March 22, 2024 • 26 mins
So … how do you teach yourself to play drums without actually playing a real drum kit? You get creative - especially when rhythm is at the core of your love of music. Join CH this week as she shares the true, rather unconventional and perhaps inspiring story of her journey to becoming a drummer that began with 1) a childhood bedroom mattress; 2) assorted pillows; 3) a busted chair; 4) a set of 5A drumsticks; and, 5) a radio. (Yep, really!) And that it really is never too late to pursue a passion.
Show Notes
- Information on Seattle's Jazz Night School can be found on the school's official Web site.
- Information on The Royal Room in Seattle can be found on its official Web site.
- CH's local drum shop: West Coast Drum Shop
- The quote CH's references is from actress Annabeth Gish: "But if you have something inside of you that is so determined to get there, that's how you're going to get there."
- It can be referenced in this article that was done for Duke University Baldwin Scholars.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
This week's life note,
the true and rather unconventional story of my drumming journey.
Welcome to Life Notes from Chair 17,
a podcast dedicated to sharing life stories,
wisdoms and inspirations as we navigate life's journey,
(00:21):
post chas to share thoughtful perspectives and insights from her own life journey,
as well as those of special guests and contributors tune in for thoughtful conversations about lessons learned wisdoms,
gained experiences,
had and inspirations shared.
Find us where you get your podcasts and be sure to hit follow or subscribe,
(00:44):
so you never miss an episode.
Now enjoy this week's episode.
All righty.
Welcome back in friends to another episode of Life Notes from Chair 17.
I'm your host,
Ch and I thank you once again as always for finding me in this corner of the podcast universe.
(01:10):
And I always like to start off by thanking our returning C 17 for your continued support and tuning in each week.
And that does include some of our returning international listeners.
Thank you so much.
And if you happen to be tuning in for the first time,
maybe having just found us on one of the major podcast platforms or via our website out on life notes from Chair 17 podcast.com.
(01:38):
A warm welcome in to you.
Thank you for wanting to check us out.
Hope you like what you hear and you will want to continue to tune in.
This is episode 25.
I'm not sure how that actually has happened.
It feels like yesterday when we just started and it is kind of interesting to reflect.
(02:01):
We're now at least a quarter of the way to 100 episodes or halfway to 50.
So it feels like it's a bit of a milestone episode.
And for this one,
I wanted to take it back to music and musical inspiration given at the time of this recording,
(02:23):
I just recently completed my very first performance as a drummer in a band in front of a live audience.
So that was a pretty big deal for me.
Uh,
as a long time or longer time listeners know,
I have mentioned that I am a drummer and have played drums nearly most of my life,
(02:48):
but I've only ever really played them for myself as a hobby.
I have not actually played with anyone or for anyone.
So I thought for this episode,
I'll share the full story of my journey because it's probably one you haven't actually heard and I don't know of another musician.
(03:12):
And honestly,
there might be someone out there who started this way and if you did or you know,
someone who did,
let me know because every time I tell the story,
people go really.
And it's funny because my journey really started with me not even touching a drum set,
a real actual drum set for about the 1st 15 ish years I played because I wasn't actually allowed to play drums.
(03:44):
My mom would not allow me to do it.
I don't have any idea why I'm going to guess that she probably thought it was something that girls didn't do or she didn't want me to do that or both.
And yet as I mentioned before,
and I talked about it in our very first episode,
(04:06):
I used to spend hours uh,
listening to music when I was a young child and as a Tween as a teen still do it as a well into adulthood adult.
And I was always drawn to the rhythm of a song or let's say the rhythm section of a song and that is generally held down by drums and bass.
(04:31):
It was sort of the core to my love of music on the whole.
So you're probably wondering,
so how does one actually play drums without actually playing a drum set or a drum kit?
And I had to get really creative because my obviously not being able to take lessons or enroll in drum core or play drums in a band.
(04:55):
I decided that I would set up my mattress of my bed in my bedroom with pillows and whatnot to represent all the different parts of the drum kit.
And I went out and I bought my own set of drumsticks and I would then sit,
(05:20):
listen and play to what I was hearing on the radio because this was well before iphones,
ipads streaming.
No Spotify playlists,
no Apple music playlists.
And instead I had,
you know,
a radio that had all of my favorite radio stations on preset.
(05:42):
So I could,
you know,
quickly switch between them.
I like to say,
I'm not quite as old as having to roll the radio dial up and down the frequencies to find it.
I could just digitally punch it in and get to my favorite radio station very quickly.
