At Odds with Nerves

It has been about 20 years since I last sat in a recording studio and worked through songs over and over until its right, waited for the other players to do the same while drinking coffee and playing pool to kill time. It was a great experience for me. I learned so much about the recording process and was in awe of the recording environment and the equipment used. I recall reading a book about audio and sound at the time. It detailed out frequencies audible by humans and at what levels of loudness they are generally perceived by the human ear. The Fletcher-Munson curve is one of the graphs in the book and it is used by Sound Engineers to improve the recording. This graph shows that lower and higher frequencies are less perceivable and require higher volume levels in the recording or playback process.

Photo Courtesy Lance Troian

20 years ago I was an idiot. Not necessarily for anything I did or didn't do, but I was 20 years younger and more stupid than I am now (though some would argue I am still as thick as two short planks). That said, I was at Woody's place recording his original songs last week. His 'recording studio' is like many others of this era. In his basement with a mixer and a 12 track Korg recorder. I set up my drums and microphones and started recording as best as possible. The previous week I used Rhythm Rascal, a software application for creating drum patterns, to create the dummy drum track for 2 of the songs. I created the basic drum parts that matched the songs patterns and sent it to Woody. He used it with one of the songs to record the guitar parts and together they became the bed track for all other instruments to play to in the recording process.
 Since the guitar part was recorded to a click or electronic drum line, the drums needed to be recorded. In the 20 years that passed since my last recording experience, I must have forgotten how different it is to play live versus being recorded. When I am playing live and a mistake is made, I can usually cover it up and carry on without notice. If I miss a drum or I miss the beat by a fraction, it may be noticeable, but is forgotten by the next bar or phrase. Recording is definitely another bowl of goats. You can't miss a drum or be out of time because that mistake will be played over and over (and over if we become famous). 
 After about an hour, going through the same song, trying to get the recording perfect, I found myself nervous. Not because I was worried that Woody and Lance thought I was useless (the only two listening to me at the time), but because I was half way through the song and hadn't made a mistake. My muscles tensed and I felt butterflies in my stomach. I started getting that nervous shaking that comes when you are about to make a speech in front of thousands of literary academics ( I'm guessing). Once I noticed the flying larvae in my Santa belly I had a good chuckle at myself. I found it amusing that after all of the playing experience, I still get nervous when I play.  At this point I still have a minute or so left in the song that I am recording and I am trying to relax and play what I want and need to play to get a great track down. Breath, think about my parts, play on time, DON'T F***-UP!  I did manage to finish without incident and it may end up being the final take.
 The recording sessions were at the end of three weeks of a busy farm and work schedule. My wife and I were in Vermont acting as judges for a Cashmere Goat competition, I worked days and nights to get a new virtual application environment running for a client, we were cleaning pens and barns to get ready for breeding season, Becky was training a cow to be milked for a buyer and we setup our booth at a Fibre Festival to show and sell our yarn.

