Hanging by a thread - literally!

Sometimes I'm an idiot. And not just in the normal, open-mouth-and-insert-foot sort of way. I have the ability to be an idiot in the grandest, highest-stakes, end-your-life sort of ways. Let me tell you a story.

I may have mentioned a time or two that I've been an adventurer in my life. Climbing, rappelling, mountaineering, and subbing in a heavy metal band are just a few examples. Well, I've also spent a fair amount of time caving - also called spelunking.

On one such adventure, two friends and I decided to explore a pit cave, literally a vertical shaft into the earth. The opening to this particular cave was about twelve feet across and - we had been told - about 160 feet straight down. We secured the rope to a nearby tree, tossed it down the hole, and said, "Who's going first?"

Yep. It was me. I got on the rope with a rappelling device and a headlamp and started down the hole. The mistake we had made was that the rope was brand new. We had literally cut it out of its bindings less than five minutes before putting it down the shaft. Any experienced mountaineer will tell you that the rope needs breaking in before actually trusting it with your life.

Photo by Ivana Cajina on Unsplash

Well, about eighty feet down the shaft, the rope had tangled into a massive knot, and I was stuck. I couldn't go down, and I didn't have the necessary gear at hand to go back up. I was also out of hearing range of my companions. I had to do something fast.

It sounds a little MacGyver, but I ended up wrapping the rope around my leg to lock off my belay device, then I turned myself upside down and started untangling the rope. I'd get two feet at a time, then five feet, then another two. Each time I'd get upright, rappel down the length of rope I'd freed, then lock off and do it again.

It was painstaking, but eventually I reached the floor of the cavern with about fifteen feet of rope to spare, gave the signal on the rope, and my friends joined me.

"Dude! What took so long?"

My relief was immense. And I learned a valuable lesson about rappelling down into a cave on a new rope!

In the movie, "The Martian," the main character gets marooned on Mars and has to figure out a way to survive. If you haven't seen it yet, you may want to skip this next part. #spoileralert

The closing scene of the movie shows the main character talking to a class of would-be astronauts, and he explains one of the most powerful concepts about succeeding in life.

You can watch it here. 

Just solve one problem. Whatever's right in front of you, just tackle that.

When I was hanging on that rope with a huge knot below me, that wasn't the time to worry about anything but that knot. There would be other problems and challenges on that trip, but they absolutely had to wait. I couldn't do anything about the next problem until I'd tackled the one holding me back right then. I solved two feet, then five, then another two - and on until I reached safety.

So, in your music career, but also in your life, what's holding you back? What's the one thing that's right in front of you?

This year, I challenge you to take on the relevant, immediate things in your life so that you can get where you really want to be.

Happy drumming!

What would you do if you weren't afraid?

"Everything you want is on the other side of fear. " - Jack Canfield

One of my favorite sports is rock climbing. I started climbing in college and spent as much time as I could possibly justify in the local canyons and gyms while getting my music degree. It proved to be a great mental and emotional exercise, in addition to the physical challenge, stress relief and lifelong connections made with other climbers.

Photo by Brook Anderson on Unsplash

When a friend's younger brother graduated from high school, we decided to take him on a multi-day climbing trip to celebrate. The brother was a natural from the start. He was bold, trusted the rope and his belay, and successfully lead a climb on his first day. It's worth noting that he later enlisted in the Marines. Fearless dude. 

Midway through the trip the older brother was tackling a very tough route. When he got to the crux (the toughest section or combination of moves), he asked me to brake the rope so he could take a quick breather and study the rock. While he was working on the route, little brother had hiked up around the route, and was looking down on him while he climbed. 

There's quite a bit of banter that happens on the rock wall, nearly all of it friendly and encouraging. This particular conversation was short and went something like this. 

Brother: Can't you just grab that hold, put your foot there, pull up this and then go there? 

Climber: Yeah, I can see what I should do, but I'm just afraid...

Brother: Well, what would you do if you weren't afraid? 

That was it. End of conversation. My friend looked down at me, shouted, "Climbing!" and nailed the crux. Just like that, the climb was over, the fear and struggle gone. All that was left was the victory of the moment, the sense of accomplishment at pitting your will and strength against gravity and stone and coming off victorious. It was one of those times where all of the clouds of life seem to dissipate, and the significance of the moment is clear, mind-altering and freeing in an instant. 

Think of the power of that one question: What would you do if you weren't afraid? 

I know it's not always simple, and it definitely isn't easy, but I'll bet it wouldn't take you thirty seconds to think of a few ways your life would be better if you'd simply do something that you're afraid to do. Even as I'm sitting here writing this, I can think of plenty!