And when a favorite song would come on,
(06:03):
I'd sit down and play along and I would literally beat the heck pretty much out of my mattress and the pillows as it served as my makeshift drum cat and sidebar.
Uh There was,
I saw probably because of the algorithm knowing that I'm a drummer on Instagram.
(06:24):
Uh It was kind of a viral one that went around a while back of a kid doing a similar thing to the living room couch because he didn't have a drum kit.
And it was actually shot by his parents who were in the process of surprising him with an actual drum kit.
But for me,
there was never a surprise kit.
So the bed mattress,
(06:45):
it was,
and essentially I like to joke that my first actual drum kit was essentially my bed mattress.
But what I learned later was that I was unbeknownst to me at the time,
actually teaching myself two things.
I was number one,
training my ear and two,
(07:07):
I was using non rebound surfaces.
So obviously,
when you,
if you were to take a drumstick and hit a mattress,
it just kind of goes dead into the mattress.
And by doing that,
I was actually developing my hands and I think about that now and you know,
who knew?
(07:27):
I sure as heck didn't.
And here I was thinking,
you know,
I was just being a kid trying to figure out how to play an instrument that I really actually couldn't play for real,
but was super drawn to.
And my makeshift approach was actually teaching myself something that I would apply many years later and would have an instructor tell me that.
(07:51):
So,
go figure,
right.
Happy,
happy accident.
Very lucky on sort of how I decided to creatively approach this and this makeshift drumming went on for probably about 10 years or so until I went off to university.
And it would actually continue when I would come home on spring break or winter break or for summer.
(08:17):
And what's funny is I did actually take my sticks to UNI and I sort of tried to gently play them on my dorm mattress,
but it didn't feel the same as the one at home.
So I had become very accustomed to my little makeshift set up,
makeshift set up at home.
And I will honestly say if I could go back in time and talk to my university self,
(08:42):
I would tell her,
hey,
for some electives,
why don't you go ahead and take some music courses?
You know,
just for fun.
Maybe a theory course,
maybe some sort of introductory something or other course for drumming.
I really should have done that.
And I now realize in hindsight that was a miss and a mistake because it was the first time I would have been able to just kind of do it on my own and do it for fun and not necessarily,
(09:11):
you know,
feel like I was getting in trouble or something,
but I didn't do that.
I was focused on other things while I was away at school.
And I have to say too.
And I think sometimes this does happen when you're starting,
maybe a creative journey,
you hesitate to call yourself the thing that you are being or doing.
(09:33):
Uh It's probably some combination of imposter syndrome or something like that.
And so I don't even think I took myself seriously as a quote unquote drummer or that I would call myself a musician because I had it in my head.
It was just this thing that I was doing as an outlet really for my love of music back from my childhood days.
(09:59):
And because I couldn't actually play the instrument also,
I think,
because I was only doing it for myself and I wasn't in a band.
I also sort of maybe hesitated to think that I was seriously on this journey and I didn't realize I was already well into it.
Um And I didn't necessarily have a desire to be in a band.
(10:24):
I just really like listening to the rhythms of songs and playing along to them.
So,
if we got to graduating from university and getting my first job with a real paycheck and living in my own apartment,
I'm like,
OK,
I'm gonna get myself a drum set and I'm going to take a real drum lesson.
Like I am an adult now,
(10:45):
this is my money and this is the hobby on which I'm going to spend it.
So,
as I am a generally a pretty serious researcher of all,
all things,
I decide to do a lot of homework on purchasing an electronic drum kit because for short,
they're called E kits.
(11:05):
They often can be good starter kits for people wanting to take up the drums because they can be plugged in and listened to via headphones.
So they are not nearly as loud when you live in an apartment or somewhere where you can't set up,
you know,
a full blown what we call an acoustic kit that you would see.
You know,
if you went and saw your favorite rock band at a concert,
(11:28):
uh It's also e kits happen to be super easy to plug in portable music playing devices.
So whether you know,
that's phones nowadays,
back when I got this there,
it was an ipod,
you could still probably do that if my ipod still worked.
Uh So it's a super easy way to play along to whatever your favorite songs might be.
(11:51):
And so I purchased one that was well recommended,
well reviewed.
I decided to book a lesson with what I knew was a local music lesson school down in Southern California where I was living at the time.
And I was completely nervous about it because I thought,
well,
how am I gonna explain this to a teacher?
(12:11):
Like,
how am I gonna say?
Yeah.