Little Breakthroughs

The past week has had a good share of enlightening moments. It started last Saturday in Kitchener at the KW Knitters Fair. My wife and I setup as vendors, selling our Cashmere yarn and complimentary products. It's a fairly big publicly attended event catered to Knitters, etc and we always do well selling our products. While I was tending our booth, I noticed that many of the ladies walking through were wide-eyed with beaming smiles. During a conversation with one woman who was looking at our products, I pointed out that everyone seemed to be very happy. She said to me that, for knitters, being able to walk around a huge venue full of wonderful fibre that they can experience with all of their senses - it was better than chocolate!  'nuf said.
In the quiet moments that day, I was trying to figure out what I needed to do to improve my drum rolls - particularly the left hand.  Nothing was entering my little head, so we packed up and headed home - 2 hour drive to find a sick yearling cashmere goat when we landed at the farm. An after hours Vet call was necessary, but luck was with us and our Vet was on call. The goat was successfully saved and is recovering nicely. 
Throughout the next week I read and watched videos of drummers playing and teaching drum rolls. After watching some Buddy Rich I was particularly intrigued with the four-stroke he plays with his left hand. He plays traditional grip, but I play matched grip, so watching his technique or instructional video for traditional grip does not help me. 
By Tuesday I had not found any helpful info and decided to try to figure something out on my own.  One of the traditional grip techniques that I came across had you move your second and third finger back and forth under the stick to create an extra bounce at a quick pace. I tried to apply that thinking to my matched grip left hand and came up with an idea to squeeze the second, third and pinky finger up into my palm in a sequential order. The technique would be as follows: play the first stroke normally, action the first bounce with the second finger, action the second bounce with the third finger and action the third bounce with the pinky. That will create a four-stroke roll that can be played quickly - with enough practice. I grabbed a stick and hit the bed and tried the new idea. My fingers were either completely uncooperative or just plain spastic. But I felt it could work, so I kept at it. The more practice, the less spastic and the more cooperative.  I only had time to practice a few minutes at a time a couple of times a day.
My practice time was limited by the work I was doing at my `real` job. I was assigned a project to install and configure the relatively new Virtual Desktop management tool called VDI-in-a-Box from Kaviza (now owned by Citrix). I have built other Desktop Virtualization environments, but it was a first for me with VIAB. Also this week I was migrating, transitioning a client`s messaging server from a stand-alone box to a fully fault-tolerant and load balanced solution. I learned much.
That gets me to the whole point of this blog post. After a week of limited but efficient practice, I improved my double and quad-stroke roles greatly. I was enlightened by many great drummers old and new, Buddy Rich, Peter Erskine, a few unknowns on Youtube and Gil Sharone. If you haven`t heard or seen Gil Sharone - google him! 
 I found a way to improve my speed and consistency and now have a great technique to practice (and practice).  
My `little breakthrough`at the end of the week came when I was practicing to random songs on my MP3 player (Blackberrry Torch). I have a playlist of songs I want to practice as they have some techniques I like to work on. I always choose shuffle and jam out to what ever starts playing.  After warming up with four stroke rolls at 114bpm I started the MP3`s. Ex Girlfriend by No Doubt blasted through my headphones first. I can`t think of any specific technique i want to practice in that song - I just  LOVE playing it. A Led Zeppelin song and a couple of Rush songs played, then Tight Rope by the late great Stevie Ray. For as long as I can remember that song has made me sing and play air drums and other weird stuff.  But I have never been able to grasp the groove the drummer is playing. The shuffle is thick and has been elusive for me. The Snare strokes never seem to stop, like he`s playing the snare with both hands - but there is a sweet high-hat pattern on top. When I started playing to it that night - I had it. The four-stroke roll is the technique that makes that song, and I was able to play it - for the first time EVER. My stroke is nowhere as smooth, but I had it - which means I can practice and improve it until it does sound as good. 
Drumming is about making small strides throughout a lifetime of playing, always trying to improve just a little bit at a time. It`s those little breakthroughs that keep me interested.

Luck vs Success

"I find that the harder I work, the more luck I seem to have."
~ Thomas Jefferson

 When I first read this I thought it made sense, however as I contemplated some more I began to realize it's just a motivational phrase. I have had some luck, but much more success. As far as hard working people go, I am not an all-day -  all-nighter. I do enjoy both physical and mental challenges and it seems that I also like to take on more work/play than I have time for. 
When I think back a bit, it wasn't luck that the Barn foundation happened to be finished the day before we brought 1000 bales of hay into it. It wasn't luck that I finished my Microsoft Server certification and landed a job with an IT firm in Markham. It wasn't luck that LivingRoom Experience asked me to be a member of their band. 
It was luck when it didn't rain on my hay after baling it, but it wasn't luck that we frantically loaded it all onto trucks and trailers and drove it under cover - avoiding the rain.
Hard work brings success, luck is just part of life.
I have heard some say  'I was lucky to be in the right place at the right time'. There are elements of truth there. But if you didn't get off your ass to be at the right place at the right time and have the 'right stuff' (which takes work) - you would have been 'Out Of Luck' !
Luck can smack you in the soft cheeks sometimes without you realizing it. In that case, it takes work to realize when a lucky opportunity presents itself (and therefore is no longer luck).
After that philosophical hogwash - its time for a glass of wine and a nap.

