Studio Drummer – Uninhibited!

*STRIVING TO BRING A GREAT PERFORMANCE ON ALL LEVELS, A COMPLETELY UNINHIBITED PERFORMANCE, INTO A WORLD OF UNKNOWNS!*

 

This is an obvious ideal!  One can’t bring this every time into a situation of unknowns.  It’s an ideal that we all strive for and sometimes we hit the mark and some times we fall short.

 

There are many variables and many unknowns.  I’ve also found Murphy’s Law at work here in my own experience. 

 

*THE MORE COMFORTABLE AND RELAXED I AM COMING INTO A SESSION, THE MORE I’M GOING TO GET SLAMMED AND NOT PERFORM TO MY POTENTIAL! *

 

So I try to never enter a session with this mindset.  In a sense it’s like underestimating an opponent.  When you think about it, it’s very much like the mindset of a professional athlete.

 

If I don’t personally prepare and be in a sort of pain state, a healthy nervous state, the less likely I am to be properly prepared mentally for a session.  It tends to be a prerequisite to a successful session.

 

That is generally the life of a session musician. 

 

A good friend and great session guitarist friend said to me that you have to be careful of this because in a sense the circumstances can seem stacked against you.  One only needs a bad day, slightly off your game and kaboom, you’re off the A list so to speak.  And yet as he said it’s part of the craft and part of the challenge!

 

Jingle sessions can often embody this strongly.   The first thing to conquer is that you’re playing full on at 9.00 am in the morning.  Perhaps you’ve had too much coffee (although not in my case!) or you’re just trying to wake up in general. 

 

I remember jingle and movie sessions at 9am that were very challenging, where I was playing material that pushed me right to the edge of my limits and abilities. Another example of this situation was on sessions for Electronic Arts video game productions.   

 

Different session situations tax different areas. 

 

I’m paraphrasing here but as an all time great session drummer Jeff Porcaro once said, “Experience, experience, is the real teacher of how to handle the many situations a session drummer is confronted with.”