No,
I've,
I've played drums,
but I've not really played drums and I,
I don't think I had a plan when I went in.
But luckily he was very,
he was super chill.
He was really nice and he,
he does ask me about my experience.
So I tell him the whole,
(12:32):
you know,
I've never really played drums.
I've only ever played my mattress story.
And I don't think he quite believed me at the time if I think back on it now.
But he did nod and smile politely.
And so we started the lesson right.
And he started to ask me to play certain things.
So he'd demo something and I'd repeat it,
then he'd demo something again and I'd repeat it.
(12:55):
And this went on for a bit because I believe he's trying to assess my skill level and nearly everything that he did I could replicate pretty much without too much trouble.
There were some technical things that I couldn't do that he wanted me to do.
But for the most part I was able to keep up and I,
I remember kind of going,
ok,
I think,
I think this is going well,
(13:16):
I,
I don't know,
but I think so and somewhere,
you know,
maybe 1520 minutes into the lesson,
he stops and he turns to me and he goes,
so you've never played before?
Right?
In some,
some sort of disbelieving tone.
And that's when I reexplained to him the story that yes,
(13:37):
sure.
I've air drummed,
you know,
like air guitar,
right,
air drummed for the past 15 years or so to my favorite songs.
But I've never sat at a drum kit or played with people or played for a teacher,
like,
for real,
real.
No,
I haven't done that.
And even in that moment,
it was a surreal thing for me because here I thought this passion and interest I had in this instrument that I wasn't being allowed to play again.
(14:07):
That was me just being a kid was somehow turning out to having actually taught myself something and something that translated onto an instrument that an instructor could then take and help me develop.
And he really was a great instructor for me because he did not try to undo anything,
(14:28):
meaning he didn't try to start me all the way back as if I was,
you know,
a six or seven year old drum student.
He sort of let me use what I had developed sort of as a natural ability and he encouraged me to build on it and that isn't meant to sound like.
Yeah,
I was just a natural.
(14:49):
No,
it was more really an appreciation that I had for his approach to taking someone like me who had some sort of raw ability and didn't destroy it by essentially over teaching them and undoing their,
their love of how they came to the instrument by suddenly making them not believe in themselves because they didn't take a traditional path to learning or take a traditional path to the interest in the instrument.
(15:21):
So after several lessons,
he goes,
we need to get you in a band.
And at that point I was like,
no,
no,
no,
no,
no,
no,
no,
I only do this for myself.
I'm fine.
It's just for fun.
But when he said that it was really a lovely compliment because he was essentially acknowledging that I had some skill that I could maybe find myself one day playing with people and it potentially would be an ok fit for me.
(15:48):
I was not just some sort of,
um,
let's say random hobbyist that had not really learned anything and then had refined it a little bit through instruction.
So I really appreciated him saying that even if I wasn't interested at the time,
so I did take lessons for a while and then I stopped and I just kind of went on and did my own thing.
And I did ultimately get the ipod started playing to playlists,
(16:13):
which was the greatest thing for me back then because I just loved being able to plug in and play along to my favorite songs by the singing headphones.
I didn't have to listen,
you know,
the big speakers on the radio anymore.
But as life changes things change,
I moved to Seattle and when I did the drums had to be left behind in the storage.
(16:34):
And I didn't really think much about them actually,
for,
you know,
pretty much the 1st 10 ish years or maybe eightish years that I lived here.
I missed them occasionally,
but I was sort of focused on different things.
And even when I finally did get all of my stuff out of storage and move it up here,
I gave away my original E kit to a fellow musician who was essentially looking to have a home kit for his studio.
(17:03):
But enter the COVID-19 pandemic.
And as many of us did,
we either took up a new hobby or maybe made time for older ones.
And at that time I was like,
you know,
I think I really miss drumming right now.
So I started all the way over and I got myself another EK and,
(17:25):
yep,
I probably shouldn't have given away the old one given it was only about two years before the pandemic that I did that.
But alas,
I digress and I went back to playing along to my songs except I noticed that my tastes in music had changed and I had started to move away from,
(17:49):
let's call it pop rock kind of listening to more jazz music.
And I naively thought,
and if there are any drummers out there listening,
you will likely laugh at just how naive of thought this was I thought to myself.
So,
you know,
(18:09):
I wonder,
can I just play along to jazz music like I did with rock pop stuff?
The answer is yes,
you can.
However,
it's much,
much harder and far more nuanced.