"Luck is a tag given by the mediocre to account for the accomplishments of genius."
~ Robert Heinlein

Entertaining weekend

When I say Entertaining weekend, I mean 'Holy Crap'!  Friday morning started early - farm chores, then rounding up goats and sheep to load on the truck and trailer destined for Quebec. It might have been easier if the livestock were all in one pen but we had to collect them from 5 separate pens. After an hour and a half of catching and carrying them to the truck, we were drenched in sweat and body-tired. But it was worth it, 18 animals traveled to new homes in Ontario and Quebec. Also in the trailer was all of our fibre inventory. The main cause of the trip east was the Festival Twist Fibre event where we had a booth assigned as a vendor to sell our precious cashmere, alpaca/cashmere blends and Black Welsh Mountain Sheep wool. My wife and a friend hopped in the fully loaded truck and headed off (later than expected). 
I was left to finish chores, then focus on my real job. 
That night was another excellent practice with LivingRoom Experience. Another new original hit the instruments and we were all very happy with the initial results. I am working on some double-bass technique now that I decided to take the plunge and buy a double pedal.
Saturday I was alone on the farm  and took care of the usual chores - just another day - EXCEPT... I had to milk a cow. Hmm, never done that before. Well, at the end of that routine I figured I did OK because both the cow and I were still alive. 'nuf said.
The rest of Saturday consisted of my 'real job', looking after a weekend project that should have been planned a little better by the client we were dealing with. As much as I would like to get that whole ordeal of my chest, I am just going to say 'Thank the drum gods for Saturday night'!

The annual party at the neighbours was the scene in the picture above. Dr Crane is playing as they have the last 2 years and doing an excellent job of entertaining and playing great tunes. Lance and I walked up to catch the band before they went on. Dave Campbell (drummer) provided some thoughts on drumming after I asked a few questions.
Phil: Are those shoes what you wear when drumming?
Dave:  I dunno...
Phil: I wear an old pair of Converse All-Stars because I like the flat sole.
Dave: I dunno... Well, I used to wear moccasins, but the guys in the band said 'Why do you wear moccasins?' . I said 'I dunno' and now I wear normal running shoes. It really doesn't make a difference.
Phil: Ya - I wore crappy sandals to practice once. I played for a bit and thought - 'Ya... I still suck"
Dave: I used to pour coke on my foot pedal boards, for better grip. The guys in the band said 'What are you doing that for? Don't they have enough grip?' I thought - ya. so I stopped doing that.
Phil: Are you going to add any items to your kit?
Dave: No, I would like to remove a few. 
Phil: I am adding my electronic pads for fun sounds.
Dave: I have an electronic kit I use for smaller gigs. Once we where playing on a cruise and there was so much beer on the floor that when the ship tipped in our direction the beer pool was so high it caused my kick and floor tom to stop working.
Phil: Shit, that's funny.  What size are the pads on your electronic kit? 
Dave: I dunno - 10"
Phil: I like 8" because I have short arms. I play like one of those dinosaurs... 'big head, short arms... arrgghh!'

The host of the event is in the picture as well and deserves a big Thank You for the great party - Pig roast, corn, cash bar and live band. It was an outstanding night weather wise, the neighbours always attend, friends that we haven't seen for years seem to show up out of the blue and everyone has a good time. Ego's and testosterone seem to be vacant from this event every year -  just a lot of great people having fun.  That was Saturday night!  Oh ya, I had to get on a couple of conference calls for work during the evening, but it was hard to hear :).

Anyway - I want to give a big shout out to Gord and Ash for a super evening. The Picture above is of the party barn taken from my farm. The Barn is bottom right, the night is everywhere.

Where did July go?

It's mid-August now and plenty has happened since the Canada Day gig. Several hay fields cut and baled, the hay mower finally packed it in, 2 bulls and several does went to new homes. Kids and lambs are being weaned (most of the screaming has now ceased), the kitchen sink is back in and the pigs have doubled in size.

 

I have also been practicing some new original songs with the band and trying to polish the current ones. It is always as much fun to try new things in practice and screw up as it is to play live and not screw up. Sometimes it takes a lot of trial-and-error to find the right sounds and rhythm, and sometimes it comes quick. In 'Friends', I had a pretty good idea of how I wanted to play the bass pattern. The problem was that my foot couldn't do what I wanted it to. But after a few months of practice, I was able to play the three quick beats that gives it a bit of a funky blues feel. 

One of the things I like about working with Woody and Lance is the fact that I have some freedom and can take liberties in practice until I find the structure I want to use in the song. And the more sounds I can produce and space I can fill, the happier they are; the happier I am.

Canada Day 2012

Canada Day, 2012

    

Photo Courtesy Stacey Latour

After a frustrating Saturday, cutting hay on a new field full of large rocks, breaking knives and bending the knife guards, having the drive chain fall off and breaking more knives, in a very hot and humid, sun filled hay field, I felt as though I had been through an iron-man tri-athalon. My left hand blistering from sweat on the steering wheel, my shoulders became tense and sore from constantly looking back at the hay mower (to see if was broken again) and my index finger needed recovery from a metal splinter I had to remove with tweezers.

