Lessons, Week 68

EN helped me resolve the Hate and War issue...which is to play the triplets on T1 and the part after the triplets on the floor tom instead of the high hat. So the position stays open instead of crossing. I haven't tried it yet, but it seems like it will work really slick.

We also talked for a while about "big rock endings." I always feel lame and whimpy when I try these, so I wanted to know his strategies. Essentially he said to take your time, communicate with the band, and build in volume. I think mostly I just need to improve my around the kit rolls, but his ideas will help too.

Then we played through half a dozen Marques Bovre songs that EN found on Youtube. And that was fun.

My last lesson with EN will be August 16th. I've decided to take a break from lessons for a while, for the main reason that I have slacked off in practice over the last six months and feel like I need to get into a personal regime again. I think that I'll return to lessons eventually, but I just feel like I totally neglected the followup on lessons and it's probably time to return to the basics...rudiments, playing with metronome, basic exercises. These are things that are really hard to stay motivated on, but when I was working on them every day I was making steady progress. I feel like my progress has stopped, and entirely because I'm just not practicing anymore (and for that matter, rarely even playing these days). I don't know if it is a bad move to remove the "whip" of having an instructor, and I wouldn't if EN weren't moving, but it seems like a natural transition time to re-evaluate and set a new course. I think what I'd like to do is take the time that I was at lessons (5:30-7pm Mondays...if you count transport) and make that "fundamendals" practice. That way I ensure one day a week that I am working on this stuff. I have tons of books and videos I can use for this...though honestly all I need is a chart of rudiments (or the stick exercise book). Then I can feel less pressure during the rest of the week...if I feel up to practicing fundamentals on other days I can...but if I don't I'll at least be assured of getting it done once a week on Monday nights. Then the rest of the week I can work on learning tunes for bands, playing at rehearsals/gigs, or just playing for fun.

We'll see. It's a nice plan anyway. It's kind of like a weight loss regime or quitting smoking...time will tell.