And so voila,
my journey to jazz drumming began as did my evolution from only ever having played an EK or an electronic kit to now only playing acoustic hits,
(18:39):
which required me to learn a whole different understanding of how to tune what types of wood that the drums are made out of,
make certain sounds,
what types of Cymbals make certain sounds,
what kind of drum heads make different sounds?
Honestly,
that was super intimidating in the beginning.
(18:59):
And I was literally terrified uh to begin at all trying to tune any part of the,
the drum kit.
And I will say,
as I started to play more for myself,
there was really for the first time and maybe this was due to all of the isolation that we were feeling at the time of the pandemic.
(19:26):
I wanted to maybe start moving beyond the living room,
which is where my kit was set up.
And I sort of slowly worked myself towards the idea of wanting to play in a band or,
and,
or play in front of people.
And I really,
I really do think it has something to do with lockdowns and being away from people.
(19:50):
And also for a period of time,
you know,
live music went away and musicians had to figure out a different way to make their living.
I feel like there was some kind of magical time frame and time moment there that really shifted my own desire to play that I had never really had before.
But having only just started noodling in jazz drumming,
(20:17):
I knew if I was going to do that,
I need to do a lot of homework first.
And so I spent about two years kind of getting myself to a place where I felt I could at least try to find some sort of jazz band,
class instruction,
school something or other.
But I was really focused initially on my own prerequisite work.
(20:40):
So listening,
watching tutorials on youtube,
you know,
sort of self study kind of thing.
And then I feel like the big turning point,
I made myself a promise in the summer of 2023 on a trip to Truckee California,
which is my favorite place in the world.
I took my travel drum kit and I found this perfect spot to play overlooking what is Donner Lake.
(21:05):
And I thought,
you know what,
this is the best feeling ever.
I have really got to make the band thing happen.
And one week after returning from that trip,
I happened to be on a bike ride locally and I was passing by one of my favorite pubs here in Seattle and there was a student jazz band out in front and I was like a who is that?
(21:28):
And b wow,
I kind of want to do that.
And it so happens,
that band was a student band from jazz night school here in Seattle.
And that performance was actually one of their fundraisers for what they call their summer or summertime jazz around Town series.
(21:50):
And I do think back on that,
that sometimes when you put something out into the universe,
it comes back to you in a really quick way.
And this was literally one week later from that trip to truckee that I had really said,
you know,
I think I need to do this to having sort of had this door open of,
(22:10):
I think you need to go through this door in order to do that.
And I did take a flyer after stopping to listen to them and I,
I did get a little bit of cold feet and I kind of hemmed and hawed over it.
And I sort of was like,
no,
what the heck,
I'm not good enough to do this.
I can't do it,
but I did.
And although my fall term did get cut short due to personal circumstances and really it had to do with the final performance for fall term was going to conflict with the uh remembrance service of uh my boss Trudy,
(22:44):
who passed away who we've talked about previously on this podcast.
So I made the decision to drop out because I didn't want to have the band not be able to make arrangements in enough time knowing that I wasn't going to be able to finish the term out.
But I set a goal to come back for winter term and we just completed that at least at the time of this recording of this episode.
(23:07):
And we were able to perform our final set at what is the royal room here in Seattle on stage in front of an audience,
our full band.
And for me,
it was the first time and it was truly amazing.
And jazz night school really has been such a gift because it is really focused on bringing people together to share in the love of jazz.
(23:33):
And you can be any age and any skill level and you do not necessarily have to have any musical background.
I was very hesitant to sort of just take drum lessons or,
you know,
try to go to maybe a university level music course because a lot of those folks are going to be pursuing a music profession.
(23:56):
And I,
I really just kind of wanted to play with people who maybe wanted to learn,
like I wanted to learn or took it up after having played a different style of music.
And so to find a school where that's kind of their mission statement was and is a true gift.
And there is such a healing power for me in music.
(24:16):
It's helped me so many points in my life.
And this one included as I'm sure for those of you that also love music,
you probably feel that or find that too.
And also I think that this journey is as I recited and as I was prepping for this episode,
it does really remind me that it is never too late to sort of see a dream or a wish come true.
(24:43):
And I honestly,
I do have to keep reminding myself this as I get older because sometimes I do fall into the no,
can't do that.
I think my time has passed.
But it's not if you're willing really to go for it,
to put some work into it,
to focus on getting there,
you'll get there.
(25:03):
And there is a great quote by actress Annabeth Gish.
She once said,
if you have something inside of you that is so determined to get there,
that's how you're going to get there.
And I have to say she was right.
So there you have it friends.