But Sunday was much different. Sunday I loaded the car with my drumkit and headed down to the beautiful Couchiching Beach park in Orillia. It was sunny, but slightly cooler and there was a gently cool breeze off the lake. The stage was under a tree in the shade and crowds of people and families were enjoying all of the events, games, rides and vendors. 

Setup went well but we only had 15 minutes to get our gear on-stage, powered up and get started. Unfortunately my electronic drums were not coming through the main speakers. After replacing cables and Direct-Input devices, the sound men finally got it working and we were playing the first song as our sound check. So ... no sound check.

About 45 minutes later our set was complete and we felt good about it. There were a couple of small flubbs, but probably unnoticeable. I was particularly happy with our original song 'Friends' (see link below). The groove was stellar. My bass drum foot was doing what I wanted, Lance (on Bass guitar) was in the pocket and Woody's axe was razor sharp.

The band would like to thank Steve Parkes and Jesse Parkes for the sound production, Stacey Latour (my sister-in-law) for the video and still pictures, and our family and friends for the enthusiastic support.

Please check out some video footage of the event at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9wo7PWN0d0&feature=plcp


 

Upcoming Show

The last several days have been good for the band. We were asked to play in the Canada Day Festivities at Orillia's Couchiching Beach Park. For me, its an opportunity to find out if my live performance equals my practice performances. There is quite a difference between jamming with the boys and live stage. In the basement with Lance and Shawn, I let it go - I don't really care what comes out and I am looking for sounds and rhythms that fit the song. Keeping time for the guys is key, but sometimes that gets lost when I am trying something new. 
The Couch Beach show will be the first show with the electronic triggers added to the main kit. I'll post a picture when I get it set up there. 
An update on my previous post is that I added another hand trigger in Welcome To the Machine. At the beginning, before the drums come in full, I play a right hand trigger in the Junk Yard Roland Kit and the Left Foot trigger on opposite beats, to really give a piston Push-Pull sound. I play it on top of the bass guitar playing up and down octaves. 
What also came of out of the request to play at Couch Beach was the hurried but thoughtful creation of the band Name. A few ideas were tossed around and brainstormed, and in the end we decided on LivingRoom Experience.
All three of us were dedicated and long time members of 'Johnny Flamingo and the Livingroom Experience'. Since none of us were Johnny Flamingo, and the name is not only well known ( in these parts), but also the fact that there were many fans of Lance, Woody and me as the backup to Johnny Flamingo, it made some sense. Not a terrible name either. 
With that decided I registered the domain names  livingroomexperience.ca, livingroomexperience.com and lrx.ca.  We'll have a web site up soon (need some decent pics first).
 

Keeping it going

Last night I had a good, progressive jam with the band. I decided to take my Roland TD-8 brain and 3 triggers: the snare, Bass and a tom. I managed to stuff the bass trigger and pedal in beside the acoustic hi-hat pedal (to the left) and the two pads on a double tom stand tothe left of the hi-hat cymbals. We had SOME fun with them.
In Hungry Like the Wolf, I set the bass pedal as a tambourine and the two stick pads as the funky electronic tom sounds from the 80's. When I played the 'electro' fill coming out of the chorus our singer laughed his ass off. They sounded perfect and I played that fill perfectly at the perfect time. The tambourine on the left foot allowed me to give the snare ruff a little juice in the opening verse. The T-8 drum set was 'Mexi-Mix'.
The other song that sounded great with a little electronic enhancment was Welcome to the Machine (Pink Floyd). The original track doesn't actually have acoustic percussion, but our version does. When we played it live, I laid down a standard rock beat with my bass drum following the Bass guitar lines. Last night I added a trigger sound from the 'Juck Yard' set on the Roland TD-8. The sound was triggered by the kick pedal to the left of my hi-hat. I played it on the 2's and 4;s, opposite the bass drum and it created the effect of a steam piston. I found it tricky and challenging to keep it going with the bass drum pattern I was playing, but kept it going generally well. A few more practices at that and it will be clean. It sounded great as a concept so I hope I can make it sound as good live.
When I said 'progressive' at the beginning of this post, I meant that I was progressing. I only get to practice solo a few times a month, so when I do I don't always feel that I am improving. Last night - I could really feel more power, more flexibility and more independence. Progressive.

