Weekend Wisdom

 My neighbour was sitting on his back porch the other day when I visited. I sat down with him and he and I enjoyed the view over his beautiful flower gardens and old pasture fields beyond. I mentioned that I had started a bon-fire in my driveway - between the barn and the metal shelter. He leaned forward in his chair, looked at me and said that was just the greatest place to relax and have a fire at our farm. The fire pit was perfectly in the middle of our family of animal pens and homestead. I thought about that for only a few seconds and realized how accurate he was - give or take. 

 When sitting around the fire, the Barn is due south housing goats and sheep, east of that are the bucklings, ram lambs and ewe lambs that we have kept to date. The quonset is due north with stored bales of hay and our second and third year does. North-east is our house and to the north of that is the pen of our newest doelings. South-east are more doelings that we are weaning. Straight east you'll find the Irish Dexter cattle roaming our fields. So virtually centered in our group of animals is the little space we use to wind down and have some quiet time on weekends. Whenever we have a fire it seems there is always a stunning sunset with either the neighbours log house or the other neighbours barn (the party barn) in view. It's a settling feeling to know we are surrounded by family and friends. 

 Earlier that same day I had a similar enlightenment. I was finally together for lunch with my father. We are both plenty busy and have missed lunch dates for my birthday and Father's day. We had a good chat as we both had many stories to catch up on. I had sent a link to this blog the day before so we spent a few minutes discussing it which led to his latest venture (one that has been on the back burner for forty years). He is going through all of Stephen Leacock's work and making plays out of several of his favourites. As we bantered about the merits of each of our extra-curricular activities, my father ended that topic with a few words I took home: 'It's not what you say, it's how you say it'.

The Road Runners

Another slice of wisdom that surfaced last weekend was this: Don't forget your snare drum stand when you are playing a gig 100 miles away! My old friend Jeff (see Livin' and Giggin') was playing a show near me for the first time in a LONG time. Many of his friends and family are in my area and were very excited to find out we would have a chance to see him and his band play. On the day of the show, in the mid-afternoon I got a call from Jeff. He was in a bit of a panic because he forgot to pack his snare stand. Almost any other piece of hardware would not have been as critical to forget, but as luck would have it - THE SNARE STAND! 

 I am glad he called and was happy to help him out. My stand was handy and it only took 30 minutes or so to get it to him. I am sure he would do the same for me. Jeff and I found it amusing that he had written that blog just a couple of months ago. Maybe he should have read it before leaving the house.

Comfort Zone

"Life Starts at the end of your comfort zone." You might expect that phrase to come from a mountain climber or skydiver, but I recently read that line in a magazine for drummers and it struck me as an interesting philosophy. Maybe the line stood out for me because I have recently been tasked with playing a drum solo in the middle of one of our original tunes. I have not played a drum solo since the mid-nineties and certainly haven't put any thought into the concept lately.  I remember how it came about - it was during our weekly practice, I was just minding my own business, accompanying my bandmates, when Woody said: "Phil, you're putting a solo here!"  
When I regained consciousness, he hadn't changed his mind.  
We had a gig soon after and I had no time to prepare for an intimate moment with the crowd. I just threw in a few round-abouts on the toms and we kept it to 4 phrases. It just didn't seem right to me, but it was all I could muster and I was definitely out of my comfort zone. Over the course of the next few gigs I added a little more, but nothing that stated 'Drum Solo'. I still hadn't had a lot of time to think about the start, middle and end of it - or what I should do to make it a 'Drum Solo'. At our most recent show, Woody gave me 12 phrases to myself - unbeknownst to me - so I did my thing until I thought he was going to come back in, but... HE DIDN'T. After the show, my good friend Jeff (see previous post) said it looked like I ran out of ideas. When I watched the video later - that's exactly how it looked.  The only person to blame is myself. I was unprepared and the rest of the band was confident I would keep it going until they were ready to bring it back into the song.

Canada Day 2013 photo courtesy Stacey Bee

So now I am researching, pondering, and making notes of how I would like to express myself with a solo. I have watched Bill Bruford and Neil  Peart, read web articles about soloing and contemplated various patterns while driving to work. Omar Hakim likes to play in 6/8 time. Steve Smith and Dave Weckel, unbelievably fast with crazy changing time signatures. Maybe I'll try some 7 over 4 like Vinnie Colaiuta. That would certainly make me anxious and uncomfortable to play in front of a crowd, but I know how good it feels once I'm finished. One of the best feelings in life.

On the farm I occasionally find myself out of my comfort zone and in not-so-comfortable situations. Loading bulls on a trailer was a nerve-racking event the first few times, assisting births is NOT my cup of tea and hauling a load of hay down a steep hill always makes me grip the steering wheel extra tight. And although its not a life or death scenario to play a tricky drum part, I still feel anxious and get a  tingle from a little adrenaline release. 

All of those anxious moments have worked out well, making the experience something I can look back on, knowing I have become more comfortable with life. Even the situations that were closer to precarious have given me some humility and at the same time bravado.

I am looking forward to the band's debut EP release in the coming weeks, with the launch date and CD release party yet to be determined. Every song on it took me out of my comfort zone in various ways, while making me a better drummer. 
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