The very true rather unconventional journey to becoming a drummer,
(25:27):
jazz or otherwise seemed like a good one to tell to perhaps inspire anyone out there who still has that childhood passion that they may want to follow.
It is really never too late.
And with that,
as always,
(25:48):
I ask you to be kind to yourself,
take it one hour at a time,
one day at a time and I'll see you next time.
Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Life Notes from chair 17.
Remember to follow and subscribe.
(26:08):
So you never miss an episode.
We'll see you next time.
This week's life note,
the true and rather unconventional story of my drumming journey.
Welcome to Life Notes from Chair 17,
a podcast dedicated to sharing life stories,
wisdoms and inspirations as we navigate life's journey,
(00:21):
post chas to share thoughtful perspectives and insights from her own life journey,
as well as those of special guests and contributors tune in for thoughtful conversations about lessons learned wisdoms,
gained experiences,
had and inspirations shared.
Find us where you get your podcasts and be sure to hit follow or subscribe,
(00:44):
so you never miss an episode.
Now enjoy this week's episode.
All righty.
Welcome back in friends to another episode of Life Notes from Chair 17.
I'm your host,
Ch and I thank you once again as always for finding me in this corner of the podcast universe.
(01:10):
And I always like to start off by thanking our returning C 17 for your continued support and tuning in each week.
And that does include some of our returning international listeners.
Thank you so much.
And if you happen to be tuning in for the first time,
maybe having just found us on one of the major podcast platforms or via our website out on life notes from Chair 17 podcast.com.
(01:38):
A warm welcome in to you.
Thank you for wanting to check us out.
Hope you like what you hear and you will want to continue to tune in.
This is episode 25.
I'm not sure how that actually has happened.
It feels like yesterday when we just started and it is kind of interesting to reflect.
(02:01):
We're now at least a quarter of the way to 100 episodes or halfway to 50.
So it feels like it's a bit of a milestone episode.
And for this one,
I wanted to take it back to music and musical inspiration given at the time of this recording,
(02:23):
I just recently completed my very first performance as a drummer in a band in front of a live audience.
So that was a pretty big deal for me.
Uh,
as a long time or longer time listeners know,
I have mentioned that I am a drummer and have played drums nearly most of my life,
(02:48):
but I've only ever really played them for myself as a hobby.
I have not actually played with anyone or for anyone.
So I thought for this episode,
I'll share the full story of my journey because it's probably one you haven't actually heard and I don't know of another musician.
(03:12):
And honestly,
there might be someone out there who started this way and if you did or you know,
someone who did,
let me know because every time I tell the story,
people go really.
And it's funny because my journey really started with me not even touching a drum set,
a real actual drum set for about the 1st 15 ish years I played because I wasn't actually allowed to play drums.
(03:44):
My mom would not allow me to do it.
I don't have any idea why I'm going to guess that she probably thought it was something that girls didn't do or she didn't want me to do that or both.
And yet as I mentioned before,
and I talked about it in our very first episode,
(04:06):
I used to spend hours uh,
listening to music when I was a young child and as a Tween as a teen still do it as a well into adulthood adult.
And I was always drawn to the rhythm of a song or let's say the rhythm section of a song and that is generally held down by drums and bass.
(04:31):
It was sort of the core to my love of music on the whole.
So you're probably wondering,
so how does one actually play drums without actually playing a drum set or a drum kit?
And I had to get really creative because my obviously not being able to take lessons or enroll in drum core or play drums in a band.
(04:55):
I decided that I would set up my mattress of my bed in my bedroom with pillows and whatnot to represent all the different parts of the drum kit.
And I went out and I bought my own set of drumsticks and I would then sit,
(05:20):
listen and play to what I was hearing on the radio because this was well before iphones,
ipads streaming.
No Spotify playlists,
no Apple music playlists.
And instead I had,
you know,
a radio that had all of my favorite radio stations on preset.
(05:42):
So I could,
you know,
quickly switch between them.
I like to say,
I'm not quite as old as having to roll the radio dial up and down the frequencies to find it.
I could just digitally punch it in and get to my favorite radio station very quickly.
And when a favorite song would come on,
(06:03):
I'd sit down and play along and I would literally beat the heck pretty much out of my mattress and the pillows as it served as my makeshift drum cat and sidebar.
Uh There was,
I saw probably because of the algorithm knowing that I'm a drummer on Instagram.
(06:24):
Uh It was kind of a viral one that went around a while back of a kid doing a similar thing to the living room couch because he didn't have a drum kit.
