Drum Set: I do a great job of playing one

Yesterday Tuesday evening around 6 pm, I was in a big shed on a property in the Shaker Hill neighborhood of Woburn MA. The shed had a 7-piece drum set, lots of musical instruments, audio equipment, sofas, chairs carpets tables in it.

The place I was in was about: a couple miles south of exit 33 on the Yankee division highway, which is about a mile east of the Burlington Mall; a half-mile west of the Woburn Country Club, a mile northwest of the Woburn Whole Foods, a mile south of the Joyce middle school, a couple of miles southwest of Woburn High School. It's about 100 yards east of Reeves Middle School, and 50 yards east of Gillis Field.

For the first time ever, I had a chance to play the drums for more than five minutes with people who played guitar seriously and competently.

 When I was ten years old for a year in India I took tabla lessons and lessons in traditional-style Indian singing; every day I in the morning before school, there was practice and instruction in tabla, singing, and tanpura.

When I was in middle school I played the drums and the Timpani in the University of Chicago Lab Schools Orchestra. And many times, I endured the wind and the cold, and got on the IC train for the six mile ride to downtown Chicago, and plunged into the sea of gigantic gray buildings, for the walk to the American Conservatory of Music at 410 S. Michigan Ave., to be tutored one on one in how to play the drum set, by James Dutton; and then, the walk and the train ride back (2120 S. Michigan Avenue by the Rolling Stones, a 1964  instrumental, is one of my favorite Stones songs). But all I had to practice with it home was a little rubber pad and I was not in a band.

Then: during high-school, during college, and after college, overall, I only played the drums about a half dozen times. Whenever people got together feeling musically creative, no set of drums was available. Or when there was a set of drums available, it did not belong to me, and someone considered himself to be the drummer of the group not me. I was drawn away from drumming as I became immersed in journalism, soccer, studies.

Just as ball-hogs have impaired the development of my soccer career, so also drum-hogs have impaired the development of my musical career.

Then yesterday, I had the chance to play the drum set for about the seventh time since high school days. Everybody including myself thought I was great, talented, special, very good, excellent etc., taking into account what happens when you practice for less than an hour a year.

First, I played a beat I learned at the Conservatory: the instrument hit most often is the trap-cymbal. the fourth of each trap cymbal it, you hit the snare simult. The first of every 4 trap-cymbal hit cycle, you hit the bass drum with the foot peddle. Sometimes I deviated from the beat with cymbal hits Y drumbeats. Then I played another beat that I learned at the conservatory that is the same as the first one except the snare hit alternates between on the 4th hit of the 4-hit trap-cymbal cycle and on the 2rd hit onf the 4-hit trap cymbal cycle.

Maria thought this was 'very good'. Steve said I was playing 'funk'. I was having a hard time with the simple athletic physical coordination needed to mantain the beat, I remembered how as a boy when I used to practice drums I was much better in terms of such coordination. I knew I would have done better if I had adjusted the drum set's heights and positions so as to individually suit me. Third I played a beat similar to the first two which just sort of came to me spontaneously. I knew I would do better on such beats if I had time to study and practice them before hitting the drum set.

Then after a while Roger played the guitar while I played the drums. I surprised myself by competently doing something I had never done before: using the cymbals and drums as not just rhythmic instruments, but instruments of melody also. Part of this was hitting various parts of the cymbals, depending upon which kind of melodic note I wanted to generate. It was my first attempt ever at accompanying a guitar with melodic drum-set generated rhythm, I felt it was a great success; I hit the drums and the cymbals quietly usually, to reduce the noise and not dominate the guitar.

Then I finally managed to cajole Steve into playing a song on guitar and singing while I accompanied on the drums. He played and sang, "No Expectations" (Beggar's Banquet album, 1968) by the Rolling Stones. Again I surprised myself by accomplishing what I had accomplished accompanying Roger, this time with Steve, using the same methods as I developed with Roger. I noted how the drawn out reverbing sound of the cymbal hits, were crucial to the melody and the rhythm. I felt as if I was an example of a drummer who could in a positive sense, surprisingly enough, improve, transform, lead, and dominate even melodic music.

The original version of 'No Expectations' featured: Jagger on vocals; Wyman, bass-guitar; Richards, acoustic rhythm guitar; and Watts providing the rhythm on Claves. Claves are important in Cuban music, such as the son and guaguancó.  They involve repeating rhythmic patterns  found in African music and Brazilian music. The Beatles' recording "And I Love Her," featured Claves.

Shank said that he could tell everyone was very impressed by me and thought I was talented. Shank said he could tell I was talented and special. Steve and Roger did not deny that I did great when I sincerely 'bragged' that I had done 'great', especially given the lack of practice. Steve compared me to Chic Corea (who is a keyboardist, not a drummer). Maria said she could hear the Indian influence in my drumming.