Slow and Steady, Fast and Furious

Wow, its the end of April already. I started writing this over a month ago. April came and went like a hurricane - leaving destruction and rainbows. On the farm, April is the beginning of Lambing, Calving and Kidding. So much of our time is spent around the female livestock during this time, keeping an eye on them in case they need assistance with birthing. This year we have had a set of quadruplets, four sets of triplets and many, many twins.. Several singles of course as well. Seeing all of the babies running around and jumping like they have ants in their pants is the rainbow part. But just to keep life interesting, the inner-tube blew on my tractor - shooting liquid calcium out of the tire with great force in the stream the size of a 7B hickory drumstick. That was the beginning of Hell Week (the destruction part). More on that later.

-- Original Post --
As my only post in March, it may seem that I lost interest in this pursuit. In fact, I have been practising and jamming with the guys quite regularly. My chops and technique are definitely improving and I am feeling much more comfortable on the throne.
I have been focusing on double-stroke rolls and bass drum techniques mostly. I don't play double bass, never have. Playing quick beats with a single foot is more of an accomplishment in my opinion, and it frees up the left foot for other things like foot triggers or fancy hi-hat patterns.
One fancy hi-hat pattern I am working on is a swing beat played with the foot. 'tut-ta-tah'. I use the ball of my foot for the tut-ta and the heel for the splash 'tah'. Thats not especially difficult, but playing with the rest of my body over-top is (for me).

Groove

I am stuck on the word 'groove'. You've probably noticed that I use it when describing a song or a musician. I like songs with groove, I think, but what is groove?
I have my own opinions on the word but I am interested in how others describe it.
On the Wiki site I found this definition (among others):  Peter Forrester and John Bailey argue that the "chances of achieving this higher level of playing" (i.e., attain a "groove") is improved when the musicians are "open to other's musical ideas", "complemen[t] other participant’s [sic] musical ideas", and "taking risks with the music"
This is the one that appeals to me most. I think it takes a lot of experience and milage on the drums to be able to groove. I also think it helps when the musicians you are playing with have as much experience.
'Groove' is going to be the word I use as my mantra  - on the path to being a better overall drummer. I want to be able to groove one day, and I want to have an image that portrays that.
I have been playing with some ideas for a stage name and logo today. I am going to slap those ideas around for a while then post them for comments.

An Image

Part of my quest this year is to improve my playing, but another part is to improve my image as a drummer, or more appropriately, create one. I need a good stage presence, which should include what I wear, how the drumkit looks and how I look when I am playing.
I took a shopping trip to Guess clothing store looking for something to wear on stage. I found a couple of shirts that might be OK. I'll post pics and hopefully get some opinions. My wife thinks they make me look like a cowboy from the movie Brokeback Mountain. That's not what I am going for though, so... more work to do.
Another trip to Yorkdale didn't get me any further. While I am contemplating this, I think of Rush and all of the stage wear and 'looks' they went through in the early years. Geddy Lee said that in those days he wish he could just wear jeans and a t-shirt (taken from Beyond the Lighted Stage documentary). The members of Rush are now doing just that, wearing T-shirts and jeans, not a costume. For me, I'd like to build an image that makes me recognizable when I am playing, but I don't want to have to wear the same shirt everytime. Its gotta to be more than that. My playing style and my kit will need to be my brand but I still need to wear something a little unique. Maybe I should get some fake glasses. A hat can be something I can turn into a symbol of my brand. I just can't find one I like.

I think the most important aspect of my image is the quality of my drumming.  A fancy drumkit and hat is definitely not enough. I have some experience and a solid foundation, but I need to enhance and expand my playing. I also think that as I create an image, I need it to reflect my playing style.
I am stuck on the word 'groove'. You've probably noticed that I use it when describing a song or a musician. I like songs with groove, I think, but what is groove?
I have my own opinions on the word but I am interested in how others describe it.
On the Wiki site I found this definition (among others):  Peter Forrester and John Bailey argue that the "chances of achieving this higher level of playing" (i.e., attain a "groove") is improved when the musicians are "open to other's musical ideas", "complemen[t] other participant’s [sic] musical ideas", and "taking risks with the music"
This is the one that appeals to me most. I think it takes a lot of experience and mileage on the drums to be able to groove. I also think it helps when the musicians you are playing with have as much experience.
'Groove' is going to be the word I use as my mantra  - on the path to being a better overall drummer. I want to be able to groove one day, and I want to have an image that portrays that.
I have been playing with some ideas for a stage name and logo today. I am going to slap those ideas around for a while then post them for comments

So You Think You Can Drum!