And it was actually shot by his parents who were in the process of surprising him with an actual drum kit.
But for me,
there was never a surprise kit.
So the bed mattress,
(06:45):
it was,
and essentially I like to joke that my first actual drum kit was essentially my bed mattress.
But what I learned later was that I was unbeknownst to me at the time,
actually teaching myself two things.
I was number one,
training my ear and two,
(07:07):
I was using non rebound surfaces.
So obviously,
when you,
if you were to take a drumstick and hit a mattress,
it just kind of goes dead into the mattress.
And by doing that,
I was actually developing my hands and I think about that now and you know,
who knew?
(07:27):
I sure as heck didn't.
And here I was thinking,
you know,
I was just being a kid trying to figure out how to play an instrument that I really actually couldn't play for real,
but was super drawn to.
And my makeshift approach was actually teaching myself something that I would apply many years later and would have an instructor tell me that.
(07:51):
So,
go figure,
right.
Happy,
happy accident.
Very lucky on sort of how I decided to creatively approach this and this makeshift drumming went on for probably about 10 years or so until I went off to university.
And it would actually continue when I would come home on spring break or winter break or for summer.
(08:17):
And what's funny is I did actually take my sticks to UNI and I sort of tried to gently play them on my dorm mattress,
but it didn't feel the same as the one at home.
So I had become very accustomed to my little makeshift set up,
makeshift set up at home.
And I will honestly say if I could go back in time and talk to my university self,
(08:42):
I would tell her,
hey,
for some electives,
why don't you go ahead and take some music courses?
You know,
just for fun.
Maybe a theory course,
maybe some sort of introductory something or other course for drumming.
I really should have done that.
And I now realize in hindsight that was a miss and a mistake because it was the first time I would have been able to just kind of do it on my own and do it for fun and not necessarily,
(09:11):
you know,
feel like I was getting in trouble or something,
but I didn't do that.
I was focused on other things while I was away at school.
And I have to say too.
And I think sometimes this does happen when you're starting,
maybe a creative journey,
you hesitate to call yourself the thing that you are being or doing.
(09:33):
Uh It's probably some combination of imposter syndrome or something like that.
And so I don't even think I took myself seriously as a quote unquote drummer or that I would call myself a musician because I had it in my head.
It was just this thing that I was doing as an outlet really for my love of music back from my childhood days.
(09:59):
And because I couldn't actually play the instrument also,
I think,
because I was only doing it for myself and I wasn't in a band.
I also sort of maybe hesitated to think that I was seriously on this journey and I didn't realize I was already well into it.
Um And I didn't necessarily have a desire to be in a band.
(10:24):
I just really like listening to the rhythms of songs and playing along to them.
So,
if we got to graduating from university and getting my first job with a real paycheck and living in my own apartment,
I'm like,
OK,
I'm gonna get myself a drum set and I'm going to take a real drum lesson.
Like I am an adult now,
(10:45):
this is my money and this is the hobby on which I'm going to spend it.
So,
as I am a generally a pretty serious researcher of all,
all things,
I decide to do a lot of homework on purchasing an electronic drum kit because for short,
they're called E kits.
(11:05):
They often can be good starter kits for people wanting to take up the drums because they can be plugged in and listened to via headphones.
So they are not nearly as loud when you live in an apartment or somewhere where you can't set up,
you know,
a full blown what we call an acoustic kit that you would see.
You know,
if you went and saw your favorite rock band at a concert,
(11:28):
uh It's also e kits happen to be super easy to plug in portable music playing devices.
So whether you know,
that's phones nowadays,
back when I got this there,
it was an ipod,
you could still probably do that if my ipod still worked.
Uh So it's a super easy way to play along to whatever your favorite songs might be.
(11:51):
And so I purchased one that was well recommended,
well reviewed.
I decided to book a lesson with what I knew was a local music lesson school down in Southern California where I was living at the time.
And I was completely nervous about it because I thought,
well,
how am I gonna explain this to a teacher?
(12:11):
Like,
how am I gonna say?
Yeah.
No,
I've,
I've played drums,
but I've not really played drums and I,
I don't think I had a plan when I went in.
But luckily he was very,
he was super chill.
He was really nice and he,
he does ask me about my experience.
So I tell him the whole,
(12:32):
you know,
I've never really played drums.
I've only ever played my mattress story.
And I don't think he quite believed me at the time if I think back on it now.
But he did nod and smile politely.
And so we started the lesson right.
And he started to ask me to play certain things.
