The Art of Drumming: a beat philosophy

In Candler's curriculum, all first year MDiv students are required to enroll in Contextual Education I. This aspect of the curriculum involves a placement at a local clinical or social ministry setting. I have the honor and joy of being placed at the United Methodist Children's Home for the remainder of this school year.

I am still discerning my role at the UMCH, and I am sure that this opportunity will provide me with many interesting stories to tell (as far as confidentiality will allow), but in the past two weeks of being a part of the ministry, I have already found a niche that seems to be a very common one in my life.

I am the drummer for the worship service.

I have never considered myself to be a very good set drummer, but what I lack in skill I make up for in willingness. I have grown used to the fact that I am for some reason constantly offered such a position, yet I am glad that it has been so easy to find why and how God has given me this gift of percussion and the opportunities to hone what skills I have.

I have been a percussionist for 11+ years now – half my life. I have been around drums too much. Yesterday on the bus I imagined what I would say to someone if I was telling him or her how to play. In doing so, I finally stopped and thought about what it really means to drum, what makes drumming music, and what makes drumming more than music. Here's what I came up with:

1. Drums are meant to be hit. Some things aren't (i.e. (most) people, cement, thorny plants, stuff I am holding etc.), but drums are. This requires a sense of solidity or confidence in the musician. Percussion literally means striking one thing with another – meeting it head on, not trying to divert or avoid. One who drums must have a solid stance or foundation, not unlike earthbending. Drums require those who approach them to be firm in conviction, even if all that involves is hitting one note.

2. This being said, it is not the musician who makes the sound. The noise from a drum comes from the surface vibrating and the stick making contact. This is made possible through the process of a transfer of energy that the musician provides to enable to drum to make noise itself. Therefore, whatever energy one puts into the drum is what one will get back from it. Although the drum constructs the sound, it can do nothing without the musician's transferring of life – both parties are equally responsible for the music.

3. Drumming is not all about rhythm, but if you don't have that, you don't really have drumming. Rhythm is about making use of space – not completely filling it in, but finding the perfect balance of action and rest. A drummer must find the right rhythm and hold to it unswervingly.

4. The true voice of a drum is its resonance. Any surface will make a noise when it is hit (even people, cement, etc.), but beautiful noise is produced when the sound is captured, embraced, and allowed to grow organically. A drum truly sings when that naturally beautiful noise is magnified and resounds in joy or despair, excitement or solemnity, power or surrender.

The true beauty of drumming is not how fast you can pump the double bass or how reefed you can play paradiddles, not how loud you can crash a symbol or how many singles you can squeeze into a minute, not how tight you can buzz a roll or how metronomic you can keep a beat. The true beauty is found in the bringing to life of a hollow shell of a thing (awakening its potential), giving it the ability to speak it's true voice, and bringing that voice, that sound, into harmony with the body of instruments which rejoice together in one great, complete song.

P.S. There are countless other amazing videos I could have posted as there are many drummers who I think know more about drumming than mere mechanical skill.  Nevertheless, I figure most people don't even have enough time to watch all the videos I did include.  The internet is your playground, though, and I do not doubt you can find other great examples yourself.

A first impression

School has started. I am for real a student again. I no longer have to lie to get a student discount, showing my otherwise useless student ID card (which is actually a huge moral relief for me). So, here are my feelings on school so far after one full week:

It is exciting. Being in class, reading for a purpose, writing academically (yes, I have already had one written assignment), looking around a classroom at my peers and letting the joyful awe settle in my heart – awe based on the tremendous intelligence and wisdom (and faith) that emerges from our collective devotion – are even more refreshing and life giving than I expected.

It hurts. My hand, my legs, my rear, my brain (although I learned in psychology that brains cannot feel pain properly, nevertheless they do make sense of it). I am retraining muscles that too quickly went out of use. I don't remember taking notes to be as hard as it was this past Monday in my first class. I don't remember my legs being this exhausted from traveling to school (although I blame that more on the terrain than my ability). I don't remember sitting for several hours at a time to be so uncomfortable. I don't remember waking up early to be so tiring.

It is beautiful. I rode to campus on Tuesday as the sun was rising. I am typically more of a sunset fan, but what I saw on that ride blew me away. It was potentially the most beautiful I have ever seen the sky -colors streaming over trees from a bright blue origin to proclaim and announce and trumpet the arrival of a new day. I marched around a 'lab' while singing a sort of chant and peered into the eyes and hearts of my colleagues and saw the beauty of the divine spark burning in us all.

It is comforting. I mean this in the traditional understanding of the word – 'giving strength to'. I learned in my first class that the Bayeux tapestry elucidates the full meaning of this word. A section of this tapestry shows William marching behind his troops prodding them with his sword. The caption reads: "King William comforteth his soldiers". (I searched hard but could not find a picture of this section online.) I feel this is the best summation of what I perceive this time to be. I do not feel overwhelmed at the course work or load, but rather that it is truly going to give strength to my spiritual life as both a follower of God and a minister to others. And this comforting is not restricted to the classroom alone. I have made and deepened many new friendships already, which I graciously value.

So, ultimately it is like a Snuggie. The electrifying experience of putting it on and feeling the soft fleece caress your skin (that is not merely due to static electricity), the overwhelming warmth that you just have to push through or sweat out so that you can keep wearing it all the time, the graceful design that really crafts the body into a whole new form of beauty, it's ability to soothe you softly to sleep...

And when in it, the ladies can't resist you.