Last evening was the first annual drum contest in Washago. Drummers competed at the Lion's Hall for modest prizes. The turn out was better than I expected and the talent was insipiring. I simply went to observe and support the cause. My primary goal was to see what the crowd liked in a drummer. The non-drummers in the crowd are watching more than listening and its those people that a drummer needs to entertain.
Seven guys entered the challenge, no girls unfortunately. There were two judges - I was surprised to see that Rob Frost Murphy was one of them. It was good to see him again, it had been a few years so we a quick chat to catch up.
At 6PM the fun started, first up was Wayne Hill. He listed his favourite band as Tower of Power. He played a lot of double rolls with accents and rim-shots. His chops were mature and well conditioned, his bass foot was quick and consistent as he worked his way through the solo. It was a very clean and precise performance, but did not display much flash or change up the rhythm at all.
The third performer was Aaron (hope I spelled it correctly). He said his favourite drummers were Neil Peart and John Bonham (interesting eh?). He added an open snare drum to the stage kit and started playing steady quick notes on it while adding flavour with his other appendages. I could hear a definite Bonham influence in the solo. He built up the piece nicely with lots of single and double rolls around the kit and decent bass drum technique. His solo hit a crescendo near the end followed by a denouement - where he went back to the opening open snare pattern but much softer. Very nicely done.  This ended up as the winning performance - which I could not disagree with.
Second last on the stage was a young fellow named Nate. He did not list Neil Peart as his favourite drummer, but mentioned a couple of older folkish rock bands (for the life of me I can't remember). He started his solo with brushes, playing a nice swing while tapping his hi-hat foot on the off beats. That's a classic pattern that requires some practice. I looked away for a second for some reason, but when I looked back up, he was playing sticks. I didn't hear or see the transition. He kept up the swing on the hat and ride and embellished nicely against the rhythm while keeping that hat tapping on the off beat. His time-keeping was very good and I enjoyed the fact that he used a style unlike others in the competition. His chops needed some polishing, but that comes with mileage. He is obviously off to a good start in his percussive journey.  Nate did not place but I felt he was top three. I actually named his my winner for the 'Audience voting'.

A note of interest to me was that at least 4 of the entrants listed Neil Peart as their favourite or one of their favourites.
Overall, I had a great time, met a few new people, won a door prize and came home with a set of drum sticks 'just for showing up'.
Thanks to the Doug (the host), Rob (judge) and Steven Henry for showing up at the end just to play and show off his great head of hair (and smooth grooves).
Looking forward to the Second Annual 'So You Think You Can Drum' next year. I promise to enter.

Bonham

I have always loved 'Fool in the Rain' (Led Zeppelin). Bonham's groove is unbelievably intricate but he makes it sound smooth and groovy. I practised this years ago but never made sound polished. I am going to make it part of my practise repertoire now and see if I can get it sounding solid. I did some research on the pattern, just to make sure I was playing it correctly. I wasn't far off. The actual term for the pattern is 'half-time shuffle', or Purdie Shuffle (from what I read on the Internet anyway). Its a triplet pattern where the shuffle is played on the hi-hat. The triplet is completed by the snare drum playing ghost notes and the back beat.
If that's not tough enough, Bonham opens his hat on the off beats and plays a beautiful bass drum pattern. He changes it up later in the song by playing slower triplets on the ride while maintaining the shuffle with the snare, open hat and bass drum.  That's going to be the challenge for me.
You can hear the half time shuffle used in Rosanna by Toto and All We Are by Kim Mitchell.
While researching this I stumbled across the Bembe (Afro-cuban) style. This is another triplet pattern that takes 12 beats to complete. You can google it and find plenty of info and you-tube videos for reference. The basic pattern is not difficult, when played on its own, but when you add the other instruments it becomes complex.  I would like to incorporate it into a song at some point. I'll first try to use the pattern on the right hand and play a standard beat with the rest of me, then build up the Independence. I am hoping I will find something that sounds good and is difficult to play (for me). 