So he'd demo something and I'd repeat it,
then he'd demo something again and I'd repeat it.
(12:55):
And this went on for a bit because I believe he's trying to assess my skill level and nearly everything that he did I could replicate pretty much without too much trouble.
There were some technical things that I couldn't do that he wanted me to do.
But for the most part I was able to keep up and I,
I remember kind of going,
ok,
I think,
I think this is going well,
(13:16):
I,
I don't know,
but I think so and somewhere,
you know,
maybe 1520 minutes into the lesson,
he stops and he turns to me and he goes,
so you've never played before?
Right?
In some,
some sort of disbelieving tone.
And that's when I reexplained to him the story that yes,
(13:37):
sure.
I've air drummed,
you know,
like air guitar,
right,
air drummed for the past 15 years or so to my favorite songs.
But I've never sat at a drum kit or played with people or played for a teacher,
like,
for real,
real.
No,
I haven't done that.
And even in that moment,
it was a surreal thing for me because here I thought this passion and interest I had in this instrument that I wasn't being allowed to play again.
(14:07):
That was me just being a kid was somehow turning out to having actually taught myself something and something that translated onto an instrument that an instructor could then take and help me develop.
And he really was a great instructor for me because he did not try to undo anything,
(14:28):
meaning he didn't try to start me all the way back as if I was,
you know,
a six or seven year old drum student.
He sort of let me use what I had developed sort of as a natural ability and he encouraged me to build on it and that isn't meant to sound like.
Yeah,
I was just a natural.
(14:49):
No,
it was more really an appreciation that I had for his approach to taking someone like me who had some sort of raw ability and didn't destroy it by essentially over teaching them and undoing their,
their love of how they came to the instrument by suddenly making them not believe in themselves because they didn't take a traditional path to learning or take a traditional path to the interest in the instrument.
(15:21):
So after several lessons,
he goes,
we need to get you in a band.
And at that point I was like,
no,
no,
no,
no,
no,
no,
no,
I only do this for myself.
I'm fine.
It's just for fun.
But when he said that it was really a lovely compliment because he was essentially acknowledging that I had some skill that I could maybe find myself one day playing with people and it potentially would be an ok fit for me.
(15:48):
I was not just some sort of,
um,
let's say random hobbyist that had not really learned anything and then had refined it a little bit through instruction.
So I really appreciated him saying that even if I wasn't interested at the time,
so I did take lessons for a while and then I stopped and I just kind of went on and did my own thing.
And I did ultimately get the ipod started playing to playlists,
(16:13):
which was the greatest thing for me back then because I just loved being able to plug in and play along to my favorite songs by the singing headphones.
I didn't have to listen,
you know,
the big speakers on the radio anymore.
But as life changes things change,
I moved to Seattle and when I did the drums had to be left behind in the storage.
(16:34):
And I didn't really think much about them actually,
for,
you know,
pretty much the 1st 10 ish years or maybe eightish years that I lived here.
I missed them occasionally,
but I was sort of focused on different things.
And even when I finally did get all of my stuff out of storage and move it up here,
I gave away my original E kit to a fellow musician who was essentially looking to have a home kit for his studio.
(17:03):
But enter the COVID-19 pandemic.
And as many of us did,
we either took up a new hobby or maybe made time for older ones.
And at that time I was like,
you know,
I think I really miss drumming right now.
So I started all the way over and I got myself another EK and,
(17:25):
yep,
I probably shouldn't have given away the old one given it was only about two years before the pandemic that I did that.
But alas,
I digress and I went back to playing along to my songs except I noticed that my tastes in music had changed and I had started to move away from,
(17:49):
let's call it pop rock kind of listening to more jazz music.
And I naively thought,
and if there are any drummers out there listening,
you will likely laugh at just how naive of thought this was I thought to myself.
So,
you know,
(18:09):
I wonder,
can I just play along to jazz music like I did with rock pop stuff?
The answer is yes,
you can.
However,
it's much,
much harder and far more nuanced.
And so voila,
my journey to jazz drumming began as did my evolution from only ever having played an EK or an electronic kit to now only playing acoustic hits,
(18:39):
which required me to learn a whole different understanding of how to tune what types of wood that the drums are made out of,
make certain sounds,
what types of Cymbals make certain sounds,
what kind of drum heads make different sounds?
Honestly,
that was super intimidating in the beginning.
(18:59):
And I was literally terrified uh to begin at all trying to tune any part of the,
the drum kit.
And I will say,
as I started to play more for myself,
there was really for the first time and maybe this was due to all of the isolation that we were feeling at the time of the pandemic.
