Studio Drummer – Be on your toes

*YOU HAVE TO BE FAST AND HAVE THE ABILITY TO SWITCH GEARS AND INTERNALIZE MUSICAL CHANGES TO YOUR PART QUICKLY AND WITH FLUIDITY AND CONIFIDENCE IN YOUR PLAYING.* 

 

There are several mental tricks that I have used continuously over the years to combat building stress or anxiety.  The first one is this.

 

*DON’T FIXATE.*

 

By fixating I mean dwelling on a specific part of your playing or a specific limb. 

 

As a pilot in my flight training that I’ve done for instrument flying I was taught that one of the most important things to avoid and never do when flying by instruments is that you never fixate on one instrument. 

 

You should be scanning all the instruments almost in a steady rhythm.  But you never dwell on a single instrument.  This can cause you to lose control of the aircraft.  In our profession this is also true when you’re getting ‘too inside’ a specific part. 

 

It often happens on a session where you’re playing something very simple part-wise but challenging from an accuracy standpoint.  It can be very easy to over think your part in a case like this.

 

For example you start to think too much about your bass drum foot or hi hat foot and next thing you know you’re complicating something that is usually easy for you to execute.