OMG, WTF

Strange thing happened tonight--I totally rocked when it was my turn to solo. Usually when I solo I get all tense and uptight and I can barely improvise, and if I do improvise, it's to save my life. But tonight in my percussion class, it was my turn to take a solo section and my hands were totally rocking, and my brain and emotions were like, OMG, WTF are you doing? And my hands were just playing these fun and totally groovy rhythms. It was tiiiight. And honestly, I can't say where it came from. I've never soloed in that groove, and it was on the conga, which I can barely play, but for some reason, I was right there.  I'm a bit surprised with myself. Actually I'm really surprised. I have to credit the teaching and structure, because Michaelle created this definite space in which to solo in, and a space for a tag that you came back to after so many bars. Not that I was counting or anything. It was more of a feel. It was really weird. I felt like I could have kept going and have fun with it.  

This is peculiar and strange. But I like it.

I Did It!

I jumped the fence, YO! Yeah, that's right! I finally got my double stroke roll to actually BE a roll. It's not entirely pretty yet, but it's definitely something new and exciting. I've been in the chasm for weeks working on this. And I did it! Yipee!!!  

Jumping the Fence

Tonight was my percussion class--hooray!!!!!! It was the absolute highlight of my week, believe me. Before we were about to start warmups, Michaelle asked what anyone wanted to work on, and I blurted out doubles!, since I've been working real hard on them on my own. I'm not usually a blurter-outer, but doubles have been a new and interesting challenge to me. In taiko, you don't really have doubles because wine-barrel taiko drums don't lend themselves to doubles. The skins are just too loose and boomy to allow your 1" stick to bounce much. You can get doubles on the shime drums though. They're tighter and more responsive. I see myself as more of a small drum player. I like the sound and dynamics of small drums, and so I've been working a lot on stick technique and, among other things, double-playing. One of the things that Michaelle does a lot when she's thinking is to play a sharp, fast double stroke roll. It is totally awesome. She'll be like, what should we play next, hmm??, and as she's thinking she'll do a roll roll roll roll! Double stroke roll. I'm always amazed.

So I've been working on my double stroke roll a lot. It's simple. You hit with the stick and there is a strike and right after that, a bounce. That's a double stroke. A lot of it is learning how to hold the stick, and then there is the bounce, and there is the control part of the bounce. It's one thing to do it with the right hand, but doing it with the left is another. Getting the left and right side to work in unison is a lifetime challenge in itself. It's all about control, and you don't get that without sitting there with your sticks and a practice pad for hours. I've been putting in those hours, but I just can't get to the point where my rolls go from kinda fast, to Michaelle-fast. I want to get there. She's got these laser-pointer eyes where you can tell that she's looking at your hands and your fingers and wrists and evaluating your sticking--all in just a moment. She had me do the double stroke roll as fast as I could and she said, uh-huh yeah, your ALMOST there, you just need to jump over the fence. I know those fences. I know that I have worked up to the point where if I just figure out that one thing, that one little thing--whatever it is--a lifting of the wrist, the caress of a finger, the push of a pinky--if I can just figure out what that tiny subtle thing is, then I'll get over that fence. I think that a big part of learning percussion goes beyond learning time, and learning patterns, but it's the tiny subtle things that no one can teach. You just need to sit there and practice over and over again until you get it. You can't really teach to someone: after you hit, clench your fingers for a millisecond and then release, and then flick your wrist and put the tension back in your fingers. It's hard. You just have to sit there until you get it.

And I am almost there. When she says you just need to get over the fence I believe it because I have tried to get over that fence many times. I am so close. Just a little bit more. 

My New Song

Just got home from presenting my new song to the rest of Maze. It's not an easy song, but they picked it up really quickly. I've been working on it for so long. It's been a source of excitement, frustration, difficulty, hope, and despair. I have felt every emotion about it, but I am happy I finally figured out things and that I finally just presented it. It's like I can move on with it now that I am mostly done working and reworking it. It's not quite done yet, but well on its way. We are gearing up for a full-length show later this summer, so I am happy that I am able to contribute something to it. Watch out for updates on the big show!!

My New Toy

I got a new toy today. It's the Edirol R09-HR. It's a gem. It is the most beautiful and functional sound recorder I have ever encountered. It records in WAV and MP3.  Now, I was a strong supporter of minidisc, but with the real-time downloading and the extra mic and battery pack, it was a pain. Not that it felt like a pain at the time, but now that the Edirol is in my life, OMG, this thing is godsend. I was going through the manual today and I realized that this thing was created with musicians in mind. All the buttons and extras are tailor-made with the idea that this thing is being used to study sound (and music). They're not just buttons that do neat tricks you'll never use, but they're neat tricks that you absolutely must have. One of those buttons on the front creates loops, so that you can listen to a piece of music, say, your teacher explaining a rhythm that she's about to play, and then she plays it, and you can create a loop so that you hear the rhythm over and over again. Stuff like that. The gadgets on this thing are not extraneous. They're not fluff. They're real-life things that you can apply to your art and career. This thing is a great investment.

I bought a 4Gig SD card ahead of time, which holds a ton of info (the new ipod shuffle that came out today is 4Gig--the whole unit is smaller than an AA battery, can hold 1,000 songs, and talks to you for godsake), and as I was messing around with the 4G card on my Edirol today, I realized that the thing holds 60 hours of recording time (depending on the recording quality). Did I not say that loud enough?? 60 hours!! A minidisc holds a mere fraction of that (I don't even remember anymore--5 or 6 hours?). The Edirol can actually accept an 8Gig card, which, if my math doesn't fail me, is 120 hours. That's days of recording time, yo!! One thing I learned in my digicam research was that while big cards are great, putting all your eggs in one basket is a gamble. But still!

Tonight I brought my Edirol to Michaelle's class, and after tweaking the settings and making some educated guesses, I set the inputs and aimed the thing at our drums and was completely amazed at the results: crystal clear sounds! Both voice and drums! If you've ever tried to record drums, then you know how difficult this is.  What I got was a great recording of our class, with the vocal explanations and the drum rhythms all recorded perfectly! Amazing!

I am such a proponent for recording drum classes because I have finally accepted the fact that I am a bit slow in the head about learning new things. You can teach me an easy pattern and I will get it, but if you ask me what it was 5 minutes later I won't be able to remember. I need help. Having something like the Edirol is so essential to my education. Thank you to the folks a Roland for creating such a fabulous learning aid. 

Wanna see it for yourself? Go here.