(19:26):
I wanted to maybe start moving beyond the living room,
which is where my kit was set up.
And I sort of slowly worked myself towards the idea of wanting to play in a band or,
and,
or play in front of people.
And I really,
I really do think it has something to do with lockdowns and being away from people.
(19:50):
And also for a period of time,
you know,
live music went away and musicians had to figure out a different way to make their living.
I feel like there was some kind of magical time frame and time moment there that really shifted my own desire to play that I had never really had before.
But having only just started noodling in jazz drumming,
(20:17):
I knew if I was going to do that,
I need to do a lot of homework first.
And so I spent about two years kind of getting myself to a place where I felt I could at least try to find some sort of jazz band,
class instruction,
school something or other.
But I was really focused initially on my own prerequisite work.
(20:40):
So listening,
watching tutorials on youtube,
you know,
sort of self study kind of thing.
And then I feel like the big turning point,
I made myself a promise in the summer of 2023 on a trip to Truckee California,
which is my favorite place in the world.
I took my travel drum kit and I found this perfect spot to play overlooking what is Donner Lake.
(21:05):
And I thought,
you know what,
this is the best feeling ever.
I have really got to make the band thing happen.
And one week after returning from that trip,
I happened to be on a bike ride locally and I was passing by one of my favorite pubs here in Seattle and there was a student jazz band out in front and I was like a who is that?
(21:28):
And b wow,
I kind of want to do that.
And it so happens,
that band was a student band from jazz night school here in Seattle.
And that performance was actually one of their fundraisers for what they call their summer or summertime jazz around Town series.
(21:50):
And I do think back on that,
that sometimes when you put something out into the universe,
it comes back to you in a really quick way.
And this was literally one week later from that trip to truckee that I had really said,
you know,
I think I need to do this to having sort of had this door open of,
(22:10):
I think you need to go through this door in order to do that.
And I did take a flyer after stopping to listen to them and I,
I did get a little bit of cold feet and I kind of hemmed and hawed over it.
And I sort of was like,
no,
what the heck,
I'm not good enough to do this.
I can't do it,
but I did.
And although my fall term did get cut short due to personal circumstances and really it had to do with the final performance for fall term was going to conflict with the uh remembrance service of uh my boss Trudy,
(22:44):
who passed away who we've talked about previously on this podcast.
So I made the decision to drop out because I didn't want to have the band not be able to make arrangements in enough time knowing that I wasn't going to be able to finish the term out.
But I set a goal to come back for winter term and we just completed that at least at the time of this recording of this episode.
(23:07):
And we were able to perform our final set at what is the royal room here in Seattle on stage in front of an audience,
our full band.
And for me,
it was the first time and it was truly amazing.
And jazz night school really has been such a gift because it is really focused on bringing people together to share in the love of jazz.
(23:33):
And you can be any age and any skill level and you do not necessarily have to have any musical background.
I was very hesitant to sort of just take drum lessons or,
you know,
try to go to maybe a university level music course because a lot of those folks are going to be pursuing a music profession.
(23:56):
And I,
I really just kind of wanted to play with people who maybe wanted to learn,
like I wanted to learn or took it up after having played a different style of music.
And so to find a school where that's kind of their mission statement was and is a true gift.
And there is such a healing power for me in music.
(24:16):
It's helped me so many points in my life.
And this one included as I'm sure for those of you that also love music,
you probably feel that or find that too.
And also I think that this journey is as I recited and as I was prepping for this episode,
it does really remind me that it is never too late to sort of see a dream or a wish come true.
(24:43):
And I honestly,
I do have to keep reminding myself this as I get older because sometimes I do fall into the no,
can't do that.
I think my time has passed.
But it's not if you're willing really to go for it,
to put some work into it,
to focus on getting there,
you'll get there.
(25:03):
And there is a great quote by actress Annabeth Gish.
She once said,
if you have something inside of you that is so determined to get there,
that's how you're going to get there.
And I have to say she was right.
So there you have it friends.
The very true rather unconventional journey to becoming a drummer,
(25:27):
jazz or otherwise seemed like a good one to tell to perhaps inspire anyone out there who still has that childhood passion that they may want to follow.
It is really never too late.
And with that,
as always,
(25:48):
I ask you to be kind to yourself,
take it one hour at a time,
one day at a time and I'll see you next time.
Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Life Notes from chair 17.
Remember to follow and subscribe.
(26:08):
So you never miss an episode.
We'll see you next time.
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