Drummer's Mind
Earlier this morning, I was visualizing myself on my drum set 10+ years ago. I could visualize the kit, and had a real-time connection between hitting a drum and hearing the sound. It was real-time enough that I could compose a pretty sophisticated beat on it. I was surprised that I could do this, and it probably helped that I was barely awake. I could never do this on guitar; drums are much simpler, and I have much more experience with them.
Even before I learned drum set, I mastered Snare Drum, which almost seems pointless, but I guess it’s a hyper-isolated way to learn rhythm. I forgot that I did level-6 NYSMA as a kid (for snare drum) and got a perfect score. I often say that “I can’t read music,” but I forget that I was able to sight read advanced snare drum rhythms. Before I started learning drum set (in 10th grade), I had been practicing snare drum for 8 years.
Now I’m wondering what effects that had on me and the way I think/see. How is someone different if they’ve spent that much time on precise rhythms? This is resonating with me because it falls into the category of how slow, pointless, analog things can be formative.