Break All The Rules
For percussionists (and artists of all genres), these are the rules:
That is all.
Learn it.
Remember it.
Live it.
Now to be serious.
I am serious about the above. How often do we let what we think are rules get in the way of what we really want to do? Let's face it, we live in what is often a very harsh and fickle society today. Do something wrong, and it's posted on the internet for all to see. Your mistakes could go viral! No wonder people play it safe, follow trends, and don't do what they really want to do. It's not easy taking a chance and being a rebel. It's not easy breaking whatever rules you believe are there, even if they are only in your own mind.
A favorite quote of mine is by the great poet, Rainer Maria Rilke:
Think about it. Painter Pablo Picasso decided to paint people as disproportionate geometric shapes. Jackson Pollock decided to drip paint over the canvas he spread out on the floor. Composer John Cage used household objects and noise to create music, while Morton Feldman used the quietest and longest notes to create compositions that lasted for hours. The great astronomer, Copernicus, proposed that the sun was the center of the solar system, not the earth. Drummer Phil Collins has, for the most part, always played concert toms. Terry Bozzio uses 9 bass drums, while Victor DeLorenzo, of Violent Femmes, never used a bass drum. Singer David Bowie kept reinventing himself. As soon as the public caught up, he became something new.
If there's something you want to do, want to create, even if no one else is, then go ahead and do it. Don't follow everyone else. Don't create the same thing as everyone else. Break all the rules. Do what YOU want to do. Then when you look back on your life, you'll never say, "I wish I would have…"
~ MB
1) There are no rules.
That is all.
Learn it.
Remember it.
Live it.
Now to be serious.
I am serious about the above. How often do we let what we think are rules get in the way of what we really want to do? Let's face it, we live in what is often a very harsh and fickle society today. Do something wrong, and it's posted on the internet for all to see. Your mistakes could go viral! No wonder people play it safe, follow trends, and don't do what they really want to do. It's not easy taking a chance and being a rebel. It's not easy breaking whatever rules you believe are there, even if they are only in your own mind.
A favorite quote of mine is by the great poet, Rainer Maria Rilke:
No great art has ever been made withoutthe artist having known danger.
Think about it. Painter Pablo Picasso decided to paint people as disproportionate geometric shapes. Jackson Pollock decided to drip paint over the canvas he spread out on the floor. Composer John Cage used household objects and noise to create music, while Morton Feldman used the quietest and longest notes to create compositions that lasted for hours. The great astronomer, Copernicus, proposed that the sun was the center of the solar system, not the earth. Drummer Phil Collins has, for the most part, always played concert toms. Terry Bozzio uses 9 bass drums, while Victor DeLorenzo, of Violent Femmes, never used a bass drum. Singer David Bowie kept reinventing himself. As soon as the public caught up, he became something new.
If there's something you want to do, want to create, even if no one else is, then go ahead and do it. Don't follow everyone else. Don't create the same thing as everyone else. Break all the rules. Do what YOU want to do. Then when you look back on your life, you'll never say, "I wish I would have…"
~ MB
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