Looking back and ahead

Today I read Neil Peart's latest 'News'  http://www.neilpeart.net/news/index.html (see January 2012). He writes very well and I thank him for the opportunity to read this post, in particular because he lets us into his past a little more than he has before. I am not generally interested in the personal lives of celebrities (I don't have time to care in most cases), but I have always wanted to know a little more about Neil's leave of absence after the cruel family tragedy he endured.
I don't know how to send my regards to Neil directly, so I'll use this blog as my way of communicating. As usual, Neil's prose gave me some inspiration to keep writing and keep practicing. This evening I sat down behind the kit and set a click track. I dropped it down to about 100bpm and in 4/4.  Something weird came over me and I started playing both hands on the hat, but backwards. On the 1, I played Bass drum (right foot) and left hand. Playing a 'disco' beat on the hat (sixteenth notes), hitting the snare with my left on 2 and keeping my right hand play the 'and' of each eighth note. I kept that up to see how long I could. It felt uncomfortable, but I was enjoying the feeling of Independence. I ran for about 10 bars, then had to regroup.
Then I tried doing the same playing triplets on the hat, so it went beat 1 bass drum and left hand on the hat. In this case, the right hand plays the snare. Still awkward for me but makes me feel good.
After playing that for a bit to get comfortable, I moved my right hand to the ride. Still doing the triplets, my right hand played the ride and the snare while my left kept the beat on the hat. This gives the ride a new feeling because it comes opposite to traditional 'on the beat' hits.
Now I have to work on playing a good bass drum pattern underneath and accenting the ride and hat in different ways.

Song Choices

I have been ripping my CD's to MP3 lately in order to have them available on my MP3 player (which is also my blackberry). All my old inspirational albums - Stevie Ray Vaughan, Kim Mitchell, Sting, Pink Floyd, Rush (of course) and plenty of others.
I need to pick a list of tunes to practice that will force me to work on the elements of drumming necessary for me to reach my goal. I am not sure exactly what my goal is yet, but practicing some tunes and writing this all down will help my inner voice speak to me. Maybe together we'll find a goal to reach. It really is more than one goal. I need to work on stick twirling and throwing for visual effects, an image and drumming technique.
Image is another topic I will get to later, but I am starting to think about what to wear on stage and branding. I may never be playing for an 'A' list band (no kidding, I'm too old), but I want to start branding my image - as an exercise in becoming a full package drummer. Terry Bozio, John Bonham are examples off the top of my head that branded themselves. Each in a different way. And not just drumming styles, Terry had a look and John had an appeal. The best drummers technically are not always the most recognized. And sometimes the most popular drummers are not at the top of the technical food chain. Ringo Starr and Charlie Watt come to mind. They backed up great musicians and were very proficient themselves, but they didn't make me want to be like them. Peter Stanley with KISS had a great look, but he's not mentioned in Drumming circles as an 'inspiration'. Again, very good drummer but doesn't make a drummers ear perk up like Buddy Rich or Dave Weckl. Neither Buddy nor Dave had a visual appeal, but they stand out on their own technical merits.
So getting back to my point, name a drummer that has brilliant technique and great visual appeal during performance. It will come to me (in a dream). Neil, I suppose is an example. He is always twirling and throwing sticks, but he also has a large drum kit that is dressed up with graphics and his hands are moving around the kit a lot. I say that with some bias because I have followed Neil more than any other drummer.
I would like you, the reader to provide your favourite all-around drummer. Here's to good drummers.

Old Inspirations

Just as they did 30 years ago, Rush gave me a new sense of inspiration to play the drums when I watched the latest documentary 'Beyond the Lighted Stage' on their musical career. Neil Peart was the first drummer I mimicked, before I had my first set  of drums. Playing pots on a ping-pong table to Tom Sawyer, or air drums to Limelight are distant but unforgettable memories for me. 
Through the eighties and nineties, Neil had the most influence on my playing and certainly presented plenty of material to practice.
Now as I watch the band perform and see Neil's techniques I think about my own technique and performance. There is much work to be done.
I need to use the foundation of grooves and chops that I built over the last few decades and improve on them. In the spring of 2011, I purchase a used set of Roland V-Drums. I needed a set of electronic drums that I could practice on without shaking the house down - and these are perfect. The Head unit allows me to play along with a song using headphones, or play to a click-track or just jam. The Pads are small but excellent representations of acoustic skins and therefore the stick response is very much like playing my Tama StarClassics.
Now that I am setup to practice, I must get started.
The first necessity is to get my basic chops back - get around the drums without losing a stick, clean up my rolls and basic rudiments and just an overall smoothing-out of the stuff I already know.