Ive been playing music consistantly for about 17 years. Whats changed has been the influences. Every year there are more and more artists I listen to that get sucked into my subconcious for later reference. I never lost any of my old influences, simply pile new ones on top. And because of the quantity and variety Ive accumulated over these 17 years, those influences become less and less obvious. And because of that, my own voice as a musician becomes clearer and clearer. But because of the ongoing growth and development I doubt Ill ever reach a "peak" of maturity.