Musician/Leader/Drummer

The other morning on the way to my Lifepoint session I was thinking of all the different aspects that go into my position there. I’m not just the drummer… I’m not just bashing away without care, without dynamics, without direction. There is so much more to it than that. So much more than just… being the drummer.

Synopsis

Each week our team is given songs to learn through an app called Planning Center. This app provides us with a calendar for the dates scheduled to play, what people and teams will be scheduled, our songs, and the order of service. Everything is scheduled to a tee so we can run as efficient as possible. Within the song list we have MP3’s of each track, as well as the practice track, which has all of the songs in order with a click track and guide. You see, each song has a specific time, or duration that it’s made to be played so that each service can be finished by a certain time. There has to be a bumper in between services to get people in and out. So if you can tell, there is a lot that goes into time management on top of us learning the material to play as professionally as possible. But even with everything laid out as meticulously as it is… things can change.

We will come back to this in a moment.

The Process

Each week I start the process of learning these songs by listening first, then charting out each song in my notebook. I find this helps me retain so much more than just learning by ear and I have the written notation in front of me if need be. Next I sit at the kit in my home studio and work through each song reading charts and memorizing the material so that I can not just play the drums, but actually play with emotion because I’m not having to worry about my parts so much and can feel what I’m playing. This will tie into everything, I promise.

On Sunday morning I’m up at 4:00 am getting ready to shower and have time to wake up good before my drive, that’s an hour away from home. On my drive I listen to the practice track rehearsing all of my parts on the steering wheel as it was all planned out from the music director.

Our call time is 6:00 am. I arrive around 15 minutes beforehand to get inside and get situated. We have our meeting and then we start rehearsing each song to prepare for run through at 7:00. Here’s where things start to get interesting. You know all of those charts you just wrote? They are about to come in handy because there will be changes made to specific parts in each song along with how we transition in and out of each song. In these moments this is where I have to put all ego aside and go into serving and support mode. See this is where I say there is so much more to our job as drummers than just the status quo.

Servant of the song

“Hey Dudley, can you add a kick to this section with a hi hat so there’s no dead space?”

“Hey Dudley, how about trying this instead of that”.

“Hey Dudley, we need something more than what the part calls for, can you create something here that’s not too much or too little, but just in the middle?”

See even though I spent all that time learning each song the way the drummer played it, it’s subject to change and I have to be ready to make those changes to accommodate the song for the bigger picture. And in the process I have to do this with the attitude of being a servant of the song. This isn’t about me, this is about serving the song to create an emotion for others to experience and I have to be malleable and open to ideas and criticism to create something bigger than myself.

Encouragement and Leadership

You are a support system not only behind the kit but also in the green room. You played well and made the song feel great and you hit all your parts. Now it’s time to get off the stage and go hang with your team in the green room. This is where you need to have those team building skills. Not for personal gratification but to reinforce your team and to build confidence. Someone may have hit a bad note, there may have been technical issues, or someone forgot their part. When they walk back into the green room they may be beating themselves up for what happened so it’s our job to encourage and get them back on track. Don’t speak on how someone dropped the ball, lift them up with how great of a job they did recovering. Just giving a few words of encouragement can go a long ways and help get that person back on track. We can be the thermostat and set the level.

Trust

Your band or team will go so much farther and have the confidence to take on any obstacle knowing that you are in their corner and that there is trust bonding you all together. Thats just it… trust. That’s one of the most important ingredient to any relationship on and off the stage.

In closing

As drummers we have a lot of power within us to make the music feel good and to support our fellow musicians on and off of the stage. To incorporate not only playing skills but leadership skills. We can do so much for our teams having these qualities. So if you’re ever sitting back there thinking I’m just the drummer… Be more than what you’re called for.