playdrumsforlife.com

I have two friends who are making a living playing and teaching drums and percussion. Both are doing a lot of gigging and keeping busy as free lance artists and teachers. Not so many years ago, they were in school, or working in retail shops while playing. Both work in cities; one went to school and has worked in Chicago for several years, the other moved from New York to Nashville to find the right mix for family and profession.

Both have put together all the parts of a solid career, including excellent musical skills, good marketing and high standards for themselves as musicians and business people. Incidentally, they are in completely different musical markets, and play different styles of music and even different instruments in the percussion family.

It’s a big world, and there is still room for those who want to make a living as working percussionists. The hours are long, and it requires a good bit of effort just to keep even at times, but it can be done.

Play Drums for Life…

After several rehearsals, the trio (acoustic guitar, bass, drums/percussion) is starting to feel like there is a pocket for most of the tunes. It took a lot of listening, and a bit of sleuthing. After I rehearsed with them several times, I noticed that the guitarist’s timing was a little on the back side of the beat when he sang. Then I found out that he does a lot of gigs as a single. Then I found out that the bassist and the guitarist had played together as a duo, and also as part of a larger group. Once I knew the background, it was a bit easier to find the pocket.

Not that I couldn’t figure out the time feel simply by playing, but it did help to know what experiences the other two players had before I joined. Every type of gig has its own particular feel, and everyone has a particular approach, which is why music is so interesting, isn’t it?

I am often reminded that autumn is coming, since I have a flurry of activity just before school begins, and a lot of quiet for a couple of weeks afterward, then a lot of new lessons. We are all creatures of external schedules, even (maybe particularly) free-lance musicians and teachers. As a teacher of several percussion instruments, it’s interesting going from drum set to timpani to keyboards in a matter of an hour and a half.

Students come in to have their skills assessed after being away on summer vacation and busy with camps, trips to relatives and other pursuits. They have to find out where they need to put their limited rehearsal time after they play in marching band or church band, or orchestra, and, by the way, make fall baseball practice. All of those things are part of our usual annual cycles, and happen most every year of our life.

I still work at budgeting my time so that I don’t forget to improve my mallet chops, even though I’m not using them on a gig at the moment. At the same time, I have to push my drum set chops to learn things that I might need, or will help when I have to write a drum part for an original tune (as yet unheard). Some things never change.

Play Drums for Life.

Have a good week.