Percussion Deconstruction™

Different situations require different approaches. If you do the same thing in each situation, you might not be doing the best thing for each situation. I find this is often a difficult concept for younger drummers to understand. I think this is mainly because younger drummers routinely only have one concept of how to play drums. Now this is not their fault, this is just a product of inexperience. As we learn and grow, we also hopefully expand our horizons.  At 28, you should know more than you knew at 18. At 38, you should know more than at 28, and so on. It's only when we get older, that we can look back upon the arc of our career, and see things with clarity. Experience is indeed the greatest teacher. This leads up to today's topic: serving the situation. I think even for many experienced drummers this can be a great reminder/refresher. If you play mainly in one band, or one musical situation, when you need to play outside of that, your instinct might be to bring...

David Bowie constantly changed throughout his career. He could've been Ziggy or the Thin White Duke for the rest of his life, but he kept changing and evolving. The same with Prince. He could've just stayed as that guy in Purple Rain, but he kept changing and evolving. Björk could've stayed the sort of elfin pixie of her early albums, but she kept growing, changing. She took a chance on revealing her personal heartbreak and tragedy on her 2015 album, Vulnicura . The result is a very intimate and stunning recording. There is only one Björk, and you never know what to expect. The same can be said for composers like John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen, or Iannis Xenakis. Cage could've kept writing music for tin cans and everyday objects, like Third Construction , but he moved on, creating all types of different music for all types of different instruments. Stockhausen moved through electronics, choral music, massive opera stagings, and much more, all with the ...

  I'm a storyteller. I tell stories with percussion. I use different sounds that bring up memories, so the stories I tell, are your own stories. The stories you live. ~ MB  I have a new album/live performance called, Stories We Tell Ourselves , that I debuted at a performance last night. It's a combination of everything I've ever experienced in my life, but mostly it's stories I've collected from performances, from people talking to me after Gong Meditations, and my own personal interactions with visual art. Stories We Tell Ourselves : a book in 13 musical chapters with a 30 minute bonus narration track. The idea was born out of my recent experiences playing in various art museums and galleries. I'm an extremely visual person, so visual media informs much of what I do. Playing in museums and galleries gave me an opportunity to 'see' my music differently. I looked for connections between the music and the art works surrounding me. It seeme...

A tale of taking my own advice and deconstructing my own work. Over the years, instead of spending money to rent a recording studio, I've little by little put together a modest home recording studio. It's really just designed for me and my own percussion music. It's become so filled with instruments that there's little room for anyone else. So it's become my own personal workshop where I can experiment and tinker with musical ideas, recording as I go along. In June, 2015, I started formally recording what would become my next all percussion album. It would use Gongs, bells, bass drum, frame drum and lots of small percussion. I recorded about 10 tracks then went on vacation. When I got back, I was thrust into various other musical activities. Meanwhile, I would tinker on things between gigs, recording something new here and there. At times I was so busy that I didn't unpack my gear, so I didn't have a chance to record anything.  One problem with havi...

David Bowie constantly changed throughout his career. He could've been Ziggy or the Thin White Duke for the rest of his career, but he kept changing and evolving. The same with Prince. He could've just stayed as that guy in Purple Rain, but he kept changing and evolving. Björk could've stayed the sort of elfin pixie of her early albums, but she took a chances and kept changing what she does. She plays many of the same songs on tour, but rearranges them and gives them new life with different instruments : a brass band, a choral group, a string section, electronics.  She took a chance on revealing her personal heartbreak and tragedy on Vulnicura ,  her latest album. The result is a very intimate and stunning recording. Ch, Ch, Ch, Changes… The same can be said for composers like John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen, or Iannis Xenakis. Cage could've kept writing music for tin cans and everyday objects, like 'Third Construction,' but he moved on, creating all ty...

Lessons. Many of us have studied with private teachers, whether in school, or on our own. As drummers/percussionists, we may have studied drum set, marimba, timpani, etc. with another drummer/percussionist. Our lessons were probably filled with rudiments, scales, and rhythm. I'm all for that. I think studying can only help us to improve our musicianship. In fact, many professional/famous drummers continue to study with a teacher. Oftentimes this sort of older student/teacher relationship is more that of a mentor, or coach. But it is still studying to improve yourself. Studying with a fellow  drummer/percussionist is great and can really help us get our technique and all the little details nailed down, but it can also be a bit myopic. That's where studying with someone who doesn't play drums can really help us. All that drumming stuff we like to obsess over is great, but when you have to play in a band and react to what other instruments are doing, that stuff doesn't m...

Like many musicians, I practice yoga. I realize that I'll never be like those people in the glossy magazines and websites, all sleek and twisted like pretzels. But that's not the point for me. I do yoga for me. Besides the obvious physical effects, I find it's great for my focus and concentration. But most of all, it's time for me, time well spent to be me and take care of me. Very pretty, but this is not Yoga to me… As a percussionist, it's important to me to be both strong and flexible. I'm really not a runner, or a weight lifter, so yoga fits the bill. As a percussionist, I'm much like a dancer: I'm on the floor, I'm on my knees, I'm standing, I'm moving between my instruments. I spend a lot of time holding my hands and arms up in the air, often over my head. So I need to be in good shape. practice  | ˈpraktəs | verb  [  with   obj.  ]  ( Brit.  practise ) 1  perform  (an  activity ) or exercise (a skill) repeatedly or reg...