Now, I'm not suggesting that you throw caution to the wind and do something insane just because you're afraid of it. In my climbing scenario above, my friend was already a skilled climber and had the protection of the rope, other climbing equipment, and a belay. He was in a situation that provided opportunity along with the possibility of failure, and was being held back by indecision due to fear. He did take a moment to study the wall and choose the best course of action, and then decided to act.

So, what is it that you know you need to do? Take the audition? Register for the competition? Study with that teacher? Move to that city? Change career paths? Make a major purchase, like a marimba? 

When you finally do decide to act, you'll realize that, in most cases, the fear was totally unfounded and all that you really needed to do was take the jump. There is much freedom in acknowledging your fear and moving forward anyway. 

"Courage is not the absence of fear, it is acting in spite of it." - Mark Twain

Gigs: quality or quantity?

Photo by Nainoa Shizuru on Unsplash

A friend of mine tells the story of opening for a major, world-renowned rock band. The audience was huge, the venue was amazing - it was a great opportunity for exposure for him and his band.

The problem, it turns out, was that the audience was rabid in their anticipation for the main event, and the opening act was endured instead of appreciated. They added a handful of names to their email list and sold about half a dozen CDs.

By contrast, the next night they played a house concert for an audience of about forty. They sold thirty-eight CDs and added all forty names to their mailing list. More importantly, most of the new fans are still fans who attend performances, purchase merchandise, and consistently bring their friends to shows.

Sometimes as musicians we worry too much about how many new people we can get in front of rather than developing a relationship with those fans we've already got.

Photo by Samantha Gades on Unsplash

The people in the major venue came to see the other band, but the people in the house concert came to see my friend. More than that, the smaller, more intimate venue was exponentially more enjoyable.

I'm not saying you should turn down a great opportunity to play in front of thousands of potential new fans. I am saying that you shouldn't pass up an opportunity to develop a meaningful, lasting relationship with people who like you, who support what you're doing and want to help you grow your art.

Happy playing!

Drummer's Weight Room: Tap Timing Exercise

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Everything you've ever heard is a lie

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What I Wish Every Young Percussionist Knew

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"Just do it like we did it in rehearsal."

As a young band director, I was always caught off guard by how differently my band played on stage than they did in the practice room. Sometimes the drop-off was extreme, and in my first year it got to be so bad that the kids started to expect the performance to be dismal even if rehearsals were excellent.

At the district festival, I happened to be talking to one of the most successful directors in the state, and I asked him what he told his kids before they went on stage to get them to play so well. His answer is the title of this post, "I tell them, 'Just do it like we did it in rehearsal.'"

The simplicity of the concept stunned me. For some reason, I thought that I had to offer some sort of special advice to get my kids mentally prepared to play a concert in front of an audience. In reality, that preparation had already been done, and what I needed to do was help them to get in the exact same frame of mind they'd been in during those excellent rehearsals. Instead, I had been doing the exact opposite. I'd been putting them in a totally different headspace - essentially yanking the rug out from under their feet.

Don Kelbick, legendary basketball coach, had this to say about shooting free throws in intense, high pressure, win or lose situations:

"The other mental aspect that I feel is very important is understanding that all shots are the same and carry their own "intrinsic value," or their own reward and sense of satisfaction. A free throw in the first minute of the game with no score is the same as a free throw in the last second of the game with your team down 1 point. The effects of the shot may be different, but the basket is still in the same place, and so is the free throw line. The shot should be exactly the same in either case. The objective of taking a throw shot is NOT to win or lose a game. The objective is to MAKE THE SHOT! That is the only object. To inject outside values to a particular shot is a recipe for failure."
Read the full article here.

It took a few more concerts after that festival, but we started to develop a new way of thinking about performance, and steadily saw an increase in the quality of our stage playing. In fact, that group's youngest players eventually became the first group to qualify for the state festival in the forty year history of the school.

Here are two of the principles I've learned and still try to use whenever I perform, either as an ensemble member or the conductor.

Relax.
No performance is ever THE performance. You should always try your best, but it's not the end of the world if things don't go perfectly. Keep your composure, forget about any mistakes as soon as they happen, and focus on what's going on right now. Performing is practicing, so think of each performance as an opportunity to get better at performing. That said...

You'll perform like you practice, so practice like you want to perform.
As much as you can, try to stay in the same mental space that you would if you were on stage or in the studio. When I'm preparing for an important gig, I'll record or video myself at least a few times prior to the performance. Something about knowing that I'm being recorded puts a little bit of healthy pressure on me to do my best. I can always delete the recording if it's awful, and it helps me to get used to playing in front of an audience.

I watched the movie Hoosiers for the first time before I ever set foot in a band room as a beginning musician, but I think this clip exemplifies how we should approach performance.

No matter how big the hall or imposing the audience, whether it's the fall opener or the state festival, a quarter note is still a quarter note, and the key of F still has one flat. And if it worked in our band room, it'll work on the stage. 

Just do it like we did it in rehearsal.